Ryan Leslie Bio - Biography

Name Ryan Leslie
Height
Naionality American
Date of Birth 25-September-1978
Place of Birth Washington, D.C.
Famous for Singing
Anthony Ryan Leslie, professionally known as Ryan Leslie, is an American record producer, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and rapper from Washington, D.C.. Founder of the media company NextSelection Lifestyle Group, Leslie has produced singles for a number of artists in a variety of genres ranging from R&B/hip hop to pop to gospel. From 2005–2006, he had his most commercial success to date with NextSelection/Bad Boy/Atlantic recording artist Cassie and her single "Me & U". Leslie's debut album, Ryan Leslie (2009), features the songs "Diamond Girl", "Addiction", and "How It Was Supposed To Be". He was nominated for a Grammy in 2011.
Leslie grew up around music, playing cornet as a child in the Salvation Army band. Ryan later switched to piano because his overbite made it difficult to get proper embouchure on a brass instrument. At Harvard, he quickly joins the Krokodiloes, an a cappella group. Leslie suddenly saw a new future for himself when a friend played him a Stevie Wonder CD freshman year. “I became obsessed with him,” says Leslie. “I wanted to chase that man’s career.” Thus began the transition from premed Poindexter to R&B Romeo. Leslie became a constant presence at the on-campus recording studio. Fellow student Chiqui Matthew remembers Leslie making beats at every free moment. “He was on a different level of intensity. Most of us were pretty realistic—we’re Harvard students; this music stuff is fun, but this isn’t the future,” says Matthew, who now works with credit derivatives at Goldman Sachs. “But Ryan always had a ten-year plan about how he was going to take over the music industry.” While still a college student, Leslie began producing tracks for local Boston artists. Meanwhile, Leslie was beginning to mold his own image, too. “He had this pseudo-sexual, thugged-out Lothario thing,” says Matthew. “I never really bought it. He seemed more like a music nerd to me".