Having started her career at the tender age of 3, when she started to play the piano, Leona, the Canadian born, Jamaican blooded singer/songwriter/actress, has developed a tremendous love for performing. At the age of 6, Leona established herself with her adoptive family from Toronto Canada in Oestgeest, the Netherlands. Here she enrolled at the Conservatory of Music at the age of 17. Although she cut het education short after het 3rd year, it had become quite obvious that showbiz is where she wants to be. After been sent to Hollywood for two months by her record compagny at the time she performed as suppoting act for Dru Hill in 1999 performing with Dutch R&B group Sat-R-Day in Rotterdam's Ahoy. She succeeded in being asked to accompany The Nits, Arling & Cameron and Junkie XL on their Tokyo tour in 2000. In 2001 she played the Nubian slave Aida in Joop van den Ende's hit musical AIDA. Which lead to more theatre shows such as o.a. Big Black & Beautiful and The Blues Brothers. Besides theatre she's been doing gigs, singing backing vocals for several renown Dutch recording artists.
You'll hear her voice on o.a. the CD's: the 1 Hit single "A Little Less Conversation (Junkie XL), "The Original" (BEEF),"This Will Be" in the movie Alles Is Liefde, WOOL (Nits), Music For Imaginairy Films
(Arling & Cameron), We Are A & C (Arling & Cameron) "Catch Up To My Step" (Junkie XL feat. Solomon Burke), The Weekend Is For You (Sat-R-Day), Het Draagbare Huis (Henk Hofstede), "What Is Love" (Soundtrack for the movie Oesters van Nam Kee- Leona & Edwin Jonkers), "I'd Like To Teach The World.." (Berget Lewis feat. Leona), Hi-Fi Underground (Arling & Cameron), and of course her own debut Top 20 hit single "Summer On Your Radio".
Never having lost track of her own goal she recorded her own CD, alongside drummer / producer Jonas Filtenborg. Fat Urban beats with a dash of Rock. Mix that with the soulfull voices of sultry vocalists.......That's Leona's recipe for her own style: Urban Rock!
Photographers:
Outrageousphotography.nl, Ron van Varik - popfotograaf.nl,
Joost Doensen, Marcel G. van Leeuwen - gekzijnisgezond.nl
Download LEONA now!!
