Leroy Leon Pendarvis (born 1945) is an American session musician. He plays keyboards and is a background vocalist. He is also an occasional guitarist. The artists he has worked with over the years include Bonnie Raitt on her ''

Streetlights A street light, light pole, lamp pole, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Similar lights may be found on a railway platform. When urban electric power distribution ...

'' album which was released in 1974,

Van McCoy Van Allen Clinton McCoy (January 6, 1940 – July 6, 1979) was an American musician, record producer, arranger, songwriter, singer and orchestra conductor. He is known for his 1975 internationally successful song " The Hustle". He has approximat ...

on his '' Disco Baby'' album which was released in 1975,

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

on her ''

Songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5000 ...

'' album which was released in 1978, Eric Clapton on his ''

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

'' album which was released in 1986,

Don Johnson Donnie Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor, producer and singer. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series ''Miami Vice'', for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Emm ...

on his '' Let It Roll'' album which was released in 1989, Avril Lavigne on her '' Keep Holding On'' album which was released on 2007, and many more. He was at one time a member of the group Passion. He is also the musical director and conductor for NBC's ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' (SNL) Band. Since 1986 he has been a member of

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respecti ...

band. He was the husband of singer and chorist Janice Pendarvis (born Janice Gadsden), who sang for

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", " Feel Like Makin' Love", "Wher ...

, Sting, Philip Glass,

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

, and the Naked Brothers Band.

Background

The son of a first-grade primary school teacher, Pendarvis grew up in South Carolina. In addition to teaching, his mother was also pianist at their church. She also gave piano lessons to make extra money. The young Pendarvis graduated from climbing up on the bench to hit the keys to being taught by his mother. He also learned to play trumpet and saxophone. He also was a bass player when he came to New York. He was married to Janice Pendarvis (formerly Janice Gadsden) whom he had known since she was 13. They married some time after she left her parents place and moved in with her cousin Andrew Gadsden who was Pendarvis's roommate. He is also a board member for the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. He was married to former

Los Jovenes del Barrio Jillian Armsbury was a singer, performer, songwriter and occasional activist, originally from Washington state. She was a pioneer in the Charanga R&B music genre. She was the lead singer of the Latin group Los Jovenes del Barrio. She had worked ...

singer

Jillian Jillian is both a feminine given name and a surname. A spelling variant of Gillian, it originates as a feminine form of the given name Julian, Julio, Julius, and Julien. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Jillian Armenante ...

, (born Jill Maureen Armsbury) who died in January 2009 from

mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The most common area affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lining ...

Career

1970s

He played keyboards and provided the backing vocals for Richard Roundtree's 1972 album, ''The Man from Shaft''. Along with

Janice Gadsden Janice Gadsden Pendarvis is an American singer, songwriter, and voiceover artist. She has worked with artists such as Sting, David Bowie, Steely Dan, Peter Tosh, Brandy, the O'Jays, Philip Glass, Jimmy Cliff, Laurie Anderson, the Naked Brothe ...

, he co-wrote "Sing a Happy Song" for

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

. He also produced the song which was released in 1978.

1980s

He composed, recorded and mixed the original dramatic music for the music video " BAD" by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

2000s

By 2014, he had been with the Saturday Night Live Band, playing keyboards for 30 years and was the longest serving member with the outfit. As of early 2018, Pendarvis was still the music director and band conductor for ''

''. Along with guitarist

Larry Campbell Larry W. Campbell (born 28 February 1948) is a Canadian politician that served as the 37th mayor of Vancouver, Canada from 2002 until 2005 and since 2005 has been a member of the Senate of Canada. Before he was mayor, Campbell worked for th ...

, and bass virtuoso

Pino Palladino Giuseppe Henry "Pino" Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh musician, songwriter, and record producer. A prolific session bassist, he has played bass for acts such as The Who, the John Mayer Trio, Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan, Jeff Beck ...

, Pendarvis played on the 2018 Bettye LaVette album ''

Things Have Changed "Things Have Changed" is a song from the film ''Wonder Boys (film), Wonder Boys'', written and performed by Bob Dylan and released as a single on May 1, 2000, that won both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for ...

'', an album of songs by Bob Dylan which was released on

Verve Records Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simon ...

Work with Van McCoy

Along with

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as "In Your Eyes", " Sl ...

, Pendarvis played keyboards on the

& the Soul City Symphony album, ''Love Is the Answer'' which was released on Avco Records in 1974. He also played clavinet and piano on their next album '' Disco Baby'', which contained the massive hit in 1975, " The Hustle". He played on McCoy's album ''The Disco Kid'', which was released on Avco Records in 1975.Discogs
Van McCoy – The Disco Kid
/ref>

References

External links

Discogs: Leon Pendarvis

Imdb: Leon Pendarvis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pendarvis, Leon Music directors American music arrangers 20th-century American keyboardists 21st-century American musicians African-American pianists American organists American male organists 1945 births Living people Saturday Night Live Band members The Blues Brothers members 21st-century organists 21st-century American keyboardists Date of birth missing (living people)