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Leon G. Thomas III (born August 1, 1993) is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, and actor. After early roles in Broadway and providing the singing voice of Tyrone on the Nick Jr. animated series The Backyardigans (2006–2008), he played André Harris on the Nickelodeon series Victorious (2010–2013), for which he received a NAACP Image Award nomination.
Thomas signed to Columbia and Rostrum Records, and sought success for his songwriting, and as a member of the production duo the Rascals. Read more on Last.fm
This is probably the best place to start for a Leon Thomas neophyte, and it’s arguably his best all-around album (beating out “The Leon Thomas Album” by a hair in my book). Besides featuring the absolute career highlight “Shape Your Mind to Die” – which features the funky interplay of Neal Creque on piano and Donald Pate’s bass with John Blair’s vitar backing up one of Thomas’s most impassioned vocal performances – the album balances a couple of blues covers (the “Boom-Boom-Boom” take really letting Larry Coryell’s guitar out of the bag) with some funky, soulful Thomas originals (the highlight of these being “Let’s Go Down to Lucy,” which really shows the influence of arranger Pee Wee Ellis’s time in the J.B.’s).
For those reading that first paragraph who want more of the Thomas featured on Pharoah Sanders’ “Karma,” well then I present you with “Gypsy Queen,” a 10 minute stunner that ranks alongside any of the longer, crazier free jazz pieces Thomas had been featured on before this. Thomas works his way through several of the stylings in his vocal repertoire before joining some of his cohorts in raining down firecrackers on Airto Moreira’s drums, while Stanley Clarke’s bass keeps the whole thing anchored beneath the fiery playing of Ellis and Creque.