David Immanuel Menachem Sasagi Le’aupepe is an Australian singer, songwriter, guitarist and

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band Gang of Youths, which he founded in 2011. He served as the sole songwriter on the band's first two albums, ''

The Positions ''The Positions'' is the debut studio album by Australian alternative rock band Gang of Youths, released on 17 April 2015 through Mosy Recordings. Written by frontman David Le'aupepe over three years, his lyricism reflects on personal struggl ...

'' (2015) and '' Go Farther in Lightness'' (2017), finding lyrical inspiration from personal hardships including loss. Following the death of his father in 2018, the band's most recent album, '' Angel in Realtime'' (2022), is a reflection on Le'aupepe's grieving process and family identity.

Early life

Le'aupepe was born and raised in the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

of Sydney by his Samoan father, and his mother, an Austrian-Jewish social worker. He started playing music at the age of seven, and was proficient at drums,

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

and piano, in hopes of becoming a

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

. He was nine when he began performing in a Baptist church. In his youth, he was heavily influenced by rock artists including

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

, and recalled that watching a live recording of " Born to Run" made him intent on pursuing music as a career: "that was when I knew I needed to do this for real". Le'aupepe states that he was "raised on

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

", and that in the production of Gang of Youths' second studio album '' Go Farther in Lightness'' (2017), it "felt very natural to employ devices that would have normally been used by, say,

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

Personal life

Mental health

In 2014. Le'aupepe attempted

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

by stepping in front of a car while heavily intoxicated, on a "week-long bender that precluded sleep and eating". His friends, aware of his state, called the police who were able to intervene and take Le'aupepe to rehabilitation. He later documented this experience in the band's breakout 2015 single, "

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

". Le'aupepe has been open about his experiences with imposter syndrome. In a 2021 interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', writer Sian Cain claimed the frontman "hates his voice, his lyrics and both of their previous albums". Le'aupepe also claims he is a perfectionist. In an interview with ''Pilerats'' before the release of ''

'' (2015), the frontman responded to a question regarding the album's release timeframe, commenting on the year-long rollout: "Sometimes I’ll wake up and listen to the record and I’m okay with it. Other times I’ll wake up and we’ll have to change it", adding: "I’m a perfectionist, I’m nuts, I’m insane". Le'aupepe has discussed how the success of Gang of Youths in Australia badly damaged his mental health, saying: "Our fame in Australia actually fucked me up really badly".

Relationships

In 2011, Le'aupepe met his first wife, and they married when he was 21. He would write songs for her while she was receiving

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

for metastasised

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

. Le'aupepe met his second wife in New York City in 2017. The couple live in London.

Family

His father Teleso died of cancer in 2018, but before he died, he hinted that there were a number of family secrets to be discovered in

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

. David Le'aupepe and his wife travelled to

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

, where it was revealed his father had disappeared to Australia in the 1970s, leaving behind two sons who both thought he had died. Further, Teleso was actually ten years older than he claimed, and was not brought up in New Zealand as purported, rather Samoa.

Discography

Gang of Youths

''For a full list of Gang of Youths releases, see Gang of Youths discography.'' * ''

'' (2015) * '' Go Farther in Lightness'' (2017) * '' Angel in Realtime'' (2022)

As featured artist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaupepe, David 21st-century Australian male singers 1992 births Australian rock singers Australian rock guitarists 21st-century Australian male writers Writers from Sydney Musicians from Sydney Gang of Youths Living people 21st-century Australian singer-songwriters