Looney Tunes CD's

Transition is the second album by Washington, D.C. R&B singer-songwriter and producer Ryan Leslie.http. This is the second album by Leslie released in 2009, nine months after his self-titled debut album. The entire album is written, arranged, produced and engineered by Ryan Leslie. It was inspired by a lady whom Leslie met during a rehearsal for his showcase at New York's S.O.B.'s. They went on to have a relationship during the summer of 2009, which the album tells the story of. The first single for the album is entitled "You’re Not My Girl,” which was released in July 2009.The 2nd single "I Choose You " was released in January 2010. Leslie shot the video in late February, and should be released sometime in March.

References

Category:2009 albums

Category:Albums produced by Ryan Leslie

Category:Ryan Leslie albums

Artist/Band Information

Anthony Ryan Leslie (born September 25, 1978, in Washington, D.C.) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, entrepreneur, and singer. 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."

Biography

Ryan Leslie was born into a multicultural (mixed race) family. Leslie is the oldest son of mother Mooi Leslie who is of Caribbean Dutch, Chinese, and African descent, and father Clement Leslie who is from Barbados and of Irish ancestry, raised in Trinidad. His parents were Salvation Army officers who frequently relocated for work. Ryan has lived in various states, cities, and countries. At an early age, Leslie taught himself how to play the piano. He developed the ability to recite music, as well as arrange chords to create songs.http At the age of 14, Leslie scored a 1600 on his SATs—a perfect score—while attending Bear Creek High School, in Stockton,California.http In 1993 he applied to four University of California campuses as well as Stanford, Yale and Harvard. In his application essays he explained his interest in matriculating from his junior year in high school without having earned a diploma. He was accepted to all except Yale. He ultimately decided to attend Harvard College.http At the age of 19, Leslie graduated from Harvard with a degree in Government, concentrating in Political Science and Macroeconomics.http During his commencement ceremonies, Ryan delivered the prestigious Harvard Oration.http

Music

RyanLeslieJuly06.jpgthumbrightLeslie in July 2006

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. As the semesters progressed, Leslie spent more and more time in the school's studio molding his craft.http He also performed many events around campus and was a part of the school's all male a cappella group The Krokodiloes.http Due to the conflict with music and school, Ryan was put on academic probation three times during his college career.http He has said in many interviews that during those college years, he became accustomed to getting 2 to 3 hours of sleep per night.http To earn disposable income during these years, Leslie sold instrumentals to local artists in the Boston area.http

After graduating college, Leslie stayed in Boston to remain a part 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.http 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 job. For the next several months, Leslie worked towards developing a distinct sound. During this period, Ryan has said that he ate and slept very little.http 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 Beyonce for the Bad Boys II soundtrack.http 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.http

Under the management of Combs, Ryan worked on various Bad Boy projects including releases from Loon, Cheri Dennis, B5, New Edition and Danity Kane. During that time, Leslie also 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 Ryan’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, Ryan signed then-aspiring model Cassie Ventura to his imprint, NextSelection in 2005.http

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.http

Debut album, Transitions, & Leaving Label

Leslie returned to the studio in 2006 to record a new debut album. The lead single, "Diamond Girl", was released in December 2007.http 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.http 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.http

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.http 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 2.2 million views.http

His third single, "How It Was Supposed To Be," also has two music videos: a rock versionhttp and a military take on the song, Leslie's directorial debut and co-directed by model Tyson Beckford.http The single was released March 23, 2009. After many setbacks, his self-titled album, Ryan Leslie, was finally released on February 10, 2009.http 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 last month -- 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."

"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 didn't 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."

Online presence

Leslie is considered a pioneer for his sharp online marketing skills. His intuitiveness of the shift in technology has kept him ahead of the game with establishing an online presence. Leslie’s blog, YouTube channel, MySpace page and most recently Twitter have been the biggest contributors to his growing fanbase.http Leslie releases content that brings fans into his lifestyle as a musician. His videos have become some of the most popular on YouTube, bringing accolades such as "Top 10 Most Subscribed Users".http Leslie also posts videos documenting his interaction with his audience, including giving away free iPods,http backstage passes to his concerts,http and invitations to have dinner with him.http 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’ve received from his videos.

Prior to his 2009 MySpace Release concert, Leslie encouraged aspiring musical artists to utilize digital media while marketing themselves.http

NextSelection Lifestyle Group

While working as producer Leslie went on to create NextSelection Lifestyle Group, his music-media company.http 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.http Me & U also went on to become one of the biggest records in the history of Atlantic Records.http

Recently, Ryan signed Krys Ivory as his newest act under NextSelection.http He also signed Youtube star Mia Rose.

Musical influences

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

Celebrity

Aside from his professional activities, speculation of an alleged romantic relationship with then protege Cassie was the basis of Leslie's first foray into the gossip rags.http He has neither denied nor confirmed having an intimate relationship with her, though, in an early 2009 interview with DJ Vlad, it was implied that there were sparks between the two.http Other publicized alleged relationships have included model Chanel Iman,http winner of ANTM cycle 8 Jaslene Gonzalez,http Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Irina Shayk (to whom he dedicated a song on his self-titled album), socialite Cheyenne Tozzi,http and actress/model Debbie Weinberg.http Most recently, Leslie has been linked to Australian model/actress Nicole Trunfio.httphttp He was named one of "New York's 50 Hottest Bachelors" in 2009 by PageSix Magazine, published by the New York Post.http

Discography

Studio Albums

*2005: Just Right (Shelved)

*2009: Ryan Leslie

*2009: Transition

*2010: Les Is More

Awards/Nominations

*BET Awards

**2009, Best Male R&B Artist

**2009, Best New Artist

*Soul Train Awards

**2009, Best New Artist

*Academic Awards

**2010, AMBLE Vanguard Award from Harvard Collegehttp

References