Leroy Gómez (born July 8, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his work with 1970s

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

and

latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

act Santa Esmeralda.

Biography

Leroy Gómez was born in 1950 in Wareham, Massachusetts of

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

an descent.

Career as saxophonist and in the Tavares

After learning how to sing and play the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, Gómez started his own band at 14, and later joined "Tavares", a local group of brothers who shared his Cape Verdean heritage, and with whom he would go on to tour in North America and Europe.

Work with Elton John in Paris

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

invited him to play the sax on Social Disease, a song on his 1973 classic album ''

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' is the seventh studio album by English singer, pianist, and composer Elton John. A double album, it was released on 5 October 1973, by DJM Records. Recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in France, the album became ...

''. Amidst this success, Gómez decided to leave his band "Tavares" and remain in Europe, getting work as a session player in Paris.

Work with Nicolas Skorsky and Jean Manuel de Scarano: Fauves Puma label

In Paris he met Nicolas Skorsky and Jean Manuel de Scarano, songwriters who had launched their own label with the aim of producing artists who would record their compositions. Santa Esmeralda was born of their collaboration, and the album '' Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood'', with Gómez on lead vocals, debuted on the independent French label, Fauves Puma. A sudden huge success in Europe, the record was picked up for worldwide distribution by Casablanca Records of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, the preeminent label of the Disco era.Casablanca Records Story
/ref> Essentially a studio act, Gómez was eager to perform, and a touring group was put together including a troupe of dancers, one of whom, by the name of Tequila, would appear on several album and single cover photos and ultimately become his wife.MySpace.com – Santa Esmeralda – Italy, France – Club / Disco House / Latine – www.myspace.com/santaesmeraldamusic
/ref>

Success with ''Gypsy Woman'' and ''I Got It Bad''

Leroy Gómez left "Santa Esmeralda" in early 1978 to go as a solo artist and so recorded 2 solo albums: ''Gypsy Woman'' ( Casablanca Records, 1978) and ''I Got It Bad'' (Casablanca, 1979).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Leroy American male singers American musicians of Cape Verdean descent American male saxophonists Living people People from Wareham, Massachusetts Singers from Massachusetts American expatriates in France 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians 1950 births