Leroy Gómez is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his work with 1970s disco and

latin music Latin music ( Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Spain and Portugal) and the Latino United States inspired by Latin Amer ...

act

Santa Esmeralda Santa Esmeralda is a French-American disco group formed in the 1970s. The group had hits with its remake of the 1960s hits "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and "House of the Rising Sun". Santa Esmeralda featured original lead singer Leroy Gómez i ...

Biography

Birth and early life

Leroy Gómez was born July 8, 1950, in

Wareham, Massachusetts Wareham ( ) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 23,303. History Wareham was first settled in 1678 by Europeans as part of the towns of Plymouth and Rochester. It was ...

, of Cape Verdean descent.

Career as saxophonist and in the Tavares

''See

Tavares Tavares may refer to: Places Brazil *Tavares, Paraíba *Tavares, Rio Grande do Sul *Rodovia Raposo Tavares, the longest highway in São Paulo *Tavares Bastos (favela), a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil *Tavares River Jamaica *Tavares Garden ...

'' After learning how to sing and play the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, Gómez started his own band at 14, and later joined

, a local group of brothers who shared his Cape Verdean heritage, and with whom he would go on to tour in North America and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Work with Elton John in Paris

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, Elton John invited him to play the sax on Social Disease, a song on his

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

classic album ''

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' is the seventh studio album by English singer-songwriter Elton John, first released on 5 October 1973 as a double LP. The album has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and is widely regarded as John's magn ...

''. Amidst this success, Gómez decided to leave his band "Tavares" and remain in

, getting work as a session player in Paris.

Work with Nicolas Skorsky and Jean Manuel de Scarano: Fauves Puma label

In Paris he met Nicolas Skorsky and Jean Manuel de Scarano, songwriters who had launched their own label with the aim of producing artists who would record their compositions.

was born of their collaboration, and the album ''

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" is a song written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott and Sol Marcus for the American singer-songwriter and pianist Nina Simone, who recorded the first version in 1964. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" has been co ...

'', with Gómez on lead vocals, debuted on the independent French label, Fauves Puma. A sudden huge success in Europe, the record was picked up for worldwide distribution by

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label current ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, the preeminent label of the

Disco era Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

.Casablanca Records Story
/ref> Essentially a studio act, Gómez was eager to perform, and a touring group was put together including a troupe of dancers, one of whom, by the name of

Tequila Tequila (; ) is a distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila northwest of Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands ('' Los Altos de Jalisco'') of the central western Mexican s ...

, would appear on several album and single cover photos and ultimately become his wife.MySpace.com – Santa Esmeralda – Italy, France – Club / Disco House / Latine – www.myspace.com/santaesmeraldamusic
/ref>

Success with ''Gypsy Woman'' and ''I Got It Bad''

Leroy Gómez left "Santa Esmeralda" in early 1978 to go as a solo artist and so recorded 2 solo albums: '' Gypsy Woman'' (

, 1978) and '' I Got It Bad'' (Casablanca, 1979).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Leroy American male singers American musicians of Cape Verdean descent American male saxophonists Living people People from Wareham, Massachusetts Singers from Massachusetts American expatriates in France 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians 1950 births