Josiah Leming (singer)
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Josiah Leming (born March 26, 1989), also known by his stage name Josiah and the Bonnevilles, is an American singer-songwriter originally from
Morristown, Tennessee Morristown is a city in and the county seat of Hamblen County, Tennessee, United States. Morristown also extends into Jefferson County on the western and southern ends. The city lies within the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, Ridge and Valley regi ...
. At the age of 17, Leming dropped out of high school and began traveling across the United States to play shows while living out of his car. After a brief stint on ''American Idol'', he eventually caught the eye of executives at Warner Bros. Records who signed him to his first major label record deal in 2008. Leming recorded in London with Warner Bros. and released ''Angels Undercover EP'' and ''Punk Ass Rain EP'' before his debut album, ''Come On Kid'', was released on September 13, 2010. Shortly after the release of his album, Leming and Warner Bros. went their separate ways. Leming continues to release music independently as Josiah and the Bonnevilles, and in 2024 completed his first ever sold out headlining tour.


Biography

Josiah Leming was born in
Morristown, Tennessee Morristown is a city in and the county seat of Hamblen County, Tennessee, United States. Morristown also extends into Jefferson County on the western and southern ends. The city lies within the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, Ridge and Valley regi ...
. He was raised by his mother and stepfather alongside four brothers and four sisters, six of whom are adopted. Leming first learned the piano when he was eight years old, after his mother purchased a
Casio keyboard Casio electronic musical keyboards were first manufactured in June 1979 and continue to be made by Casio today. Older units in the Casio line, despite being limited, were and still are popular with independent artists like Jack Stauber and Outkast ...
for nothing. He also played his grandmother's piano during visits to her house, and participated in school musicals and choirs. Described as "self-taught", he also credits an "elderly piano instructor" for his early musical education. By 13, Leming was writing his own music. A friend introduced him to the music of DC Talk,
Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...
and
Travis Travis may refer to: People and fictional characters *Travis (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Travis (surname), a list of people Places in the United States *Travis, Staten Island, a neighborhood *Travis Air Force Base, a ...
,
Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
,
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
,
Ryan Adams David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American Rock music, rock and Country music, country singer-songwriter. He has released 30 studio albums and three as a former member of Whiskeytown. In 2000, Adams left Whiskeytown and released ...
, and
The Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...
at 15. They had some influence on Leming's musical style. When he was 16, Leming began to perform locally. He dropped out of high school and left Morristown at 17, in an attempt to both make it as a musician and find a way to support his large and struggling family. Leming played in clubs and coffeehouses throughout the
Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...
while working at restaurants and temp agencies to pay for food and gas. He traveled to
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, Georgia in late 2007 when he heard ''American Idol'' would hold auditions there.


On ''American Idol''

Leming is the only contestant in the history of ''American Idol'' to not make the 'Top 24' yet still land a major label record deal. He was a contestant on Season 7 of ''
American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...
''; the producers were interested in his life as a traveling musician living out of his car. In an interview with
MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...
, Leming said he was disappointed with how they portrayed his life as a "sob story". "I wanted to stand on my voice, and my own two feet," he explained, "but they wanted to know about the story and they wanted to use it. I definitely wasn't going for the sympathy vote." He became a popular contestant after singing his rendition of "
Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982), also known as Grace of Monaco, was an American actress and Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier III from their marriage on April 18, 1956, until her death in 1982. ...
" by English singer
Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname, and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footba ...
. However, Leming did not make it to the top 24 for his performance of " Stand by Me" by Ben E. King;
Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive, television presenter and musician, best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing b ...
and
Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographe ...
refused to side with
Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...
in his wish to see Leming advance to the semi-finals. Leming later admitted the performance was poor. "I didn't know that song, so I was trying to make it my own, and I focused more on the words than the melody. And that's why it was kind of all messed up." He wanted to sing "
Take Me Out A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each ...
" by
Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. Fran ...
, but was not allowed to—Leming did not know why. Cowell is on record saying that he feels it was a mistake not to put Leming through to the next round, having stated: "We should have put him through. I was all for it. I wanted him in the competition." Leming's controversial ouster is widely believed to be one factor behind the return of wild cards to the selection process in
Season 8 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...
. Leming's popularity grew after returning to Tennessee. He gained more followers on MySpace. In addition, many label representatives called him, and producers of ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...
'' invited Leming to make a guest appearance, which he accepted. Leming signed a record deal with Warner Bros. Leming's "To Run" is the only song written by an ''American Idol'' contestant to be covered in the
Kidz Bop Kidz Bop is an American children's music group that produces family-friendly covers of pop songs and related media. Kidz Bop releases compilation albums that feature children covering songs that chart high on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and/or r ...
series.


Musical career

In 2007, before his appearance on ''American Idol'', Leming self-released ''The Paperplain EP'' and ''Her EP'' on his
MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
page for digital download. While unavailable on major streaming platforms for several years, Leming re-released these songs under ''First Demos'' in 2024.


2008-2010: Record deal and first album

Leming signed a record deal with Warner Bros. in 2008 and began work on his debut album ''Come on Kid''. To promote the album, Warner Bros. released ''Angels Undercover'' EP in 2008 and ''Punk Ass Rain'' EP in 2009. Meanwhile, Leming recorded ''Come on Kid'' in London and Los Angeles, with the help of producers Jesse Owen Astin,
Martin Terefe Martin Terefe (born 18 April 1969, Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish record producer and songwriter, now living and working in London, who has produced Grammy, Brit and Juno award -winning albums with artists like Jason Mraz, James Morrison and K ...
,
Warren Huart Warren Huart (born 28 January 1969) is an English record producer, musician, composer and recording engineer based in Los Angeles, California who is most associated as a music producer and/or engineer in the recording industry as a multi-platin ...
and
David Kosten David Kosten, better known by his stage name, Faultline is a British DJ, and producer. Career He has produced the largely instrumental debut ''Closer, Colder'' and the follow-up ''Your Love Means Everything'', which featured guest vocals fro ...
. "To Run" and "Arctic Outcry Wind", both songs from ''Angels Undercover EP'', are featured with slightly different mixes on the album. ''Come on Kid'' was released on September 13, 2010, after some delays. "It was emotional, and it took a long time," Leming tells Billboard.com. "In order to make an album that everybody was happy with, and also that I felt good about, it took the good part of two years to kind of wrangle that in." While these delays were rumored to have been caused by contract disputes with
19 Entertainment 19 Entertainment Inc. is a producer of entertainment properties for television with a focus on music owned by Sony Pictures Television through its nonfiction division. Founded by Simon Fuller in London in 1985, the company co-produced '' Pop Ido ...
, both Leming and 19 now say that the "disputes" were simply a misunderstanding."Josiah Leming: The Reality Rocks Interview"
November 11, 2008, by Lindsey Parker.
''Come on Kid'' flopped commercially, which prompted Warner Bros. to drop Leming from the label in late 2010.


2011: ''Another Life''

Leming recorded music independently in
Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...
before returning to Tennessee in early Fall 2011. He released a new single "What You've Taken" on February 6, 2011, in conjunction with the launch of his official website. The single was available on his website for free download until March 6, 2011. Now an independent artist, Leming would play in different venues across the country to promote his music. In addition, Leming would perform a live internet broadcast on
Stickam Stickam was a live-streaming video website that launched in 2005. Stickam featured user-submitted pictures, audio, video, and most prominently, live streaming video chat. The site quickly expanded to include live shows and produced content from ...
, performing songs and keeping his followers updated on the progress of his musical career. During a live Stickam broadcast on July 24, 2011, Leming announced he would independently release his second album in September 2011; however, he later pushed the release date to November 2011. In anticipation of his second album, Leming released three singles. One of Leming's most popular songs, "One Last Song" was selected as the debut single, after Leming had initially intended to release a version of the song on Come On Kid. One Last Song was released on September 24, 2011. The second single, "Too Young", was released on October 24, 2011, followed by "Another Life" on November 10, 2011. Leming's independently-released second album, ''Another Life'', was released on November 29, 2011.


2013-2016: Josiah and the Bonnevilles and ''Cold Blood EP''

In the summer of 2013, Leming completed the Listen Close tour. A live album from this tour was released on August 30, 2013. The album was a compilation of live renditions of old songs, new songs, and covers as performed by Leming on the Listen Close North America tour. Leming moved to
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
. On September 16, 2014, Leming released "Long Gone", the first single to come from this new material, and the first single under his new moniker Josiah and the Bonnevilles. ''Cold Blood EP'' was released on March 3, 2016. Speaking about the new music, Leming told Pepperdine University's Graphic publication, "The content's kind of dark. All the songs came from the same period of time when I lived in Vegas alone. I was kind of withdrawn; I had gone through a breakup."


2018-2021: Yucatan Records; ''On Trial'' and ''Motel Mayday''

Josiah and the Bonnevilles did not release their debut album with Vagrant Records as anticipated, and instead signed with indie British label Yucatan Records in 2018, Their debut album, ''On Trial'', was released on March 28, 2018. The follow-up album, ''Motel Mayday'', was released on April 2, 2021 (with a commentary version released on April 30, 2021).


2021-2022: Taking a break, Patreon, and Independent success

After Motel Mayday's release, Leming departed Yucatan Records and began working as a bartender in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
and later worked in an
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
warehouse in
Lebanon, Tennessee Lebanon ( ) is the county seat of Wilson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,431 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in Middle Tennessee, approximately east of downtown Nashville. Lebanon is part of the Nashville Metro ...
. During this time, Leming released demos of unheard music on
Patreon Patreon (, ) is a monetization platform operated by Patreon, Inc., that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service and sell digital products. It helps artists and other creators earn a recurring income by provid ...
, where he secured enough of a following to quit his job and once again pursue music as an independent artist. Utilizing the popular social media platform
TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
, Josiah and the Bonnevilles was able to expand his following with covers of popular songs, such as
Creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...
's "One Last Breath",
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
's "Anti-Hero", and
Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...
's "Ghost". Capitalizing on his reclaimed popularity, Leming announced he was working on new music, which he continued to preview for contributors of his Patreon. On December 14, 2022, Josiah and the Bonnevilles released ''2022'', a compilation of singles that Leming released throughout 2022. Some of these tracks would later find their way onto future projects.


2022-2023: ''Country Covers'' and ''Endurance''

''Country Covers'' was released on January 27, 2023. Josiah and the Bonnevilles' long-awaited next album ''Endurance'' was released on October 25, 2023. In November 2023, Josiah and the Bonnevilles sold out a three night run at 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville, Tennessee, which would catapult Leming into a North American-wide tour. The album's deluxe edition with seven new tracks was released on February 14, 2024. Josiah and the Bonnevilles made their debut at the
Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
on April 13, 2024, playing alongside country music stars such as
Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He played in a number of local bluegrass music, bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention after ta ...
and
Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005, returning as a judge beginning with the twenty-third season. Underwood's f ...
. As of April 2024, Leming is back in his home studio in Nashville, Tennessee working on his follow-ups to ''Country Covers'' and ''Endurance''.


Discography


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leming, Josiah American Idol participants People from Morristown, Tennessee 1989 births Living people Singers from Tennessee 21st-century American guitarists Guitarists from Tennessee American male pianists American male guitarists 21st-century American multi-instrumentalists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers