Neil Leyton is a Portuguese-Canadian singer and guitarist born in Lisbon, Portugal, raised in Toronto, Canada.
He was a founding member and songwriter in Canadian art-glam indie project The Conscience Pilate from 1995 to 1998, beginning a solo career in 1999. Bass player in Passion d’Flower, he was also the founder of the Fading Ways record label in Toronto.
Releasing three critically acclaimed solo albums, Down Secret Avenue with the Last Lovers (1999), From the Brighter Side of Her Midnight Sun (2003) and The Betrayal of the Self (2006), Leyton would go on to compile onto the Elite Nylon album (2008) tracks from three unfinished album and EP projects.
He has played guitar as well as bass for other musical projects live and in the studio, including Canadian rockers Crash Kelly (fellow Canadian musician Sean Kelly’s band) and Barry Walsh’s Canadian power pop outfit Galore. He participated in a side-project with Ky Anto, titled Pretty Volume, and recorded an EP with fellow Canadian guitarist Rich Jones and The Wildhearts’ frontman Ginger in the UK. The Hellacopters’s Nicke Andersson and Backyard Babies’s guitarist Dregen were guests on Leyton’s The Betrayal of the Self album, released in 2006 via Feedback Boogie and Fading Ways Records.
In 2009 he participated in a new side project with The Hellacopters’ Nicke Andersson, called The Point, releasing a 7″ vinyl single. He also co-wrote and sang on Andersson’s debut solo album Imperial State Electric, on the track “Deja Vu”, released in 2010. Leyton has also made special guest live appearances in Spain and Sweden with Imperial State Electric.
Leyton is now fronting a new artist collective, Lusitanian Ghosts, together with Micke Ghost from Sweden, who had played on Leyton’s 2006 release “The Betrayal of the Self” and toured extensively with Leyton between 2005-2008. The Lusitanian Ghosts debut album was released in 2019 and a new record is in the works for 2021 following the release of two new singles in 2020, recorded at Clouds Hill in Hamburg.
Meanwhile, a re-formed Passion d’Flower has recorded new tracks and Leyton has announced the founding of the new Shame Destroyer label, for new Passion d’Flower releases as well as back-catalogue from all Passion d’Flower members and related projects including Dutnoff’s debut album.
Leyton has also released a lockdown single with The Sinisters’ Steve Scarlet under the name The Testimonials. The track “Hide Away” was released via Bandcamp in July 2020. Lusitanian Ghosts also released a lockdown video, “All the Sounds”, in July 2020 on Lusitanian Ghosts’ YouTube channel. The Lusitanian Ghosts ‘ “For the Wicked” lyric video followed in November 2020.
Lusitanian Ghosts‘ second album, “Exotic Quixotic”, was released in November 2021 followed by a Deluxe Digital Edition and Vinyl LP edition in November 2022. Neil Leyton has also announced a new solo single, “I Got a Call From Michael Maker”, for December 12th 2022.
