Ryan Leslie

During his freshman year at Harvard, Leslie devoted many hours per week to creating and developing music in a studio basement on campus. He taught himself basic production skills and also developed a musical style of his own. As the semesters progressed, Leslie spent more and more time in the school's studio molding his craft.[1] He also performed many events around campus and was a part of the school's all male a cappella group The Krokodiloes.[2] Due to the conflict with music and school, Leslie was put on academic probation three times during his college career.[1] He has said in many interviews that during those college years, he became accustomed to getting 2 to 3 hours of sleep per night.[1] To earn disposable income during these years, Leslie sold instrumentals to local artists in the Boston area.

After graduating college, Leslie urged his parents to allow him to go into the music industry. They told him that he could have a better future considering he graduated from college at the age of 19. Leslie insisted that he was going to pursue his musical interests for two years and if he didn't like it he would stop. Leslie remained in Boston because of its music scene. He took on community service jobs to help support himself and would spend nights in the recording studio working on his music.[7] Eventually, Leslie moved back home with his parents in Phoenix where he convinced them to take out a loan for a production studio so that he could pursue music full-time. He vowed to his family that he would pay back the $15,000 loan one day, even if it meant going back to school and getting a more traditional job. For the next several months, Leslie worked towards developing a distinct sound. During this period, Leslie has said that he ate and slept very little. In the summer of 2003, Ryan landed a production internship with producer Younglord. He has said in interviews that he considers this 30-day internship the jump-start of his career in the music industry. Within the first week, Leslie produced the song "Keep Giving Your Love To Me" that would later be performed by Beyoncé for the Bad Boys II soundtrack. The soundtrack was supervised by Sean "Diddy" Combs, who was impressed by Leslie's production style and offered him a management contract upon meeting him.[8]

Under the management of Combs, Leslie worked on various Bad Boy Records projects, including releases from Loon, Cheri Dennis, B5, New Edition and Danity Kane. During that time, Leslie co-produced a record for Britney Spears. Also in 2003, Leslie was introduced by his then attorney Ed Woods to Tommy Mottola. Mottola soon became a mentor of Leslie's and offered him a publishing deal with Aspen Songs and a recording contract with Casablanca, Mottola's imprint distributed by Universal Music Group. Under the mentorship of Mottola and Combs, Leslie signed then-aspiring model Cassie Ventura to his imprint, NextSelection in 2005.[8]

In late 2003, Leslie began recording his debut album, entitled Just Right, and released two singles: "The Way That U Move Girl" and "Used 2 Be" (with Fabolous). The album was never officially released due to creative differences between Leslie and his record label.[9]

Ryan Leslie performing at the B.U.M.P. Music Festival in Boston in 2010.

Ryan Leslie returned to the studio in 2006 to record a new debut album. The lead single, "Diamond Girl" was released in December 2007.[10] The video for "Diamond Girl" was premiered on BET's 106 & Park, and released on Leslie's YouTube channel with a special behind-the-scenes clip. In November 2007, he released a video for a song named "I-R-I-N-A" that was produced in-house and released through his YouTube channel as well.

His second single, "Addiction" features pop singer and protege Cassie, with a rap cameo from long-time collaborator, rapper Fabolous. The song was officially released in August 2008.[10] Of the two music videos made for the song, the "Making of 'Addiction'" clip became Leslie's most popular video on YouTube, with more than 3.2 million views.

His third single, "How It Was Supposed To Be" also has two music videos: a rock version and a military take on the song, which was Leslie's directorial debut and was co-directed by model Tyson Beckford.[11] The single was released March 23, 2009. After many setbacks, his self-titled album, Ryan Leslie, was finally released on February 10, 2009. Leslie wrote, arranged, produced, and performed every song on his album. Notable instrumentalists on his debut set include Tommy Mottola, Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, and Brent Paschke.

Ryan Leslie enamored old and new fans alike (June 23) during the first of two back-to-back performances at New York City's Bowery Ballroom. The R&B singer/rapper/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist (who parted ways with former label Universal Motown mid-2010) celebrated his new-found independence with performances of former hits like "Addicted" and "How It Was Supposed to Be", as well as two new tracks: "Glory" and "Maybachs and Diamonds".

He was a featured artist on the Kanye West song 'Christian Dior Denim Flow', a single released as part of Kanye's marketing campaign for the album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The collection of singles leading up to the albums release was referred to as 'G.O.O.D Fridays'.

"Never had a top ten, but they still respect my art," Ryan Leslie sang during "Glory", which is slated to be included on his third release, "Les Is More"—his first independent album following 2009's self-titled debut and "Transition". "Maybachs and Diamonds" is a slow, groovy tune about flourishing his partner with more than just material things, like "Maybachs and Diamonds".

Initially, Leslie had a four-album deal with Universal, but toward the end of that contract, "Universal was interested in reshaping my deal to more of a 360, and they actually made a counter-offer from the initial recording fund," Leslie tells Billboard.com. "At that point I saw that as a window to potentially branch off and try something that was going to be new and dynamic."

While Leslie did not make any formal announcements about his departure from Universal Motown during the set, he took some subtle jabs at his previous label home. "I've always wanted to play these songs but I couldn't before," he said while singing "Guardian Angel." "I always felt like this song should be a single.

Ryan Leslie performing at the Manifesto 8th Year (2014) in Toronto.

Ryan Leslie announced on Twitter and Facebook in January 2011, that his third album would be released July 4, 2011. His first official single from the album released was 'Glory', despite the first singles performed being 'Beautiful Lie' and 'Breathe'. However Leslie would later announce on his website and Twitter account that the album has now been pushed back for a release 'This Fall'. On October 11, he sent an e-mail to his fanbase saying "I promise 'Les Is More' is just a few weeks away."

Les is More is now a visual album. So far "Glory", "Beautiful Lie", "Good Girl" and "5 Minute Freshen Up" are out on his website. The latter was released on March 20, 2012. "Dress You To Undress You" and "Swiss Francs" are still scheduled for release. Other Tracks Mentioned to be on the album by Leslie via his official Twitter are "Ready or Not" and " Live Good (Riviera Flow) Feat. Raekwon". Leslie has performed the tracks "Breathe (Feat. Mr Hudson) and "One Lonely Heart" live and said they would be included on Les is More. "Joan Of Arc" was released in mid-2011 and Leslie stated at that time that it would be included on Les is More.

Ryan Leslie announced the date for his album Les Is More via Twitter. The album was released on October 22, 2012. Ryan announced in February 2013 that his fourth studio album Black Mozart would be released April 16, 2013, however delayed the release. The full album was released to members of Leslie's #Renegades club on August 31, 2013.[12]

While working as a producer, Leslie went on to create NextSelection Lifestyle Group, his music-media company he founded with online marketing partner Rasheed Richmond.[13][14] Ryan signed his first artist, Cassie in 2005. Under Ryan's guidance, Cassie went on to become one of the fastest rising R&B acts that year. Her breakout smash "Me & U" (written and produced by Leslie) spent 20 weeks on the Top 40 and went on to reach number three on the Billboard Hot 100, selling over a million digital units. "Me & U" also went on to become one of the biggest records in the history of Atlantic Records.[15]

Ryan posts an interactive daily video blog, where he gives viewers a taste of what daily life is like in the music business. "Blogging is something that allows us to document life," Leslie said. "When you look at a lot of successful films, books, a lot of them relate to the experiences of others," and the video blog is a way for him to connect with the masses. "There have been other video blogs, but this one's a first of its kind from a music standpoint," he said [16] "It's a huge commitment," he said of the video blog. "It takes six, seven hours a day to produce a video blog."[16] In anticipation for the release of Les Is More, Leslie releases a new music video from his album for every video that reaches one million hits on his website ryanleslie.com.

Recently, Ryan signed Krys Ivory as his newest act under NextSelection.[17] He also signed YouTube star Mia Rose.

In August 2013, Leslie released his fourth studio album, Black Mozart, through his #Renegades music club.[18] The method in which Leslie released Black Mozart galvanized him to start SuperPhone, a direct text marketing service.[19] In subsequent months, musicians such as 50 Cent, Raphael Saadiq, and Talib Kweli would use the underlying technology to launch their respective upcoming studio albums and power their own music membership clubs.[20] Kweli spoke about the experience in an interview, "The first thing that appeals to me is the direct contact with the fans and the fact that I receive their e-mails...The second thing is the fact that the money comes directly to me when you buy the album from me. It goes directly to my account. There is nobody taking their cut."[21]

Leslie's work with SuperPhone has been supported by venture capitalists such as Ben Horowitz,[22] journalists such as TechCrunch's Josh Constine,[23] and musicians such as Kanye West.[24] Miley Cyrus, Zayn, Silk Sonic, Ava Max, and Cardi B have employed SuperPhone direct-texting marketing methods.[25]

Leslie has stated that Stevie Wonder is one of the biggest influences on his music.[26] He attributes Michael Jackson, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Quincy Jones, The Beatles, and D'Angelo as musical heroes as well.[27]

Leslie's blog, YouTube channel, MySpace page and Twitter have been the biggest contributors to his fanbase.[28] His videos have become some of the most popular on YouTube, bringing accolades such as "Top 10 Most Subscribed Users".[1] Leslie also posts videos documenting his interaction with his audience, including giving away free iPods,[29] backstage passes to his concerts,[30] and invitations to have dinner with him.[31] His energy and creative spontaneity have earned him the respect from those inside and outside of the music industry. On his website/video diary, there is a clip featuring artists such as Boyz II Men, Chrisette Michelle, Musiq Soulchild, Keri Hilson, Christina Milian, and David Banner praising him for the inspiration they have received from his videos.

Leslie maintains such an active online presence as he believes that it is the future of the music industry. He says that due to the digital music revolution of the past few years, physical compact discs of music will eventually become obsolete, and will become the eight track tape of this generation.[16] Prior to his 2009 MySpace Release concert, Leslie encouraged aspiring musical artists to utilize digital media while marketing themselves.[32]

In October 2010, Leslie's laptop was stolen from his Mercedes, while he was on tour in Cologne, Germany. Leslie would offer $20,000, raising it to $1 million reward for the return of it due to his recent productions that it contained. The laptop was returned; however, the intellectual property that Leslie was trying to recover was not present, and Leslie did not feel the reward terms had been met. Armin Augstein, who runs a garage in Pulheim, near Cologne, who returned the laptop was granted the $1 million reward in 2012 after a lawsuit. He was later also made to pay an extra $180,000 in interest for refusing to pay for those two years. Leslie is still in search of the material that was missing.[33][34][35]