Music is most enjoyable when you can hear the artist being free. Not being held to any standard or format of what can make a great record, and being daring enough to use their full creativity. Those songs are always fun to enjoy as you get a piece of the mind of the artist on what is a well crafted sound that can only be done by them. That magic is what you will love about Leroy Booker when you listen to his songs.

Leroy Booker is a multi-talented singer and songwriter from Kenosha, WI, who is quickly gaining buzz for his catchy hooks and clever lyrics. His lyrics are often drawn from his personal experiences, but he is careful to strike a balance between reality and exaggeration. His journey as a music artist started after his audition with American Idol. This artist’s come up was not overnight, as Leroy Booker has invested countless hours into his grind on his rise to the top. His career has started to take off to new heights with his breakout single, “Ponder”. Other hits including “No Idol” and his most recent release, “Black Card” have landed him in the palms of his ever growing fan base.

Check out some of his songs on Spotify below:

Hi there, welcome to Honk Magazine! Thank you for taking out time to respond to us. To kick things off, Can you tell our readers about what really inspired you to write music?

Leroy Booker – I’d say the thing that inspired me to write music was, it was the only way I knew how to express what I was feeling. In a time where I was growing up in the hood and legal family dynamics left me in the middle of two people I deeply carried about. Going to war was the only way I could process that as a kid. Going into my teen years, I started to just love writing poems just like Edgar Allen Poe who are some of my inspirations for what I talk about in some of my music.

When did you realize you were going to make music professionally?

Leroy Booker – The moment I hit my middle school talent show stage, the feeling I got then was that I fit in up there. That’s when I knew it was something I was gonna do for the rest of my life no matter what. It’s the only thing that makes me feel comfortable being me.

Tell us what is so unique about you and your music?

Leroy Booker – I just feel it’s raw and real. I don’t just write or create to make hits and money, I create to connect. I wanna show people the mistakes or right decisions I made to get me where I am and where I’m gonna be. Whether it’s the pitfalls of dealing with a break up the wrong way, drug abuse, or having a good time it’s all in the music and it’s there to connect, help and create a safe space for fans to go to in order for them not to feel alone.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Leroy Booker – I think it was forgetting my own lyrics at a talent show one year in highschool, I just started making up lyrics at one point. My friends knew but everyone else was like that was great and I was like “really” haha. I think what I learned from that is the importance of being prepared. If people are paying or willing to sit there and connect with you, you owe it to them to be on your P’s and Q’s no matter what.

Can you tell us about your latest releases and what inspired you to create them?

Leroy Booker – Actually my latest single came out of friends getting me out of a writing funk. I had just gone through a break up and I couldn’t stop writing about it. I’m sure you will hear some of those tracks in the future, but I was out with a group of friends one night and we talked about it and it so happened to be my friends birthday so I was broke and instead of buying a gift I told her I’d write a song about her cause why not I needed to write about something else and that’s when the song just flew out. It was one of the first more uplifting kinda independent women attractive tracks I wrote in a while and my producer from Nashville had sent me the arrangement that night so it all kinda happened perfectly.

Can you give us a brief insight into your upcoming projects?

Leroy Booker – My upcoming projects are my best work to date, I really think my fans and new fans will like the route it’s going. The stories that are going to be told. It is probably the most vulnerable I will get with my mental state this past year. Which is hard for most men to even express let alone let strangers in to inspect and digest. But if it helps men and women alike work through and maybe feel it’s okay to feel what they are feeling then that’s what it’s all going to be about.

What do you wish you were told when you first started making music that you think would help artists just starting out?

Leroy Booker – It doesn’t go as fast as you want it to. What makes you stand out is the willingness to fail and keep failing. Most people give up after the first few months cause their hit song isn’t popping but that’s not how this business works. It’s a trial and tribulation thing where one day you could be on top of the world and the next day plummet back to square one. I’d say I wish I was told that it isn’t rare to work years on this before you see any results. I probably wouldn’t have been as harsh on myself and have those writing blocks I did due to my own thinking.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Leroy Booker – When you’re on a hot streak at work, don’t stop. It’s not going go be easy so experience life. What ever you were writing about in the first place, that’s what makes you relatable so go live your life then come back and write about that. Everything else will come when it’s supposed to. Don’t compare work ethic, just sharpen yours. No horse has ever won a race looking at the horse in first or last place at the start, middle or end of the race.

What do you do when you don’t do music (creative or otherwise) and that you are passionate about?

Leroy Booker – I’m passionate about finding ways to raise money for crohns and colitis foundation as well as the Suicide prevention line. I hang with family and friends and make memories and I enjoy going and supporting other artists on their journey.

Any last piece of advice for those artists who just started making music?

Leroy Booker – Stop trying to be the next and be you. F*** all the noise in your head. You can quiet that by just putting effort in what you desire. Stop saying this will not happen and hope it happens, and most of all just enjoy the beginning stages. That’s when you’re free to create whatever you want but once you find your brand and niche it’s hard to break out of that box so enjoy finding yourself and your sound.

How can our readers follow you online?

Leroy Booker – Feel free to Hit me up on Instagram: @Leroy_Music

Also don’t forget to follow and save my music on Spotify. You can also add me on SnapChat: @Leroybooker222 where you will hear most of my unreleased snippets.