When Frank Sinatra sang, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,” he had no idea the line would one day apply to Leon Thomas. The Brooklyn native credits his New York upbringing, particularly his time on Broadway, with helping him develop the work ethic that prepared him for his music career.
During the 2000s, the “Mutt” singer appeared in the shows The Color Purple, Caroline, or Change and The Lion King. “I’ll say being from New York and being on Broadway — I did three Broadway plays — the one thing I learned is hard work,” he said in a post-Grammys press conference.
“Eight shows a week, no catering, I’m gonna tell you right now. And we work hard. We rehearse hard.”
“So now as an artist, I love to be in the rehearsal studio, really working on my craft,” he continued. “And I think a lot of that is attributed to wanting to be Broadway ready for every show. And yeah, I can definitely give Broadway all the flowers for that one.”
Leon won his first Grammy Awards this year, a milestone that comes after more than a decade of making music. He credited his years of working as a songwriter and producer for other artists with keeping him motivated before this breakthrough moment.
“I think one of the really amazing contributing factors was seeing my music work on other artists I really loved that I was working with, and knowing that people did enjoy my music when it was coming through the right kind of marketing and branding,” he said.
“So it let me know that I had to do a lot of work when it came to building a team that could really help execute that vision. And I found them.”
Leon won best R&B album for Mutt and best traditional R&B performance for the album’s track “Vibes Don’t Lie.”
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