Gregory Jay Leon (born May 19, 1958) is an American guitarist best known for his involvement with American heavy metal bands

Quiet Riot Quiet Riot is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band founded in Los Angeles in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads, bassist Kelly Garni, and vocalist Kevin DuBrow. The original lineup featured Rhoads and Garni with lead vocalist Kevin Du ...

and toured with

Dokken Dokken is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. It split up in 1989 and reformed four years later. The band has had several hit singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, such as " Alone Again", " In My Dreams", and ...

. He also played with future

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Hollywood, California, in 1981 by bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, with guitarist Mick Mars and lead vocalist Vince Neil joining right after. The band has sol ...

drummer

Tommy Lee Thomas Lee (born Thomas Lee Bass; October 3, 1962) is an American musician who co-founded and plays drums for the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. He also founded rap metal band Methods of Mayhem and has pursued solo musical projects. Early ...

and bassist

Nikki Sixx Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr.; December 11, 1958) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and radio personality, best known as the co-founder, bassist, primary songwriter, and only constant member of the hea ...

Career

Greg Leon was born in 1958 and grew up in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

, a foothills community of Los Angeles. As a teenager he was heavily influenced by T. Rex and the guitar playing of

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex (band), T. Rex. Bolan strongly i ...

. In his early twenties, Leon formed a

power trio A power trio is a rock band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit, leaving out a dedicated vocalist or an additional rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quart ...

called Suite 19 as lead guitarist and vocalist, a band which included future

Great White Great White is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The band is named after both the shark with the same name, and guitarist Mark Kendall's former stage nickname. In August 2008, Great White estimated they had sold aroun ...

drummer

Gary Holland Gary Holland (born Gary Hallinan, September 14, 1958) is an American hard rock and heavy metal drummer who worked in the 1980s with bands originating from California. He is perhaps best known for being the original drummer in Great White and ...

. Holland was soon replaced by future

drummer

. Lee was a fan of the band who showed up for every gig they played in Los Angeles. When drummer Holland left the band, Leon immediately approached Lee, who "knew all the songs and fit right in". With Leon writing all the band's material, Suite 19 became regulars at West Hollywood clubs such as the

Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed The Whisky) is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boulev ...

, The Starwood, and The Troubadour and subsequently the band earned the attention of record labels and became one of the more promising young bands on the

Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California, United States. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western bord ...

club circuit in the late 1970s. Lee described Leon as "a little

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...

" and said Suite 19's music sounded like "a heavier version of T. Rex and

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

". When

Randy Rhoads Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albu ...

left

to record with

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

in 1979, Leon was hired as his replacement and Suite 19 were no more. Lee was furious at Leon; "He and his folks didn't want to see me or talk to me. We went from being good friends to never talking. I was dead to him. So I said, 'Listen, Tommy, let me make a name for myself, and I'll come back and get you once I see this through,'" Leon recalled. His time in Quiet Riot would be brief, however, as the band's vocalist

Kevin DuBrow Kevin Mark DuBrow (October 29, 1955 – November 19, 2007) was an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Quiet Riot from 1975 until 1987, and again from 1993 until his death in 2007. Early ...

"was impossible to work with". Leon subsequently joined

at the insistence of

Don Dokken Donald Maynard Dokken (born June 29, 1953) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and founder of glam metal band Dokken. He is known for his vibrato-laden, melodic vocal style which has made him an influential figure in American ...

and he played a handful of European gigs with the band. After being rejected by record labels who were more interested in new wave bands, Leon left Dokken and was replaced by George Lynch. During this period, Leon also moonlighted as a guitar teacher at Musonia music school in Burbank, owned and operated by the family of Randy Rhoads. After leaving Dokken, Leon reconnected with Tommy Lee and the pair set about forming a new band, a band which would eventually become

. The pair attended the farewell gig of a popular local band called

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and Lee became obsessed with their bassist,

. Lee "just loved how Nikki looked. He was gung-ho about him, saying, 'This is the guy we should get'," according to Leon. Though Sixx was a friend of Leon's, he auditioned twice and was rejected due to not being able to play his instrument, and Leon felt the bassist's musicianship was "awful". Lee made the decision to hire Sixx, prompting Leon to quit in protest; "The way I saw it was that my guitar playing would get me through. I didn't need a guy like Nikki dragging me down. I had seen London many times, and I knew I wanted none of it," he recalled. Leon subsequently formed The Greg Leon Invasion, a group that has released several albums.

Personal life

Leon is married to Canadian singer Suza Wood. In 2005, he produced her first album titled ''Sweet Freedom''.

Discography

The Greg Leon Invasion

*''Greg Leon Invasion'' (1983) *''Born to Die'' (1984) *''Unfinished Business'' (2005) *''Suza,"Sweet Freedom" 2005 *''Guitars, Cars and Women'' (2010) *''Tell the Children'' (2021)

Wishing Well

*''Wishing Well'' (1997)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Greg American heavy metal guitarists Dokken members Mötley Crüe members Quiet Riot members Living people 1958 births Musicians from Glendale, California Guitarists from Los Angeles American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians