Leon Norman Patillo (born January 1, 1947) is an American

contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

singer, keyboardist, and evangelist.

Career

Patillo's first musical endeavor was with the group Creation, later called Leon's Creation. Formed in the late 1960s, Creation was a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

group similar in style and composition to

Sly & the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel, and R&B, became a pivotal influence on subsequent Amer ...

; they were signed to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. Aside from Creation, Patillo worked at times with

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. As one of the two flagship groups of George Clinton's P-Funk collective, they helped pioneer the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, ...

and

Martha & the Vandellas Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1973 as Martha Reeves & the Vandellas) were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s as a major act for Motown Records. Formed by friends Annett ...

. In 1974, Patillo joined

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer * Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp ** Santana 20 ** Santan ...

, in time to record the album '' Borboletta''. He left in 1975, but returned in late 1976 and recorded the ''

Festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

'' album. Afterwards, he launched a solo career on Maranatha Music! then transitioned to Myrrh/

Word Records Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records). History In ...

. He released a string of successful albums on the CCM market in the 1980s, and had his own television show on TBN called ''Leon and Friends''. Leon Patilloat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Patillo founded his own

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, Positive Pop, in the 1990s, and his most recent releases have been on this imprint. For years, Patillo pastored the Rock House Church on the historic Queen Mary in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. He retired from the ministry in late 2009 in favor of traveling and leading seminars across the country.

Discography

*''This Is the Beginning'' by Leon's Creation, Studio 10 Records (1969) *''Creation'' by Creation (Funk R&B group) ATCO Records (1974) *''Dance Children Dance'' (1979) *''Don't Give In'' (1981) *''I'll Never Stop Lovin' You'' (1982) *''Live Experience'' (1983) U.S. Top Contemporary Christian albums No. 10

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Allmusic.com, ''passim''. *''The Sky's the Limit'' (1984) U.S. Christian No. 5 *''Love Around the World'' (1985) U.S. Christian No. 7 *''A Funny Thing Happened'' (1986) *''Brand New'' (1987) U.S. Christian No. 8 *''On the Way Up'' (1989) *''Christmas with Leon'' (1992) *''Hands of Praise'' (1992) *''Church Is on the Move'' (1993) *''Souly for Him'' (1994) *''The Classics'' (1996) *''I Can'' (1999) *''Breathe on Me'' (2005) *''Live Experience 2'' (2005)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patillo, Leon 1947 births Living people American performers of Christian music American male singers Myrrh Records artists Singers from San Francisco Santana (band) members Trinity Broadcasting Network people