Creator / Leif Garrett

Garrett in 1979.

Leif Per Nervik, known professionally as Leif Garrett (born November 8, 1961 in Hollywood, California) is an American singer, actor and former Teen Idol. Since the age of five, he has appeared in numerous productions in many mediums, including television (with his Star-Making Role as Endy Karras on Three For The Road being a prime example), film, stage and records.

Garrett has had many run-ins with the law, particularly regarding his long-running drug habit. An episode of Behind The Music in 1999 reconciled him with his former friend who he unintentionally paralyzed in a substance-fueled car accident.

From 2008 until 2013, Garrett was a commentator on World's Dumbest..., where he often showcased his self-deprecating humour in regards to his life, career and legal troubles. He's also appeared on other reality programs such as Fear Factor and Celebrity Rehab. He continues to perform the occasional gig for charity and released a memoir, Idol Truth, in 2019.

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Discography

• Leif Garrett (1977)
• Feel The Need (1978)
• Same Goes For You (1979)
• Can't Explain (1980)
• My Movie Of You (1981)
• The Leif Garrett Collection (1998)
• Godspeed (1999)
• F8 and F8 Demos (2002/2003)
• The Three Sides Of... (2007)
• The Best Of... (2010)

Non-Album Singles Discography

• "Happy Birthday" (2002)
• "Betty Ford For Christmas" (as Leif Garrett and The Crush-Ups) (2004)
• "Hot Blooded" (2007)
• "The Final Countdown" (2007)
• "I Was Made For Dancin' Remix" (2007)
• "American Pie" (2008)
• "Home Sweet Home" (2008)
• "Sky High" (2009)
• "Merry X-mas Everybody" (2009)
• "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)" (2010)
• "Everything" (with Craig Else) (2010)
• "Help You, Make You" (with Craig Else) (2012)
• "Old Man" (with Craig Else) (2012)

Filmography

• Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
• Walking Tall (1973)
• Devil Times Five (1974)
• Macon County Line (1974)
• Walking Tall Part 2 (1975)
• God's Gun (1976)
• Paper Tigers (1977)
• Kid Vengeance (1977)
• Walking Tall: Final Chapter (1977)
• Skateboard (1978)
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
• Longshot 1981
• The Outsiders (1983)
• Shaker Run (1985)
• Thunder Alley 1985
• Delta Fever (1987)
• Cheerleader Camp (1987)
• Party Line (1988)
• The Banker (1989)
• The Spirit of '76 (1990)
• Dominion (1995)
• The Whispering (1996)
• The Next Tenant (1998)
• I Woke Up Early The Day I Died (1998)
• The Art Of A Bullet (1999)
• Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003)
• Popstar (2005)
• Fish Mich (2009)

Television Work

• Nanny and the Professor (1970)
• Black Noon (1971)
• Cannon (1971)
• The F.B.I. (1972)
• Circle of Fear (1973)
• Strange Homecoming (1974)
• The Last Survivors (1975)
• Three for the Road (1975) (cancelled after 13 episodes)
• Flood! (1976)
• Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion (1977)
• Family (1978)
• Wonder Woman (1978)
• CHiPs (1979)
• The Leif Garrett Special (1979)
• Hunter (1987)
• VH1's 8-Track Flashback (1995–1996)
• American Black Beauty (2005)
• Celebrity Fear Factor (2005)
• Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge (2007) (cancelled after 6 episodes)
• World's Dumbest... (2008-2013)
• Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (2010)

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This actor/musician shows examples of:

• Abusive Parents / Disappeared Dad: Had an abusive father as a very young child. The father ultimately deserted his family, but apparently there's been an effort for reconciliation. He alludes to this in the song "Just Like Me".
• Album Title Drop: The albums Feel The Need, Can't Explain, Same Goes For You and My Movie of You are all named for lines in their songs.
• Audience Participation: His recent live gigs often involve inviting audience members to sing with him onstage. He's also used "I Was Made For Dancin'" as an Audience Participation Song. At the halfway mark, he invites audience members onstage to dance with him.
• Biography: The memoir Idol Truth, co-written with Chris Epting.
• Break Up Song: "Borrowed Time", "Alive (Today)", "This Time".
• Brother–Sister Team: Was this with his younger sister, Dawn Lyn. They appeared in many television and film spots together, where some of the storylines resulted in rather awkward situations. However, they were mostly cast as brother and sister, invoking Real-Life Relative on many occasions.
• Butt-Monkey: Is frequently made fun of on World's Dumbest, though always in a lighthearted way.
• The Cameo: As an actor he's had quite a few of these, but one worthy of note is his self-parodying one on Family Guy.
• Careful with That Axe: In many of his songs, naturally during his cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
• The Casanova: Definitely this in his younger years, but he still pulls the chicks even now. This is touched on in his bio on the Meeting House Productions website:
  Oh, Leif. Former teen idol. Possessor of inexplicable charm. He's sort of the boyfriend you know you should break up with but just can't.
• Child Popstar: Released his debut album at age fifteen, and was playing guitar and singing at least two years before then.
• Christmas Songs: Played straight with many of his Christmas covers, including Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody". Subverted with one of his original songs, "Betty Ford For Xmas", about life as a drug user.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Plays this up within his projected image and shows shades of this in real life as well.
• Cover Version: Is known for these. He's performed everything from "Happy Birthday" to "Smells Like Teen Spirit". In fact, his Breakthrough Hit was a cover of The Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA".
  • He's also covered "Singin' in the Rain", "Bad to Me", "California Girls", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", "Johnny B. Goode", "That's All", "Stuck in the Middle With You", the list goes on...
  • Plus he's covered songs like "Lola", "Hot Blooded", "Home Sweet Home", "Sky High", "The Final Countdown" and "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)" for iTunes releases.
  • And that's not even going into the covers he's done live.
• Drugs Are Bad: Ironically, he covered the song "Kicks" in 1979 for the album Same Goes For You, around the same time he confessed to beginning his drug use.
  • His 2004 collaboration with The Crush-Ups, "Betty Ford For X-mas", is a satire of Garrett's own life as a drug user.
• Former Child Star: Parodied in his role on Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. He even sings a song on the soundtrack with this trope almost word-for-word as its very title, and contributes vocals to the song "Child Stars on Your Television".
• Guy Liner: Is almost never seen without wearing eyeliner nowadays.
• Hidden Depths: Had been playing the guitar and singing since the age of thirteen. Apparently he's also a decent visual artist, and according to Rachel Uchitel, pretty damn good at baking cookies.
• Hypocritical Humor: Uses this to full effect on World's Dumbest when criticizing the subjects of the videos for their outlandish, lawbreaking behavior. Of course, it is all Played for Laughs.
• I Love the Exties: Pops up on a few seventies-themed programs from time to time, either as an example of the pop music back then or as a talking head.
• Intercourse with You: "Are You Satisfied?"
  • Berserk Button: Mispronounce Leif's name while talking to any fangirl and prepare to run for your life...
  • Spell My Name With An S: Has had his first name frequently misspelt as 'Lief', and his last name misspelt as 'Garret'.
• I Was Quite a Looker: People often comment, in various media and in Real Life, about how cute Garrett was as a teenager.
• Like Is, Like, a Comma: His Southern Californian upbringing coupled with his youthful personality cause him to speak like this.
• Likes Older Women: Well, when he was in his teens at least.
  "I was partying with the girls ... and their mothers."
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: At the peak of his fame.
• Love Is a Drug: He also covered the song "Love Is The Drug" by Roxy Music.
• Love Nostalgia Song: "Still I Wish"
• Lyrical Cold Open: "Are You Satisfied?"
• Lyrical Dissonance: "Symptoms". The song speaks of a dying relationship to an upbeat soundtrack.
• Meaningful Rename: After his father had left the family, Leif's mother suggested he change his name for his burgeoning acting career. He initially went by 'Leif Per' (Per is his middle name), but found that casting agents had trouble pronouncing it. One day he received a paycheck that was accidentally addressed to a 'Leif Garrett'. After he and his mother discovered that the name 'Garrett' meant 'mountain' and denoted strength, he then decided to adopt that name.
• New Sound Album: Went from a Disco/Teen-Pop sound during his heyday (though he has acknowledged that this sound was due to Executive Meddling) to an Alternative Rock / Grunge sound in the 1990s.
  • Then again, Feel The Need was this to Leif Garrett. The disco sound was adopted in favour of the Power-Pop, Pop-Rock treatment of covers used beforehand. His subsequent Teen Idol catalog had a mixture of both sounds.
• Nice Guy: Despite his rather troublesome life, he's softly-spoken, always has time for the fans, and is said to be one of the most genuine and sweetest guys in show business. It's also the reason why his subsequent breakdown took many by surprise.
  • These fan encounters have this trope in full effect.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Is actually an incredibly deep, creative and intelligent man despite his portrayed image.
• Odd Friendship: Has had a few of these. Some include Tiger Woods' mistress Rachel Uchitel and the late great Heath Ledger.
• Painted-On Pants: The undisputed King of this in the late 70s.
• Perishing Alt-Rock Voice: Currently employs this in his music.
• Police Brutality Gambit: Has pulled non-physical variations of this in regards to his recent drug arrests.
• Real Men Wear Pink
• Sanity Slippage Song: "I Know".
• Sensual Spandex: Sensual enough to provoke teenage girls of the times to gawk at his, er .... legs whenever they saw his pictures in teen magazines.
• Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: And lots of it. In Idol Truth, he details an incident in Japan where he could pick any sex worker he wished from a line-up for free. He also experimented with weed, quaaludes and cocaine in his teen years, with heroin becoming his drug of choice in the 80s, 90s and 2000s.
• Silly Love Songs: When he wasn't performing covers, he was performing these. "When I Think of You" and "Living Without Your Love" are two of his most famous examples.
• Slave to PR: Talks about being this at the height of his career at length in his memoir.
• Stepford Smiler: A self-confessed Type A during the height of his fame.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Pulls this a lot on World's Dumbest.
• Teen Idol: A classic, if somewhat tragic, example. His fanbase in the late 1970's and, to a lesser extent, the early 1980's and late 1990's rivaled that of Justin Bieber or One Direction today.
• Title-Only Chorus: "I Know". Literally.
• Troubled, but Cute
• Vocal Evolution / Harsh Vocals: Went from a polished alto in the late 1970s to a deep, husky growl in his Alternative period.

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