There are certain artists who seem to have all the gifts. They sing, write, compose, produce, and give electric live performances. Without question, Leon Thomas is in that select group of musicians. The New York City native has an impressive resume which includes being the singing voice of Tyrone on the hit Nick Jr. animated series The Backyardigans (2006–2008) and he starred as Andre Harris on the Nickelodeon series Victorious. He’s also written and produced hit songs as a member of The Rascals with his partner for SZA,  Kehlani, Ariana Grande, Drake, Babyface, Toni Braxton, and recently for Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign on Vultures 2.

As a solo artist, he released the acclaimed  Electric Dusk in August 2023. His latest project Mutt is set to be released in September, on EZMNY Records where he has the distinction of being the first artist signed to a label founded by Ty Dolla $ign and Shawn Barron.

Growing up in a family of music lovers, Thomas knew that he would pursue a career in music and entertainment at an early age.

“It’s been a crazy journey for me in music. My parents are also in music so music was flowing through the house. My mom was a singer and my stepdad was a guitarist for a lot of artists. I knew I wanted to do it professionally at around 10 years old. I got my first audition as Young Simba on “The Lion King” on Broadway,” Thomas told BET.com. “I got that feeling of success and the feeling of working hard for something that I wanted. Being able to star on Broadway, singing eight times a week, and having crowds respond to the music was just a beautiful moment that had me addicted to the process.”

Eventually, Thomas’ songwriting skills would take him from Broadway to the stage to crafting R&B and pop songs as a teenager.

“Outside of placing songs for myself on this TV show, I think my first official placement was with an artist by the name of RaVaughn who was signed to Motown. We did this song for her called “Best Friend” and I was around 17 years old,” Thomas said. “It ended up being her single and it did pretty well.”

While his songwriting prowess was evident, that was not his plan of entry into the music game.

“It kind of happened by accident. There used to be this YouTube series called “Day In the Life” featuring Jermaine Dupri where a cameraman followed him around in the studio as he made music for artists,” he said. 

“That inspired me to want to do the same thing.”

When Thomas’ status as a songwriter and producer continued to grow, his work gained the attention of the legendary Babyface who he has developed a close bond with.

“Once I started working with Babyface, I kind of never looked back. He let me and my production partner, Khristopher Riddick-Tynes, use his room essentially for free. It was a great experience because we were able to test out some of our new ideas on amazing artists in one of the best studios in Los Angeles.”

He would go on to win a Grammy with Babyface and BLK for co-producing SZA’s “Snooze.”

“We made so many songs together but that one really felt special because of the amount of success that we had,” he recalled. “Seeing all the HBCU marching bands perform that song and get that win with Babyface was just a beautiful full-circle moment. He is still my mentor to this day and it was nice to share that and win with him.”

After producing for others, he is now getting the chance to showcase his skills as a solo act with the release of Electric Dusk in 2023.

“There were times when I decided I was going to just focus on production. And I feel like now I'm focusing more on being an artist,” he said.

“My first album was on a major label, and it felt really good to be heard. There were so many people that I had no idea who was watching and listening to my music. A friend of mine was Janet Jackson's background dancer, and she ssaid that she would play some of my music on the tour bus,” he continued. “And it was just cool to know that legends like Raphael Saadiq resonated with the music that I was making.” 

Leading up to the release of this latest project, “Far Fetched” is his new hot single that is gaining a major buzz. Originally intended for Drake, Thomas reshaped the song to make it his own.

“Far Fetched" was put together to pitch to Drake a long time ago and was just sitting on my hard drive for a while. Boi-1da  brought that song back to my attention. He was like, 'You played me this song a while ago and it's really special. You need to, you need to finish that out.’ I got back at it and started adding more elements to the production. Then I played it for Ty and he loved it and dropped an amazing verse on it. Now it's on the album and I'm excited for people to get a taste of that process.”  

With his highly anticipated album due to drop soon, Thomas says he owes all of his success to the love of the craft and takes enormous pride in being Ty Dolla $ign’s flagship artist. He described Ty as “one of his biggest champions.”

“Ty is more than just a mentor. He’s also an amazing executive and it's been an awesome process to kind of learn through his experiences on just how to operate as an artist,” Thomas said. “I'm doing everything to build a strong team around me similar to his. For him to invest time and energy into this process, in conjunction with Motown is such a blessing, because cosigns go a long way.”