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Leon Thomas III

Leon George Thomas III (born August 1, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, 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 Andre Harris on the Nickelodeon series Victorious (2010–2013), for which he received an 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. He has earned writing credits on former Victorious co-star Ariana Grande's Positions, Drake's Certified Lover Boy, Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign's Vultures Vol. 1, and Toni Braxton and Babyface's Grammy Award-winning album Love, Marriage & Divorce (2014). Thomas earned a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song nomination at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, for co-writing the song "Gold Roses" by Rick Ross (featuring Drake). He later won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, for his contribution to the song "Snooze" by SZA.

Life and career

Thomas was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Jayon Anthony and Leon Thomas II. He made his Broadway debut at the age of 10 in 2003 as Young Simba in the Broadway production of The Lion King. In 2004, he appeared as Jackie Thibodeaux in the original Broadway cast of Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change. and toured with the company during its five-month run in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. Thomas also performed in the Broadway production of The Color Purple. In 2007, Thomas appeared in the film August Rush as Arthur, performing the song "La Bamba", and briefly after signed a development deal with Nickelodeon appearing as the singing voice for Tyrone in the animated series The Backyardigans. Thomas has also guest-starred on Jack's Big Music Show and Just Jordan. He also appeared as Harper in the iCarly episode "iCarly Saves TV" and was featured on The Naked Brothers Band "Christmas Special".

He played a main character on Victorious, portraying Andre Harris, which premiered on Nickelodeon on March 27, 2010. Thomas also appeared as Andre in the crossover episode between Victorious and iCarly, iParty with Victorious. He also appeared as himself in an episode of True Jackson, VP. On August 2, 2011, the soundtrack album Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show was released, with Thomas featured in the songs "Song 2 You" and "Tell Me That You Love Me". On June 5, 2012, Victorious 2.0: More Music from the Hit TV Show was also released, with Thomas featured in the songs "Countdown" and "Don't You (Forget About Me)". Victorious ended production in July 2012 and the series' last episode aired on February 2, 2013.

In 2012, Thomas started to record his first mixtape called Metro Hearts; it was released on August 1, 2012. Songs on the mixtape include "Forever", "Bad", "Moving On", "Vibe", "Like Clay", and "Never Look Back". The mixtape also included a cover of Drake's "Take Care" with Ariana Grande. Thomas co-wrote the song "Ain't No Other Me" for the British girl group Stooshe, which features as a deluxe edition track on their debut album, London with the Lights On. Thomas co-wrote four songs on his former co-star Ariana Grande's 2013 album Yours Truly. He also co-produced four songs on the album, in addition to the song "Last Christmas" from Grande's EP Christmas Kisses, as a member of production duo the Rascals. His production work under the Rascals was also included on Toni Braxton and Babyface's Grammy Award-winning album Love, Marriage & Divorce, contributing to the solo "I'd Rather Be Broke", performed by Braxton.

On September 24, 2013, Thomas released a new single, "Hello How Are You" (featuring Wiz Khalifa). On January 1, 2014, Thomas released a new mixtape, V1bes, under the name Leon Thomas, via DatPiff. He also announced that a music video for "Hello How Are You" was in the works. In 2016, he served as a co-producer for Post Malone's album Stoney.

In 2016, Thomas released the mixtape Before the Beginning via SoundCloud, which compiled eight songs which he had "[held on] for a long time". In 2017, he appeared in the Kathryn Bigelow-directed film Detroit.

2018 saw the release of Thomas' debut EP Genesis, which featured guest appearances from Buddy and Tayla Parx. The next year, Thomas earned a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song nomination at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards for co-writing and co-producing the song "Gold Roses" by Rick Ross (featuring Drake). Thomas would also go on to write and produce more records under the Rascals production duo, as well as a solo producer, co-writing, and co-producing two songs on Ariana Grande's Positions, and three songs on Drake's Certified Lover Boy.

In May 2022, Ty Dolla Sign signed a joint venture deal with Motown for his newly launched EZMNY Records imprint, announcing Thomas to be the label's first artist.

He was one of the writers and producers on the track "Burn" by ¥$ (Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign) from their album Vultures 1, released on February 10, 2024.