Leon Mobley

Leon Mobley (born February 27, 1961) is a percussionist and drummer. He is founder and artistic and musical director of Da Lion and Djimbe West African Drummers and Dancers, an actor, and a member of Grammy-winning band Innocent Criminals.

History

Mobley was born in Massachusetts in 1961. He began playing African drums at the age of seven, and studied for 10 years under Nigerian master drummer Babatunde Olatunji at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1977, he studied under Senegalese master drummer Ibrahim Camara (former drummer for the National Ballet of Senegal) while a member of the Bokan-Deye Dance Company.

He was a cast member in the PBS Television show ZOOM in 1973.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and continued teaching, conducting 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 Cal State (Los Angeles).

He was invited to South Africa in 1991 to perform with returning exiles Letta Mbulu, Caiphus Semenya, and Hugh Masekela. He has toured the world as a drummer/percussionist with Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals (1993–present). He worked with Damian Marley and Nas on a collaborative album, titled Distant Relatives, in 2010. He has recorded and performed with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Mick Jagger, and Madonna.

Mobley is the founder and musical and artistic director of Da Lion and Djimbe West African Drummers and Dancers, a group he formed in 1986 in California to present authentic West African-American dance and music to North American audiences.