Paul Leka


Paul Leka was an American songwriter, record producer, pianist, arranger, and orchestrator, most notable for co-writing the 1960s hits "Green Tambourine" and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", the latter of which has become a standard song at sporting events.

Life and career

Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Leka was one of four children of Theodore and Dhimitra Leka, immigrants from Albania. His father worked as a short-order cook. Soon after he started taking piano lessons, Paul was writing songs, and by age 16, his brother said, he was trying to sell them to music publishers in New York.
Described as "one of those rare, genuinely prodigious musicians who was too talented to limit himself to actually being a member of one group or recording project", Leka grew up in Connecticut and played piano as a child and later became a multi-instrumentalist. He played with a group called the Chateaus, who recorded some singles for Coral Records in the 1960s. Leka soon gave up performing for production and arranging work. He principally wrote songs for and had hits with the Lemon Pipers, the Peppermint Rainbow in which he produced, arranged, and orchestrated for their song "Will You Be Staying After Sunday", and Steam, which featured two of his bandmates from the Chateaus, and who scored a multiplatinum hit with the Leka co-written "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye". Leka is credited in particular with writing the well-known "Na Na Hey Hey" chorus. To get the right sound for that song, Leka said he used a hammer to bang directly on the piano keys. During this same period, Leka became a producer and arranger for the Left Banke, producing and arranging the majority of the songs on The Left Banke Too.
Leka won many awards including gold records for his hits.
Leka worked in the industry into the 1980s, producing Richmond, Virginia band, The Dads, and writing and arranging for artists such as Peter Nero, Jimmie Spheeris, Harry Chapin, REO Speedwagon, Lori Lieberman, and Gloria Gaynor.
Leka owned a recording studio called Connecticut Recording, located above a five and dime store on Main Street, Bridgeport. He recorded a number of performers there over the years, including Harry Chapin, who recorded Cat's in the Cradle at the studio. Leka later relocated the studio to his home in Sharon.
Leka died of lung cancer on October 12, 2011, at a hospice near his home in Sharon, Connecticut. He was survived by his wife, Engjellushe, their son Alexander, and two children from his first marriage, Derek and Heather. A third son, Theodore, predeceased him.

Songwriting credits