Biography

Leon Mobley has over 47 years of experience in the Music Industry. Leon is a percussionist and drummer, founder and artistic and musical director of Da Lion and Djimbe West African Drummers and Dancers and a member of the Innocent Criminals, Ben Harper's band. Leon Mobley began as a child actor on PBS Television show Zoom, and has toured the globe as drummer/percussionist with Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals. Leon began to play African drum rhythms in 1967 and studied for ten years with Nigerian master drummer Babatunde Olatunji at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. Leon has had theatrical training and appeared regularly on the PBS daily television show zoom. He is an accomplished musician and performs regularly in numerous musical genres including jazz, reggae, and rock. Leon has appeared in the works of many recording artists and has self-produced four CDs and cassette tapes of djembe rhythms and songs. Leon has a great deal of experience teaching African drum rhythms. While in Boston, he taught at community centers, conducted school tours with the Art of Black Dance and Music, and conducted workshops at Berklee College of Music. He became Musical Drector at Paige Academy, a private school in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Leon continued teaching after moving to Los Angeles in 1986. He conducted weekly classes at UCLA, Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Theater, Parks and Recreation, and the Los Angeles High School for the Arts on the campus of California State. Leon has been an Ambassador for the State Department and has created signature series Drums where he donates drums totaling $5000.00 yearly.