Leon Huff

Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942 in Camden , New Jersey ) is an American soul pianist who later made a career as a music producer and songwriter together with Kenny Gamble (cf. Gamble and Huff ).

Huff began his career as a session pianist for producers such as Phil Spector and Carole King in New York City , including recording the vocal trio The Ronettes . He later moved to Philadelphia , where he first founded The Locomotions and then joined The Romeos . In 1964, Huff wrote a top 40 hit for the first time with Mixed-Up, Shook-Up Girl for Patty & the Emblems, and in the same year he joined a producer / songwriter team with Kenny Gamble, whom he met at the Romeos together.

Gamble and Huff founded the legendary Philadelphia International record label in the 1970s . They are considered to be the inventors of the Philly sound , which was produced exclusively in the Sigma Sound Studios . One of the first groups on the new label was The Intruders . However, Huff also tried his hand at being a songwriter, writing hits for The Ebonys , Carolyn Crawford , Bunny Sigler and Peoples Choice . In 1980 and 1981 a solo album by Huff was released on Philadelphia International under the name Here to Create Music , from which two singles were released. I Ain't Jivin ', I'm Jammin' got a little hit.

Together with Gamble, Huff received a Grammy for Best R&B Song in 1990 after Simply Red re-hit a cover version of If You Don't Know Me by Now , which the two originally wrote for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes in 1972 . In 1999 the two received a Grammy Trustees Award and in 2005 they were inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame .

The Rolling Stone listed Huff and Gamble ranked 66 of the 100 best songwriters of all time .

Web links

• Leon Huff at Allmusic (English)
• Leon Huff at Discogs (English)
• "The Disco Inventors" - Article on Gamble & Huff

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .