24 Facts About Ryan Leslie

Anthony Ryan Leslie was born on September 25,1978 and is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur.

Outside of music, Ryan Leslie founded the direct text marketing service SuperPhone in 2015.

Ryan Leslie was born in Richmond, Virginia, and relocated homes frequently due to his parents' jobs as Salvation Army officers.

Ryan Leslie graduated from Bear Creek High School in Stockton, California in 1994.

Ryan Leslie attended Harvard College, graduating at the age of 19 with a degree in government, concentrating in political science and macroeconomics.

Ryan Leslie grew up around music, playing cornet as a child in the Salvation Army band.

Ryan Leslie taught himself how to play the piano, along with the ability to recite music, as well as arrange chords to create songs.

Ryan Leslie suddenly saw a new future for himself when a friend played him a Stevie Wonder CD freshman year, and began spending time at the on-campus recording studio.

Under the management of Combs, Ryan Leslie worked on various Bad Boy Records projects, including releases from Loon, Cheri Dennis, B5, New Edition and Danity Kane.

Also in 2003, Ryan Leslie was introduced by his then attorney Ed Woods to Tommy Mottola.

Mottola soon became a mentor of Ryan Leslie's and offered him a publishing deal with Aspen Songs and a recording contract with Casablanca, Mottola's imprint distributed by Universal Music Group.

Under the mentorship of Mottola and Combs, Ryan Leslie signed then-aspiring model Cassie Ventura to his imprint, NextSelection in 2005.

In late 2003, Ryan Leslie began recording his debut album, entitled Just Right, and released two singles: "The Way That U Move Girl" and "Used 2 Be".

Ryan Leslie returned to the studio in 2006 to record a new debut album.

Ryan Leslie announced on Twitter and Facebook in January 2011, that his third album would be released July 4,2011.

Ryan Leslie announced in February 2013 that his fourth studio album Black Mozart would be released April 16,2013.

Ryan Leslie has stated that Stevie Wonder is one of the biggest influences on his music.

Ryan Leslie often documented his interaction with his audience, including giving away free iPods, backstage passes to his concerts, and invitations to have dinner with him.

Ryan Leslie has spoken about the impending rise of digital streaming replacing physical media as a means to consume music.

In October 2010, Ryan Leslie's laptop was stolen from his Mercedes, while he was on tour in Cologne, Germany.

Ryan Leslie would offer $20,000, raising it to $1 million reward for the return of it due to his recent productions that it contained.

The laptop was returned; however, the intellectual property that Ryan Leslie was trying to recover was not present, and Ryan Leslie did not feel the reward terms had been met.

Ryan Leslie was later made to pay an extra $180,000 in interest for refusing to pay for those two years.

Ryan Leslie is still in search of the material that was missing.