Ryan Leslie

An exceptionally shrewd producer, songwriter, performer, businessman, and self-promoter -- he once hired someone to film nearly all of his activities, which were diligently edited and uploaded to YouTube -- Ryan Leslie began making music as a teenager, scored a perfect 1600 on his SATs before he was old enough to drive, and graduated from Harvard at the age of 19. He got a foothold in the music industry within four years of graduation. By the end of 2005, he had written and/or produced tracks for <a href="spotify:artist:2S8UlyXW4JjjHcbeg8ddIo">702</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6vWDO969PvNqNYHIOW5v0m">Beyoncé</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:26dSoYclwsYLMAKD3tpOr4">Britney Spears</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6I6t21SFbxZ7RbQgD5dN7U">Carl Thomas</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1mFX1QlezK1lNPKQJkhwWb">New Edition</a>, and an album of his own was completed but shelved.

Leslie's true breakthrough came in 2006, when he was the architect behind <a href="spotify:artist:27FGXRNruFoOdf1vP8dqcH">Cassie</a>'s "Me&U," a number one R&B single that also reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. <a href="spotify:artist:27FGXRNruFoOdf1vP8dqcH">Cassie</a>'s subsequent album, produced almost entirely by Leslie and released on <a href="spotify:artist:59wfkuBoNyhDMQGCljbUbA">Diddy</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bad+Boy%22">Bad Boy</a> label, narrowly missed the top of both the Billboard 200 and R&B/hip-hop album charts. Leslie signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Casablanca%22">Casablanca</a> via <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Universal+Motown%22">Universal Motown</a> as a recording artist and established his <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22NextSelection%22">NextSelection</a> boutique label. "Diamond Girl," his debut single, hit the charts in early 2008 -- it broke into the Hot 100 but peaked at only 95 -- while successive singles "Addiction" and "How It Was Supposed to Be" also set up his self-titled album, released in February 2009. Leslie quickly followed it that November with Transition, a set inspired by a secret summertime fling.

Although both of Leslie's albums peaked in the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, he and his label parted. He went independent with Les Is More, released in October 2012 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22NextSelection%22">NextSelection</a>, distributed through the Sony-owned <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RED%22">RED</a>. He then began work on his fourth album, Black Mozart. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi