Although just tapping his mid-20s, the charismatic Leon Thomas has already had a lifetime of professional experience as a musician, actor and producer. Hailing from a musical family, Thomas grew up in New York City and appeared in many Broadway productions as a child. At 13 years old he was signed to Columbia Records while concurrently in the cast of various Nickelodeon channel TV shows such as Victorious and iCarly.
With his feet firmly planted in show business, young Thomas wanted to expand his knowledge beyond working under the footlights and in front of a camera. His fortunes truly changed in his latter teens when he leaped head first into the music production world. Through Grammy-winning engineer-producer Bob Power he learned the mechanics of recording studios. At 17 Thomas got the chance to work with Babyface, who mentored the burgeoning artist in the art of writing and producing. That partnership eventually led to Thomas winning a Grammy in 2015 for production on Toni Braxton’s Love, Marriage & Divorce. He also went on to produce songs for Ariana Grande, Post Malone and Ty Dolla $ign.
“After that I thought I needed a chance to carve out some time for myself as an artist. It was a process of about three years,” explains Thomas on the path that led to his current recording status. “I took some time off in there to do some acting. I had 12 songs that I whittled down to seven. After the acting stuff I went back in the studio for three or four months and finished the album at my house. I collaborated with Elle Varner, Buddy and Post Malone on it.”
The neo-soul and pop-oriented vocalist also had a stint early on with Rostrum Records until he totally went off on his own and discovered a prime distribution opportunity for Genesis with Priority Records. “They are a subsidiary of Capitol Records and it was really exciting to work with
their marketing staff,” says Thomas. “I saw how they worked with other artists who are friends of mine and liked how they did things.
“It really is about making people aware that I am seriously stepping back into the music world with this new album,” concludes Thomas. “It’s time for me to hone in on my fan base.”
Date Signed: August 2017
Label: Priority Records
Type of Music: R&B/Pop
Management: A. Cole - Complex Entertainment
Booking: Dennis Ashley - ICM
Legal: Angela Rogers - The DNA Group
Publicity: Aishah White - AKW Public Relations, [email protected]
Web: leonthomas.com
A&R: Fuzzy West & Serge Durand
