Le Mesurier was the son of two of Britain's best-loved comedy actors,
Hattie Jacques and
John Le Mesurier. Le Mesurier gained a strong following during and after his appearance on Living TV's reality show
Rehab (2009), in which he opened up about his battle with
alcoholism.
Education Le Mesurier was educated at
Sussex House School, where he described himself as being "completely out of place", and then
Westminster City School. This was also an unhappy experience and Le Mesurier would be teased about his famous mother. As a teenager he was offered a place at the
Royal College of Music but turned it down.
Music In his prime, Le Mesurier was a fan of
The Faces and of guitar stars
Eric Clapton,
Jimi Hendrix,
John Lee Hooker,
Muddy Waters, and
Jeff Beck. His first official band was The Reign (whose first single was written by the
Yardbirds members
Keith Relf and
Jim McCarty). The band lasted until 1973, then Le Mesurier became the guitarist of
The Wombles,
Mike Batt's novelty pop band that played his music for the British children's TV show
The Wombles. At the beginning of his collaboration with Rod Stewart, Le Mesurier was mainly a guitar technician and
session musician. In 1976 he signed with a record company with which Rod Stewart was associated. He toured the United States with
Air Supply in 1977 as the opening act for
Rod Stewart. After a period with Lion, eventually renamed The Difference, he was invited in 1980 to join the Rod Stewart group. In 1994, he recorded two tracks on French singer
Johnny Hallyday's first English-language record
Rough Town. He became Hallyday's musical director, besides founding the group Farm Dogs with
Bernie Taupin and
Jim Cregan. In September 2015, Le Mesurier joined Rod Stewart and
Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood for the
Faces reunion.
TV series Le Mesurier appeared in a double episode of the Swiss-Italian TV series
Sport Crime playing himself. == Personal life and death ==