Gregory Jay Leon (born May 19th, 1958) is a Los Angeles

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest ha ...

guitarist notable for his stints in Quiet Riot, Dokken and what was an early incarnation of Motley Crue. He was also in a band called Suite 19 with

Gary Holland Gary Holland (born Gary Hallinan, September 14, 1958) is an American hard rock and heavy metal drummer who worked in the 1980s with bands originating from California. He is perhaps best known for being the original drummer in Great White and ...

, who was later replaced by

Tommy Lee Thomas Lee Bass (born October 3, 1962) is an American musician and founding member of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. As well as being the band's long-term drummer, Lee founded rap metal band Methods of Mayhem and has pursued solo musical ...

. Leon is considered an influential and important musical personality in the Hollywood Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, playing an integral part in the successive fortunes of the acts he was associated with.

Background

Greg Leon was born in 1958 and grew up in

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia *Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre * Glendale, Queensland, ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, a foothills community of Los Angeles, and immediately made an impact on the blossoming live

scene of Hollywood's Sunset Strip in the late 1970s. Primarily playing guitar and handling vocals, the acts that he fronted were Suite 19, with future

Great White Great White is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The band peaked with several albums during the mid-to-late 1980s, including the platinum-selling records ''Once Bitten'' (1987) and '' ...Twice Shy'' (1989), and those albums ...

/ Dokken drummer

and then future

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albu ...

drummer

, and the Greg Leon Invasion, with bassist Joey Vera (later of

Armored Saint Armored Saint is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1982. Since 1990, the band has consisted of John Bush on lead vocals, Joey Vera on bass, Jeff Duncan on rhythm guitar and the Sandoval brothers (Gonzo and Ph ...

, Fate's Warning and

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The s ...

) and drummer Carl Elizondo (later of Jag Wire, and playing under the stage name Carl James). The Invasion would release the "Every Time" b/w "Stay With Me Tonite" 7" single with Vera on bass who was fired when it was discovered by Leon that he had been moonlighting with Armored Saint. Vera's replacement, Chuck Stevenson and Elizondo played with Leon on the Greg Leon Invasion picture disc released by Azra/R2R in 1983. He took the place of

Randy Rhoads Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo al ...

in Quiet Riot, and as the pre- George Lynch guitarist in Dokken (

Don Dokken Donald Maynard Dokken (born June 29, 1953) is an American singer and musician. He's best known for being the lead singer, occasional guitarist, and founder of the glam metal band Dokken. He is known for his vibrato-laden, melodic vocal style wh ...

has since made the group's first EP, which graces Leon on the cover, available fo
download
to the public). During this period Leon also had a considerable local reputation as a guitar teacher, working at Rhoads' mother's guitar studio in Burbank.

Subsequent career

Leon had several incarnations of the Invasion and played with various LA acts after his exciting early days. Leon also had a brief time with Greenworld Records' Midwestern act Vyper, while at the same time gathering a name for himself as a guitar amp modifying specialist. In the late 1990s, Leon fronted a band called Wishing Well which also featured Survivor drummer Marc Droubay and English-born bassist Stuart Brooks (ex- Black Cat Bones, Leaf Hound,

The Pretty Things ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

). The trio released their eponymous debut album in 1997. However, by 2003 Leon was once again playing the LA club scene under the name The Greg Leon Invasion, featuring Boston-born bassist George Roelke and Ohio-born drummer Greg Stevens, taking the group for a European festival tour in 2005 on the strength of new recordings, coupled with the myth related to his name. The line-up also performed July 13, 2007 at the annual 1980s-era hard rock music festival

Rocklahoma Rocklahoma (also known as Rock Fever Presents Rocklahoma or Rock Fever) is an annual American three-day rock festival held in Pryor, Oklahoma. The festival features 4 official stages, as well as many unofficial campground parties and performing ...

. In 2008 former White Lion drummer Greg D'Angelo replaced Stevens in the band. Leon is married to Canadian singer Suza Wood and in 2005 he produced her first album titled ''Sweet Freedom''.

Discography

The Greg Leon Invasion

*''Greg Leon Invasion'' (1983) *''Born to Die'' (1984) *''Unfinished Business'' (2005) *''Suza,"Sweet Freedom" 2005 *''Guitars, Cars and Women'' (2010) * Suza,"Love Warrior" 2016

Wishing Well

*''Wishing Well'' (1997)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Greg American heavy metal guitarists Dokken members Quiet Riot members Living people 1958 births Musicians from Glendale, California Guitarists from Los Angeles American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians