Fans of the Nickelodeon show Victorious can uncannily find a familiar name among the producer credits of Drake’s latest album.
Leon Thomas III — otherwise known as the smooth-talking, multifaceted Andre Harris on the popular 2010s sitcom — has defiantly made a name for himself outside the Nickelodeon machine.
Thomas has gone on to co-write and produce for Ariana Grande, Toni Braxton, Post Malone, Kehlani and most recently, Drake. He produced “In the Bible,” “Pipe Down” and “Love All” off of Certified Lover Boy, Drake’s sixth studio album.
He recently went on Instagram Live to explain how nerve-racking it was to work with the 6 God.
leon thomas talking about what it’s like to work with drake. he has producing credits on in the bible, pipe down, and love all on clb pic.twitter.com/hfjw42KJKS
— moneybagg yo enthusiast (@localslovebri) September 3, 2021
His additional ventures in the music industry culminated into one of his biggest looks yet this year: working with Drake on CLB. His first mixtape, Metro Hearts, was released in 2012 — midway through his role on Nickelodeon — notably containing a cover of Drake’s “Take Care” with Ariana Grande.
V1bes came two years later, with production from Flume, A Tribe Called Quest, XXYXX and Noah “40” Shebib. By now, Thomas had already been working with a variety of mainstream artists, such as Wiz Khalifa and Natasha Bedingfield. His prowess as a singer and producer was beginning to be noticed more as he worked on songs for Victorious as well as independent ventures.
With Leon’s work finally being recognized, here’s hoping the respected producer-writer continues to flourish in all areas of his musical capacity.
