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With a little help from some friends
By Corey Stulce
The Telegraph
June 1, 2000
Caption: Les Reader sits with rock and blues legend Johnnie Johnson in the recording studio. Johnson played piano on the song "Lovin' You Is Heaven," which was written by Reader and Beach Boy Brian Wilson some 10 years ago.
Les Reader's collaboration with Beach Boy Brian Wilson has taken longer to be released than the last "Star Wars" movie.
"I've been sitting on that song for over a decade," Reader said.
But, as they say, good things come with age. Reader is the lead singer and songwriter for the Mind Gangsters, who have recently released their third album, titled No Rules.
The album features the collaboration "Lovin' You Is Heaven," written by Reader and Wilson, with the legendary rock and blues performer Johnnie Johnson playing piano.
"Johnnie said he liked the song and wanted to play on it," Reader said. "It made everything really nice."
Reader also got a little help from musical friends like Doug Gray of the Marshall Tucker Band, who wrote the album's liner notes, and from Willie Nelson. The lyrics to reader's song "Country's Living Legends" now hang in Nelson's Nashville museum.
"The friends I've had in the music business, they've really come behind me on this," Reader said.
It's been a long, strange trip for Reader. The Vietnam vet began his love affair with music more than 25 years ago. He's written more than 900 songs, and they all hold a deep meaning for him. "There's no use in putting a song out if it doesn't say something," he said.
After coming home from his stint in 'Nam, Reader returned to Illinois and hooked up with a young guitar player named Gary Will. The two have been playing together ever since.
"When I first met him, he had been back a year," Will said. "He wouldn't let everything out, but it would come out in his songs. He's been a big influence on my life. He's more than a brother."
Reader said his experience in the war made him take music more seriously. "I think the emotion of life was shown to me and thrown in my face in Vietnam," he said. "Your depth of thought gets deeper. Some people never get to experience that depth their whole lives."
While everything seems to be finally coming together for the Mind Gangsters, Reader has to take things slow. For the last two years, he has been battling an inherited disease that has damaged his lungs, leaving them at a 22 percent capacity.
"I'm taking a bunch of tests now to get on the transplant list," he said. Reader's health kept Mind Gangsters from perfoming on last year's Farm Aid and from doing most live shows. But, the music keeps him going.
He's hoping a transplant will give him a second chance. "It makes it a lot easier to go through, knowing it could be a lot worse."
Will agrees it's the music that keeps Reader going. "I think if he didn't have the music, he'd probably be in some hospital twiddling his thumbs," he said. "He's always had it, and I guess he always will."
Reader hopes by having Wilson and Johnson involved with the record, the industry will finally take notice. "It's taken so many years. The combination is right, the time is right."
Will concurred. "Eventually it all comes back together."
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