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Todd Michael "Leon" Bridges (born July 13, 1989) is an American
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2015 song " Coming Home", which received regular airplay and was also a Top 10 Most Viral Track on
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
. Bridges' debut album, also titled '' Coming Home,'' was released on June 23, 2015, on
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
and subsequently nominated for
Best R&B Album The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the R&B music genre. Honors ...
at the
58th Annual Grammy Awards The 58th Annual Grammy Awards was held on February 15, 2016, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognizes the best recordings, compositions and artists of the eligibility year, which was from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 20 ...
.


Early life

Todd Michael Bridges was born in
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, on July 13, 1989. Bridges learned to play the guitar by playing simple chords to accompany his lyrics. While working at Del Frisco's Grille in Fort Worth, he played countless open-mics until he was signed by
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
in December 2014. It was his song "Lisa Sawyer", about his mother's conversion, that first defined his style.


Career


2014–2015: ''Coming Home''

Bridges began writing and performing
1950s The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959. Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...
and '60s-style soul music that was described by
Austin 360 The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett. The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internationa ...
as "a transmission straight from the heart." He began to attract followers, and his break into the music industry has been attributed to meeting guitarist Austin Jenkins and Joshua Block of
White Denim White Denim is an American four-piece rock band from Austin, Texas, United States. Their music is influenced by dub, psychedelic rock, blues, punk rock, progressive rock, soul, jazz, experimental rock with home-based recording, jamming appro ...
. It was Bridges' performance of " Coming Home" that caught the attention of the two. Bridges worked on his first few tracks with Jenkins and Block as producers. They recorded an album with vintage equipment, using local musicians affiliated with White Denim. Bridges released two demo songs on Soundcloud in late 2014. "Coming Home" received airplay from local radio stations including
KKXT KKXT (91.7 FM) is a listener-supported public radio station, licensed to Dallas, Texas and broadcasting to the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. It has a Triple A (adult album alternative) music format with a mix of acoustic, alt-country, indie ...
. It attracted the attention from several record labels with Bridges eventually signing with
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
in December 2014. Bridges began his first national tour in January 2015, playing shows in
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
as well as playing support for
Sharon Van Etten Sharon Katharine Van Etten (born February 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released six studio albums, the latest of which is '' We've Been Going About This All Wrong'' (2022). Early life Van Etten was born in Belleville, N ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. His first official single, "Coming Home", was released on Columbia Records in February 2015. The song continued the success of the demo version and became a Top 10 Most Viral Track on Spotify the same month as its release. Bridges toured with Jenkins and Block until they resumed work with White Denim. He also played at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
and played at the
SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
festival in 2015. His debut album was released in the summer of 2015 and has been referred to as a 2015 "Album to Look Forward to From Texans" by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Bridges made the cover of ''Fort Worth, Texas'' magazine in May 2015 for his vocal accomplishments and his distinctive retro style. "Coming Home" is featured in an
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
iPhone 6 The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are smartphones that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the eighth generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 5, iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S, and were announced on September 9, 2014, and rele ...
commercial. Bridges made his first appearance in the UK as an artist in May when he sold out the London Village Underground. He went on to announce four July dates, ending with a gig at
Shepherd's Bush Empire Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was originally ...
on September 28. ''Coming Home'' was nominated for
Best R&B Album The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the R&B music genre. Honors ...
at the
58th Annual Grammy Awards The 58th Annual Grammy Awards was held on February 15, 2016, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognizes the best recordings, compositions and artists of the eligibility year, which was from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 20 ...
. Aside from his own shows, Bridges also supported
Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...
at the
Apple Music Festival The Apple Music Festival (formerly known as the iTunes Festival) was a concert series held by Apple, Inc. and inaugurated in 2007. Free tickets were given to Apple Music, iTunes and DICE FM, DICE users who lived in the United Kingdom, through loc ...
on September 26. While opening at the intimate Roundhouse, he was able to perform songs such as "River", "Better Man" and "Lisa Sawyer" from his debut album ''Coming Home''. Bridges was the featured musical guest on ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' on December 5, 2015. He performed " Smooth Sailin'" with a full backup band and sang "River" with only backup singers and organ, accompanying himself on guitar.


2016–2019: ''Good Thing'' and ''Texas Sun''

Bridges also participated in
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are an American hip hop duo from Seattle, Washington, formed in 2008 by Macklemore, a rapper,Trust, Gary (2013)Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'Can't Hold Us' Makes Hot 100 History, ''Billboard'', May 8, 2013. Retrieved January ...
's song "Kevin", which was released on the duo's second full-length album. On February 24, 2016, Bridges performed in Washington, D.C., as part of the series "In Performance at the White House" for President and Michelle Obama. He performed a song by Ray Charles as well as one of his own songs. On April 8, 2016, Bridges was the live artist featured on
BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, ...
Robert Elms Robert Frederick Elms (born 12 June 1959) is an English writer and broadcaster. Elms was a writer for ''The Face'' magazine in the 1980s and is currently known for his long-running radio show on BBC Radio London. His book, ''The Way We Wore'', ...
show. Elms interviewed Bridges briefly, and played track 8, "Pull Away", from the ''Coming Home'' album. Bridges was set up to play live with Colin O'Brien. Together they performed a live version of "River". The live track was so well received it was played again as "live track of the week" on the Elms Saturday show on April 9, and again on April 11 during a program segment on the best-ever live performances on the Robert Elms show. In 2017 "River" received further recognition in the first season of the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
series ''Big Little Lies''. It was later included on the soundtrack for the show. In 2018, his song "Better Man" was featured in the film '' Pacific Rim: Uprising''. He was the opening act on the South American and Mexican legs of
Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as a solo contestant on the British music competition series ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor''. Following hi ...
' first solo tour. Bridges' second album '' Good Thing'' was released on May 4, 2018. He had a cameo appearance in
Damien Chazelle Damien Sayre Chazelle (; born January 19, 1985) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is known for his films ''Whiplash'' (2014), ''La La Land'' (2016), and '' First Man'' (2018). For ''Whiplash'', he was nominated for the ...
's film '' First Man'', playing singer
Gil Scott-Heron Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician ...
. Bridges and
Gary Clark Jr. Gary Lee Clark Jr. (born February 15, 1984) is an American musician from Austin, Texas. He is known for his fusion of blues, Rock music, rock and soul music with elements of hip hop music, hip hop. In 2011, Clark signed with Warner Bros Records ...
appeared together on the song "Gone Away" from rapper
Bun B Bernard James Freeman (born March 19, 1973), known professionally as Bun B, is an American rapper. He is best known as one half of the southern rap duo UGK (UnderGround Kingz), a group he formed in 1987 alongside Pimp C. Aside from his work with ...
's album ''
Return of the Trill ''Return of the Trill'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper Bun B. The album was released on August 31, 2018 by 2 Trill Enterprises, Double Dose Entertainment and EMPIRE Distribution. The album features guest appearances from Big K.R.I. ...
'', with Bridges singing the hook and Clark on lead guitar. On May 18, Bridges performed "Beyond" from the album ''Good Thing'' on an episode of the BBC series ''The Graham Norton Show''. In December 2019, Houston, Texas-based trio
Khruangbin Khruangbin ( ; , เครื่องบิน) is an American musical trio from Houston, Texas. The band comprises Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald "DJ" Johnson Jr. on drums. The band is known for blending global music inf ...
announced a collaboration and tour with Leon Bridges and released a single titled "Texas Sun" on December 6, 2019. The collaborative EP of the same name was released in February 2020.


2020–present: ''Gold-Diggers Sound''

On June 8, 2020, Bridges and
Terrace Martin Terrace Jamahl Martin (born December 28, 1978) is an American musician, rapper, singer, and record producer. He is perhaps best known for producing records for several prominent artists in the music industry, including Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dog ...
released a single titled "Sweeter" in response to the
murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...
on May 25. Bridges performed at the
2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtually across the United States. At the convention, delegates of ...
. Bridges' third studio album, '' Gold-Diggers Sound'', was released on July 23, 2021. A second collaborative EP with Khruangbin, titled ''Texas Moon'', was released on February 18, 2022.


Musical style


Artistry

Bridges's style is primarily
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
, but resembling 1960s
rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
. ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' described him as a "throwback to '60s-soul a la
Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
and
Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...
." Bridges performs in
vintage clothing Vintage clothing is a generic term for garments originating from a previous era, as recent as the 1990s. The term can also be applied in reference to second hand retail outlets, e.g. i''n vintage clothing store''. While the concept originated ...
; ''
Fort Worth Weekly ''Fort Worth Weekly'' is an alternative weekly newspaper that serves the Greater Fort Worth area (all of Tarrant County and some of Denton County). The newspaper has an approximate circulation of 35,000. It is published every Wednesday and featur ...
'' described him as someone whose "music sounds like he looks."


Discography


Albums


Extended plays


Singles


As lead artist


As featured artist


Other charted songs


Guest appearances


Music videos


Awards and nominations


Grammy Awards

, - ,
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
, '' Coming Home'' ,
Best R&B Album The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the R&B music genre. Honors ...
, , - ,
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, "River" ,
Best Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. Hon ...
, , - , rowspan="2",
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, '' Good Thing'' ,
Best R&B Album The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the R&B music genre. Honors ...
, , - , "Bet Ain't Worth the Hand" ,
Best Traditional R&B Performance The Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally named the Gramophone Awards, to performers of quality traditional R&B vocal performances. ...
, , -


See also

*
List of Columbia Records artists A partial listing of recording artists who currently or formerly recorded for Columbia Records (known in most of the world as CBS Records prior to 1991) include the following list. 0–9 * 24kGoldn * 3LW (So So Def/Columbia) * 3rd Bass ...
*
Music of Texas The U.S. state of Texas has long been a center for musical innovation and is the birthplace of many notable musicians. Texans have pioneered developments in Tejano and Conjunto music, Rock 'n Roll, Western swing, jazz, punk rock, country, h ...


References


Notes


Sources


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Leon 1989 births Living people People from Fort Worth, Texas Columbia Records artists African-American male singer-songwriters African-American guitarists Grammy Award winners Guitarists from Texas 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century African-American male singers 20th-century African-American male singers Singer-songwriters from Texas