Leckie began work at
Abbey Road Studios on 15 February 1970 as a tape operator, later graduating to balance engineer and record producer. During his early career he worked as a tape operator with artists such as
George Harrison (
All Things Must Pass),
John Lennon (
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band) and
Syd Barrett (
Barrett). He moved up to the desk to be balance engineer for
Pink Floyd (
Meddle and
Wish You Were Here), for
Mott the Hoople's album
Mott and
Paul McCartney and Wings'
Red Rose Speedway and the single "
Hi, Hi, Hi". Other engineering sessions at Abbey Road at this time were with
Roy Harper,
Soft Machine,
Sammy Hagar,
Jack Rieley's
Western Justice album and the last recordings with Syd Barrett. His first jobs as producer, in 1976, were
Be-Bop Deluxe's third album,
Sunburst Finish, and
Doctors of Madness' Figments of Emancipation. His collaboration with Be-Bop Deluxe continued with
Modern Music,
Live! In the Air Age and
Drastic Plastic. In 1977 Leckie produced
the Adverts'
Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts and
Magazine's
Real Life. Leckie left Abbey Road in 1978 and produced albums for
Simple Minds (
Life in a Day,
Real to Real Cacophony and
Empires and Dance). For
Be-Bop Deluxe founder
Bill Nelson, he produced the
Red Noise album
Sound-on-Sound and Nelson's subsequent solo album
Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam (the latter unreleased until 1981). Leckie recorded the debut single, "
Public Image", for
Public Image Ltd and produced
the Human League's
Holiday 80 EP. Leckie's work with
XTC included producing their debut "3D" single and EP, and first two studio albums,
White Music and
Go 2. In 1981 he worked with Irish band
the Atrix on their single "Procession". Later he went on to produce ''
25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot, which XTC issued under the pseudonym the Dukes of Stratosphear in the mid-1980s. In the mid 80s he also produced three consecutive albums by the Fall: The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... (1984), This Nation's Saving Grace (1985), and Bend Sinister'' (1986). In 1989 Leckie produced
the Stone Roses' debut album,
The Stone Roses. It was voted the best album of all time on a music poll taken by
BBC Radio 6 Music and features as Number 1 on
''Observer's'' June 2004 "100 Greatest British Albums". Some months later he produced and mixed their single "
Fools Gold", which reached in the
UK singles chart. In early 1990, Leckie produced and mixed the single "One Love" which also charted at no. 4 in UK. Leckie also worked on the Stone Roses' 1994 album
Second Coming. In 1995, Leckie produced
All Change by the Liverpool band
Cast, which became
Polydor Records' highest-selling debut album. Leckie produced and engineered
Radiohead's second album,
The Bends (1995), which has been named one of the greatest albums by publications including
All Time Top 1000 Albums, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and
Rolling Stone's lists of the "
500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Radiohead praised Leckie for demystifying the studio environment. The guitarist
Jonny Greenwood said: "He didn't treat us like he had some kind of witchcraft that only he understands. There's no mystery to it, which is so refreshing."
Nigel Godrich, who produced Radiohead's later albums, worked on
The Bends as an engineer
. He named Leckie as one of the producers who had taught him his craft, whom he had "watched directly and emulated". Leckie's next projects were the first two albums by
Muse,
Showbiz (1999) and
Origin of Symmetry (2001). Muse drew comparisons to Radiohead, which Leckie dismissed, saying: "In the late 90s, any British band that sang passionately and played guitar was going to get compared to Radiohead." ==Awards==