S2-E7 - Shay Leonia | Recording Artist - Under the Influence with DJJonniBravo

Episode Transcript
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Year of October (00:36):
And you.
Now under the influence with DJDJJonniBravo.

DJJonniBravo (01:03):
Hello, I'm Jonni Bravo.
Welcome to season two of In theBand.
Today you're going under themusical influence of today's
guest, Shay Leonia, and Underthe Influence with DJJonniBravo.
Shay is here to tell us yes, alittle bit about herself and a
little bit about her musicalself, and I'm glad to have her.
You're in New York City, is thatcorrect?

Shay Leonia (01:22):
I'm actually from Jersey, but I relocated to
Philly during the pandemic, soI'm getting a little bit around
here.

All right.
So you're all, okay.
So I saw I think it wasInstagram, one of those socials
that you were from New York,and, but also Jersey, so cool.
So you're in Philly now.
You're hitting all the majortowns.

I am.
That I am.

Tell us a little bit about your musical self.

so I grew up in a family of musicians.
And I always knew that I wantedto be a performing artist of
some sort, but I, everyone whoknew me thought that it was
gonna be dance based.
I did follow suit with the restof my family by learning how to
play trumpet, and I reallyexcelled at that into high
school.
But then I started reallygetting a lot more attention for

(02:05):
my singing, and so I decided togo to the American Musical and
Dramatic Academy and got ascholarship.
and that's where I, for the veryfirst time, got professional
singing lessons.
But I was going through somefinancial hardship during that
time and it was reallystressful.
like really dire, beyond thehaving enough money to pay for

(02:26):
ramen noodles each night, Idecided to start singing on the
subway just to make sure I couldget one meal a day.
I met a lot of ski V peoplewhile I was singing on the
platforms.
There was this one person thatcame along and passed me a flyer
and started talking to me about,Hey, have you ever written any
music?
Do you think you can do this?
He took me under his wing westarted working together and I

(02:46):
started writing music andlearning the ins and outs of the
business and networking a lot.
then fast forward to where I amtoday.
I've been blessed to have workedwith some major people like
Janelle Monet, I've beenfeatured on RuPaul's Drag Race
commercial.
I've worked with Marley Marl andThe Pharcyde and, Lord's the
Underground.
It's just, been incredible.

(03:08):
now I get to help other indiemusicians through my company,
44th Minute Media to navigatetheir careers.

Oh man, that is so awesome.
Going from the school and thengoing to the subway, that must
have been like a hard pill toswallow.

It really was.
And so many of my friends, theyabsolutely love the freedom that
they get with busking and justdoing it to make a living.
But when I was doing it wasreally a very life or death
scenario.
It was that I had no money to myname and I was in class all the
time.
so I really, I just needed tohave a way to eat dinner.

(03:43):
And because of the fact that, Iwas.
I was in competition withhomeless people coming on the
subway most of the time.
people would look at me thinkI'm not gonna give her any
money.
She looks like she's fine.
But the truth was, I wasn'tfine.
But I didn't want people to knowthat.
So I would just lie and say, Iwas raising money for studio
time and people would give memoney that way, and every now

(04:04):
and then, the homeless peoplewould even give me their money.
And I just, I felt awful.
But really difficult position tobe in.
Because, have creepy guys askingto come home with them and sing
to them at their house.
it was just not a pleasant time.
But it did get me started.

That's just a, an awesome story.
I was recently watching theTonight Show and they had
Maneskin on, and I didn'trealize that Maneskin like sing
out on the street Italy.
And when you go down into thesubways, if you've ever been
into New York.
You'll be in the subway and allof a sudden they'll bring on a
boombox or stop and do a show.

Yeah.

people will sing and have some really creative
people.
In my personal life, I helppeople get work and we always
have a lot of artists peoplethat are doing certain things
like painting or whatever, andthere's really no outlet for any
of that.
You really don't get paid forthat.
It's like your side gig.
It's always like your sidehustle and it really should be
more of an emphasis on the artsand people in the arts in order

(05:00):
to do that.
Here you are going to aprominent school and you can
barely survive and you're on thesubway.
And I applaud that you weredoing everything that you could
to survive and that you went tothat and did that because
that's, an awesome story totell, but you survived and
you're still doing it.
That's great because sometimespeople will give up on the art
and you didn't.

I couldn't.
I don't know if it has as muchto do with my tenacity as it
does with just the environmentthat I grew up in.
It was always going to be musicbecause of the family that I
came from.
I just could not see myself in acubicle or doing anything but
music because nobody else in myfamily did anything but music.

Hard.
I don't know if you've ever seenthe movie Beautiful Girls, but
he comes back to town.
They have their reunion andeverything and he's a, piano
singer I think in a lounge, likein a hotel or whatever.
And he's trying to decide ifhe's gonna continue to do that
or get like a real job.
Cuz he's thinking about gettingmarried and all that.
That's sometimes what peoplehave to face when they're doing
art.
do I have to go get one of thesecubicle jobs and live the cube

(06:01):
life?
People don't want to do that.
You wanna do your art, you wantto do this, you want to do this
all the time and you want to doit full throttle, maybe not full
throttle all the time, it's likethis is what you're living for
and you're breathing for, and tolive that cube life and to try
to do it on the weekends, it'shard.
And there are people out theredoing it.
And I applaud that too, but justglad you didn't give up on the
art and you're still out theredoing what you were meant to do.

Oh yeah, and I won't act like there weren't, in
between regular jobs.
But the thing is that there'ssuch a narrative around the day
job and this just complete lieand myth around the
dependability and stability thata regular job provides.
But if you don't start findingways to be capable and thrifty

(06:47):
as a musician, and a lot oftimes, and most times, that's
gonna mean it's gonna beadjacent to what you think
you're making money from.
Like a lot of the new indieartists that I speak to, they
think that, just simply byplaying shows or just simply by
releasing their music somehowthrough osmosis, they're just
gonna attract streams of income.
What they don't realize is thatthey need to really explore the

(07:09):
adjacent jobs.
So teaching music or coachingsomeone how to do what it is
that you're doing now or doingwedding gigs, doing the lounge
singing.
Those are gonna be the kinds ofthings that are going to bring
you opportunities to, just getyour feet wet in the business.
And the more you do that, themore strength of character you
build.
When you know, you do end uphaving to supplement it with a

(07:30):
day job and not resenting it orthinking that you're too good
for that.

I was just thinking of all the people that
are out there that want to dothe art.
When I wanted to do radio, likeI was trying to figure out how
to get on the radio and be onthe radio and be that guy.
What you were talking about.
I had to do everything adjacent.
I had to work at a skating rink.
I had to work turning offequipment at a radio station.
I had to get on the radiostation, but it was like AM.

(07:55):
I did parties, I DJ'ed, so itwas like all these things
adjacent and then eventually Igot on the radio.
But if I wasn't doing all thoseadjacent things, I wouldn't have
been in the mix to even be onthe radio and do these things.
So you do have to do a lot ofthese adjacent things to get
your music out there andyourself heard.

Absolutely.
And the adjacent path also isgonna be what is gonna help
shape your eventual career inmusic in a more colorful way
than it would if you had just astraight path towards it.

Man just some, awesome lessons for the people
that are out there that are inmusic, trying to get streams and
figure out how to make moneyaround this whole thing.
Cuz it is, something that youjust do sometimes for a good
while and you're not making anyfunds on it.
You're like, questioning, isthis the route that I really
need to take?
Hang on, keep doing it.
Keep struggling.

Yeah.

Getting out there.

Absolutely.

Let's move into question two and, talk about
when you first discovered music.
Like how old were you, what wereyou doing?

Growing up in a family of musicians, my brother
and sister are much older than Iam.
They are, 16 years and 12 years

Oh man.

I had much older parents than my friends did, and
much older siblings than myfriends did.
So when I was in the womb, I waspretty much being, being
pummeled with every single typeof music that you can think of.
From Sunday mornings listeningto jazz on the radio to, waking
up in the mornings, walking downthe stairs and seeing my brother
and father like battle jazztrumpet on who could play Night

(09:21):
in Tunisia better.
it really ran the gamut.
And then my mom was the onlyperson in the family that wasn't
an instrumentalist, but she usedto always joke that she played
the radio.
Area of expertise was reallylike fifties and sixties music
combined with show tunes.
So I definitely had a lot ofexposure to the Liza and the
Barbara.
my earliest music memory, Iwould have to say is Singing

(09:45):
Monkey by George Michael atthree years old, on home video.
I think that's like my memory ofwatching that video play back
and it being so fresh in my mindof telling my mom it ta, which
is, it's called it ta and thenme being this three year old
thinking this song is reallyabout a monkey when really it's

(10:06):
about somebody quitting drugs.

Oh, yeah.
Family only knew the lyrics

exactly.
But my sister was such ahardcore, Wham fan.
Like she was one of those littlegirls that like, thought she was
gonna grow up and marry GeorgeMichael, Wamp to everyone who
thought that.
it was just constant with theGeorge Michael and the eighties
music and then the Stevie Wonderplaying in the house.
the show tunes constantly.
It was just, I feel like again,like I just, I came home from

(10:33):
the hospital and it, and thereit was just everywhere.

That's a good memory to have good that your
family, turning you on todifferent types of music.
that really helps, just, in theworld period to know a lot of
music.
My kids are collective and theyknow a lot of music and it
surprises me sometimes the stuffthat they're playing.
Like my daughter was playing theTori's big one time in the
shower.
And,

Love it.

I know.
And then she's also like thenumber one, streamer of Andor
Lloyd Webber.
That shows you like, kind

Wow.

An eclectic kind of thing that is out there.
But you hadn't even been bornyet and you're already in the
band.

Oh, absolutely.

So you were just like there and waiting.
Like, okay what instrument do Iplay?
Where am I on the microphone?
Am I singing?
What am I doing?.

Yeah, honestly.
And like the first songs that Isang were at my dance recital
and my mom was having me learnDoris Day songs.
but when I would hang out withmy friends, we were all learning
the dance moves to the latestMichael Jackson video.
So it was just, it really wasjust everything.
being taken to the jazzfestivals, it was such a culture

(11:34):
shock for me when I would goover my friend's homes and they
would serve dinner at the diningroom table and they would all
eat together in silence.
And I was just like, this isreally uncomfortable.
You all don't have music playing24 7 in your house, what is
this?
But then they would come over myhouse and see all of the
instruments laying around andwatching my father get ready to

(11:55):
go to a wedding gig and gettinghis cumber bun on.
And it was such different worldfrom what I was used to in my
house.

That, experience of having just music in your
life, you always want thatsoundtrack.
You watch movies.
Yeah.
And you hear the music in thebackground and you're like,
that's me.
I have music playing all thetime.
I'm playing in a record, or I'mplaying, Spotify or I'm singing
my own stuff, or, picking up myown instruments, doing my own
thing.
So that's a really cool, familyto have.
And then also to turn yourfriends onto it too, because

(12:25):
they're not used to it.
They're suffering in silence, 21pilot says, quiet is violent.
You know what I mean?
And it doesn't always have to belike, I don't have good working
radio in my son's truck thatI've been driving.
I'm, sometimes not listening toanything.
And he's dad, do you just go towork, not listen to anything?
I'm like, yeah, sometimes youjust need to pause and have a,
your brain think for a minute.

Yeah, I'm trying to be better about that because the
silence is really deafening.
I try to at the very least, havesome type of ambient sounds
playing, but the music 24 7 isreally a thing.
I can't even think about silenceand being comfortable.
I don't know.

And there's nothing wrong with it.
And there's nothing wrong withsilence either.
And sometimes the quiet when,once you do get used to it,
really helps you to reallycritically think about stuff and
what the next things are andthose types of things as well.

Yeah.

But music there too.
It's always a comfort too.
Because if you're having astressful day you're having a
good day, you throw on Ice cube.
And or you having a bad day, youthrow on, some nirvana or
smashing pumpkins or something.

Yes.

Or Mary J Blige or whatever people are listening
to.

It's so interesting you say that because I was
actually at a karaoke night acouple weeks back, and it was
with people that were meeting mefor the first time.
And they said kind of music doyou put on when you're feeling
good and I just looked at them.
Because It really depends onwhat the weather is and how I've
been feeling throughout the day.
It's really gonna depend becauseI could put on, like you said,

(13:50):
from between Nirvana to BIG toBeethoven, throw it all in
there.
Why not?

You might be listening to something like from
the sixties, like the Monkeys orsomething, daydream, believe.

Yeah.

Or even sometimes I'll put on, and don't judge
people that are out there.
I'll put on the Brady Bunch whenit's like he's singing his time
for change and,

yes,

sunshine Day I listen my crap like that because
it's I'm so happy.
It's like I'm almost in amusical and I wanna sing out to
the world, but I can't reallysing out to the world.
So I'll just sing along with theBrady Bunch

I get it.
I totally get it.
Yes.
Oh my gosh, the theme songs dothe same thing for me.
Oh my gosh.
Now I'm thinking about the fullhouse theme song that popped in
my head.

See happy songs pop in your head when you're
thinking about happy.

Yeah.

You already talked about your first song that you
remember and that's Monkey byGeorge Michael from

Yeah,

from WHAM!

I guess we could consider that the first song I
remember.
I feel like it's the lie, butlet's just go with that answer.

We'll go with that answer unless you wanted to add
something else to it, there'sanother song that you remember
from back in the day.

Oh gosh.

You wanna show how eclectic you are.
and that's putting you on thespot.
Maybe, I don't know.

Again, a knight in Tunisia for sure.
I wanna say that was the ArtBlakey version.
anything from the Miles Davis,maybe Blue and Green.
Jim by Clifford Brown.
Clifford Brown was one of mybrother's favorite, trumpet
players.
Definitely Doris Day you coulddo ques.
That was a big one.
And then anything from the HelloDolly or Funny Girl soundtrack.

(15:17):
There's just, there's too manyStevie Wonder, oh my gosh, songs
in The Key of Life.
That whole album was just onrepeat and my house, but so was
the Rocky soundtrack.
So we got some good old BillConti action in there gonna fly
now.
Yeah.
And then also if we're talkingabout the TV show themes, Bob
James, Angela from Taxi.

(15:37):
That was another big.

People don't, give the TV show themes, props.
There's some really good TV showthemes out around there.

There will be good ones really good ones.
but yeah, we'll be here all dayif we think about my earliest
memories songs.
Because like I'm saying it was aconstant.
It's like asking someone what'sthe first time you remember
breathing air

especially for a music lover,

it's always been there.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Especially for a music lover it is like breathing
air music is Is, one of oursense and

Right.

It takes us over as one.
That's just a great thing tohave when you're a lover of
music.
It's nothing wrong with it.

Absolutely.

Let's take a break and then we'll be right back.
So everybody just hang on.

You are still under the influence with DJ
DJJonniBravo.

We are back.
I'm Jonni Bravo.
You're going under the musicalinfluence of today's guest, Shay
Leona, and under the influencewith DJJonniBravo.
All right, Shay, let's talkabout, that long distance
dedication, that first couplesong, what does that look like?
If you were calling up on theradio and dedicating to Casey
Kasim?

Oh gosh, you're Casey Kasim.
It would actually have to be formy mom, and I would say that I
would do, hold me, kiss methrill me by Mel Carter.
There are so many differentsongs that just transport me
back to hearing her in thekitchen, washing dishes and just
singing these songs at the topof her lungs.

(17:14):
they always make me smilebecause they're just so her.
that's definitely one of thembecause it has that epic key
change and, it's just such anincredible song.
So that would be the one.
Hopefully one day if I ever meetthe guy, I will, hopefully walk
down the aisle to that song andfeel like I have her there.

That would be cool.
and you might have your own songwith him.
You never know,

right?

Yeah,

You never know.
You never know.

Let's, go into concerts.
I'm sure you know all aboutthis, being out there live in
the subway and other places, I'msure now, what was the first
concert that, you went to orthat first concert that you want
us to remember?

my first concert, I won't count the jazz festivals,
because I definitely remember abunch of those, from birth.
the first concert was, my sisterwas like, again, she 12 years
older than me.
So she was like a teenager whenI was a little kid.
She was constantly getting to goto or at least in my child's
brain, it felt like she wasconstantly going out to like

(18:13):
George Michael concerts andother concerts.
And one day I remember she hadbeen working at Sam Goody and,
my mom had the home video Wasrecording the whole thing and
she's talking to my sister abouthow my sister had just gotten
Stevie Wonder tickets.
And I remember, my mom pans thecamera to me and I'm just so sad

(18:34):
and so obviously jealous of mysister.
And then all of a sudden mysister busts out the second
ticket and she goes, do youwanna come with me to the
concert?
And so I freak out in the video,and of course she took me to my
very first Stevie Wonderconcert.
And then years later she took meto see Page and Plant.
Those were really like my twofirst big concerts.

(18:57):
And absolutely loved them.
Like I was head banging to Pageand Plant and it was just, ugh.
It was amazing.
And then years later when Istill was not of legal age, she
was sneaking me into bars to seeLed Zeppelin, cover bands.
So definitely made my way aroundthere.

on one of the episodes I talked to my wife and
her sister, and her dad went togo see Pink Floyd without her on
the Division Bell tour.
And I think it, hurt her so muchinside that she doesn't even
listen to the Division Bellhardly anymore.

Wow.
Yeah, I believe it.

Yeah.
It's not one of her favorites.
So I'm glad that, your sisterfinally took you out and then,
y'all embrace that togetherbecause there's nothing like
going to a concert, but there'snothing like going to a concert
with somebody that enjoys themusic just as much as you do.
And then when you get under thatroof, it's Man, all these people
really Stevie or all thesepeople really like Zeppelin.
Yeah.
It's wow, this is so cool.

(19:49):
And you're singing the samesongs and you're doing the same
things and you're like, man,there are a bunch of people out
here just like me,

Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
it's such a differentexperience.
And I remember, I think for Pageand Plant, I was a little older
than, so we were able to witnessour first tailgate parties,
alright.
Which I had never heard of sucha thing.
And then all of a sudden we showup and everybody's just got
trucks pulled up with, the backslaid down and just grilling and

(20:17):
serving beers to everybody.
And it's just really this bigcommunity gathering of people
that just love this music andwhat it's done for us.
It's so powerful to see.
That portion of it, because youdon't necessarily feel that when
you're inside under the roof asyou're just surrounded in
darkness and all you can see isthe stage.

(20:38):
But when you're in that parkinglot, it's just wow.
These are the people who haveall been affected by the same
thing that affects me.

Wow I'm a people watcher, so I always like to,
look around, when the lights,shine up and look at everybody

Yeah.

just singing their hearts out to like whatever
their favorite song is, or justjamming out.
you talk about the tailgate too.
I remember when I went to go seethe Grateful Dead and Sting and
just the community around theGrateful Dead, and you really
wanted to support everybodybecause those folks were trying
to get to the next show.
So you wanted to buy a grilledcheese sandwich from'em, or a

(21:14):
tie dyed shirt or whatever, justto support them to like, dude,
get to the next show.
Here's some bucks, man.
Yeah, of course.
Growing up you don't have thatmuch money, so it's not like you
can throw it around like youhave it, at least you can
support them a little bit.
But that was the first time Iever witnessed that, and that
was just such a powerful thingbecause it's wow, there's people
that follow the dead around andlike, how many shows have you
been to?
How old are you?
And, that kind of thing.

(21:34):
And they're just travelingaround with the dead.
of course when, Jerry died Phishtook that on and people were
following Phish around, but, youdon't see the tailgate that
much, but you still see it alittle bit, but not as extensive
probably in some of those shows.

Definitely.
Yeah.
I don't remember why I wasthere, but I feel like I
witnessed the tailgate party forBon Jovi once.
But honestly, I hadn't felt thattype of camaraderie again until,
when I was in college.
me and my friend we sleptoutside to see Janet Jackson
perform on s SNL so we were likethe last people that were

(22:07):
allowed in.
I just remember like being onthis long line with people just
talking about how much we adoreJanet Jackson and just getting
to see all of these other fansand doing something so extreme,
like sleeping on a New York CityStreet just to be able to see
her.
it's just people will do thedarnedest things for tickets and

(22:30):
now it's like I get to,experience what it's like to
actually have my own money andto be able to pay for better
seats and to see these people upclose and feel the difference of
where you're sitting in terms ofyour enjoyment of the show
itself too.
it's just wild.

My, daughter and I went to go see 21 Pilots and it
was on their Treach tour andthey had all the yellow tape.
Everybody was yellow tapingthemselves up before they went
in and wow.
My daughter and I were yellowtaped up and the cops stopped
and said, Hey, what's all thisyellow tape going on?
What did, what's it and is itpart of the band?
I'm like, yeah, it's the colorsof, the new album.
And yellow is part of, gettingout of, the'Ched.

(23:07):
I said, it's a whole thing.
I said, you, I don't know if Ican explain it to you.
There's a whole thing behind it.
But when I worked, cuz I workedfor Sam Goody, as well, and I
worked for the radio station andI wanna talk about Sam Goody
here in a second.
But when I, worked for the radiostation and we were able to go
out and get tickets.
We wanted to go see JanetJackson.
We were like working in thebasement of the radio station,
told our manager to go gettickets for us.

(23:28):
She waited in line at one of therecord stores, probably with Sam
Goody, and was like, I wanttickets.
Somebody right in front of herhad bought like$6,000 worth of
tickets and the show that wewere all gonna go see was Janet
Jackson.
So I've never,

oh my God,

never gotten to see Janet Jackson.
I want to go this year to theVirginia Beach Tampa Theater and
see her with Ludicrous, becauseI love Janet and I've been
wanting to see her.
And that was like, I don't knowif that was the Control Tour,
the Rhythm Nation Tour, but thatwould've, either way would've
been an awesome tour and Ihaven't had a chance to see her.

Wow.
Yeah, my cousin thank God for mycousin.
He actually surprised me withtickets to see her in Austin.
So now I just gotta get my, tookover to Austin and I'll be
seeing Janet this year.
But I definitely saw her in herlast her last tour and she's
just What a legend.
What an absolute legend.

Yeah.
You have to definitely see thosefolks because you never know
when something's gonna happen,God forbid.
And that happened to me with Icould have gone to see, Beastie
Boys, but I didn't wanna see'emat the time.

Wow.

And I was like, man, if I could have, seen them.
And we were gonna go see theEagles one year, my daughter's a
real big Eagles fan and then DonHenley, so it was like, it was
like, we should have gone tosee, but we had seen so many
concerts that year.
I just didn't have the funds togo.

I totally feel your pain on that because there are
so many times where I see a namethat I would love to see live
and I just can't, I can't do itat the time.
And it just, it sucks becauseconcerts are definitely one of
those things where it's youwanna go while they're still
around.
I'm dying to go see BruceSpringsteen.
I feel like I gotta turn in myJersey card until I until I see

(24:58):
Springsteen finally.
Cuz it's never happened.
But there's so many differentacts like that, that I'm dying
to go see.
And I just can't stress enoughto people, anyone who's
listening who's eh, a concert, Idon't know.
That's a schlep.
No go.

Exactly.

Because you never know what you're gonna
experience or how it's gonnachange you.

And recently I was on Facebook and back in the day,
Bruce Springsteen came toVirginia Commonwealth
University, V C U, and he was somuch unwell, known that they
spelled his name Springsteen.
So that shows you how long ago,and don't think I was, I don't
think I was living at thatpoint, but I might have been.
But some of those shows that youlook at and you're like, man, I

(25:34):
wish I would've been in thatshow.

Wow.

Go.
People go.

Yes.
Yes.

So I wanna talk a little bit about Sam Goody
before I get into question six.
And you said your sister workedat Sam Goody and I worked at Sam
Goody.
It's nothing like working at arecord store.
Because your sister worked therewere you probably hanging out
there a good while cuz you'reprobably hanging out at the
mall?
Or would, did you not hang outat the Sam Goody with her?

Not really, because when she was working at Sam
Goody, I was still prettylittle.
And I even remember there was atime where she was working and
she called my mom to alert herthat the cast of Clarissa
explains it all was signingautographs.
And my mom raised me over to themall to, so I could get my
headshot from Ferguson, the guy,the kid that played Ferguson

(26:16):
signed and Melissa Joan Hart.
But, I was still very little, soI was yet to fully form into the
New Jersey Mall rat.
But I did definitely have myfair share of trips to Sam Goody
where, again, this is thenineties.
So like I would hear a song onceand fall in love with it, but I
wouldn't know who sang it.
I wouldn't know the name of thesong.

(26:36):
And so I would, you would justliterally, Sam goody employees,
and I'm sure you experiencedthis too, Sam Goody employees
were Shazam.
So if you wanted to learn what asong was, there was no Googling
it.
You go up to the employee andyou say, Hey, there's this song
that goes like this at night, Ithink of you.
And then they would go, oh,that's this song by and then

(26:57):
they would walk you over to thecd.
And even if you just like thatone song, nope, now you have to
pay$18 for the full albumbecause it's not available on
single and So that was mymemories of Sam Goody.
But yeah, my, my sister was wasdefinitely working there for a
good while I was frequenting.

I'm glad that you put the rubber stamp on it
because I have talked about onthis podcast before we are, or
we were Shazam.
I worked in an urban market, soI would have people come in, you
know that junk that goes likethis, that junk that says like
this, and it does like this,that junk.
And I'm like, oh, I know thatjunk goes like this and then
like that.
No, it goes like this.
And then it goes like that.
And then it goes like this.

(27:35):
I'm like, oh, that's that junk.
And then I'll grab'em the tape.
They'll be like, that is thejunk.
And they're like, how much isit?
And that was like, that would beour conversation.

Literally.
And I feel like any Gen Z personis probably gonna be like, what?
Really?
But yeah! Because at the time,like I, really don't feel like
they, they don't get it.
at the time, really your onlyresearch tool was the
encyclopedia that your parentshad invested in 10 years ago
that are sitting there, dusty.

(28:02):
They don't have any information.
You're not gonna.
The song in the encyclopedia.
So then all of a sudden, whatwas it what were those first CD
ROMs that came out to the housewith, they were like, the pre
Wikipedia days.
Oh God, why can't I remember it?

I can't remember.

But anyway, you would put the CD rom in and you
would just cross your fingersthat you could find any more
information on that.
But it was just so early daysinternet, and it really was just
about hoping to God that you hadsome type of a, pitch
perfection, that you couldactually sing the song in tune.
And I can't imagine how manypeople went up to you and
probably were just like, justsounded God awful and you had to

(28:42):
try to decipher what song theywere singing.

And half the time they didn't know the lyrics or
they're singing the wronglyrics.
And it's those aren't thelyrics.
I was in Panera one day and, youknow, elevator music and I'm
hitting there listening to thissong and I'm like, I know this
song.
What is it?
And thank God for Shazam.
Cause I hit Shazam.
it was Wutang Clan Cream, but itwas by a guy that his, like his
name is El Michael something orother.

(29:05):
And he did like the whole albumkind of jazzy with the sound
effects and everything.
I'm like, am I seriouslylistening to Cream by Wutang for
elevator music?
But I would've never known thatunless, yeah, I would've never
known that unless it was forShazam.
So thank God for Shazam and thephone and the Google and all
that because yeah, we didn'thave any of that.

Oh yeah.
Yeah.
And somehow we survived.

We did.
We did.
And we're better off for it, cuznow we probably do a bunch more
research on it even after wefind out what it is.

We really are.
I really long for those daysagain, like even though it was
such a pain in the ass.
I still miss the type of sparkand magic that, that whole sense
of of work that you had to putin to really love a song that
much where you're willing todrive out to your nearest music
store and literally be willingto put humiliation aside to sing

(29:59):
to an employee, to try to getahold of this song.
That just goes to show theenergy that we were putting in,
forming lines around the blockfor the latest release at Tower
Records that we had been dyingto get.
Compared to today where we're sodesensitized and you really have
to work that much harder to getyour fan base to care because

(30:20):
that it's so far from where wewere back when we were growing
up.
And a lot of that magic is goneand it really is heartbreaking.

Yeah.
You bring up a great pointbecause, it's like at the time
it was almost like the artistswere unseen.
M T V Yeah.
Showed'em a little bit, but itwas like you didn't know who
those artists were.
I The first time I heardMadonna, I thought she was a
black artist.
I had no idea that she wasCaucasian.
I didn't know that.

Yeah.

When I first listened to her but just the
soulful sound that she was.
Like Queen! I'm listening toQueen and I'm thinking this is
like a like an urban band too.
Because just some of the drumbeats and stuff and that, and
they weren't.
But it's like we didn't have,there was magazine and stuff,
but when you were a kid, youonly had a couple dollars and we
were lucky we could get like a45 or a, cassette single or
whatever, or CD single.

(31:04):
Yeah.
Not, during the whole album.
And then for whatever reason,there was a time period where
everybody was putting out adouble album and you're like,
wait a minute, I can't evenafford a single album.
And you guys are putting outdouble albums.

Yeah.

But you are correct, because now it was
something that was totallyunseen.
Now you have to be seen all thetime where people don't know who
you are.
Which it just

Exactly!

Is so crazy because back in the day those
folks could care less that youeven watched MTV or whatever.
They wanted you to, but you hadno idea who Madonna was, and you
go out and you're searching for,and her song and her album and
all that stuff.
And then maybe you're getting amagazine and you're putting
posters on your wall.
Now it's just, you gotta be outthere on social media like 24
hours a day, seven days a week,like touting your music.

(31:43):
And then everybody's getting sodesensitized to it that, oh
yeah, we know you have an albumout.
Or whatever.
And it's then you have to go toother means to try to drum up, I
need somebody listen to mymusic.
So then you need to go to avenue and do other things and do
some of the things that you weretalking about earlier.

Exactly, and I think that's one of the reasons
why H.E.R.
Did a really great job.
Whoever was behind this wholecampaign about of her release
was they created this mysteryaround her and this elusiveness
around who she was.
With the whole sunglasses thing.
With just posting her silhouettein her earliest social media.

(32:18):
And even the album artwork, itwas very much who is this
person?
And so people fell in love withthe music first, and then they
craved wanting to know who isthis?
And then finally when shestarted making appearances with
the sunglasses, and then slowlythe reveal of having the frames
where you could actually see hereyes.
It was just this thing thatpeople were just wanting it so

(32:42):
badly just to know who she was.
And that really helped her standout from the crowd.
But I feel like a lot of indieartists today that are just
starting out are thinking maybeI'll try that tactic.
But you know what?
She already did it.
So now you have to findsomething else.
If you wanna go the quoteunquote gimmick route.
Which I don't think that thiswas a gimmick in a negative
connotation type of way, but youcan't just imitate what some

(33:04):
other artist has done and expectit to work for you, especially
if it's not reflecting your ownauthenticity.

you got a really valid point there.
And it's still has done withsome artists.
Like they'll go on a blackout onsocial media or whatever, and
then they'll come back.
Then they're, listing certainthings and you have to uncover
certain things.
I think that's why like 21pilots so much because skeleton
Clique trying to figure out whenthe album's coming out and when
the,

yeah

new single's gonna drop and then they send out maps
and different, websites andpeople are researching and
saying, did you see this?
Did you see that?
And you're like, wait a minute.
I didn't even know there was anew single coming out.
Or a new album or whatever.
So it's good that mystery aroundbands like, and artists like
H.E.R.
And 21 Pilots are out there andeven, Taylor Swift and others to
figure out let's get back intothis whole music scene again and

(33:47):
really dive into it.

Yeah.
Absolutely.

Let's look at question six.
What was your first musicpurchase?
Was it vinyl, tape, cd, orstream?
And where did you purchase yourmusic?

It was definitely cassette tape.
I wanna say that it was RhythmNation, but I don't think it was
because I think, again, like theconvenience of having older
siblings is that they alreadyhad everything that I wanted.
And especially when it came tomusic.
So I wanna say that my firstmemory of a cassette that I
purchased was the singlecassette of, You Mean The World

(34:19):
to Me by Toni Braxton?
I think that was my first one.

Toni Braxton.
I remember seeing Toni Braxtonin New York City with the Beauty
and the Beast.
we Rip on the nosebleeds andpeople were busting out chips
and eating.
I'm like, guys, I'm trying to,

oh my gosh,

I'm trying to listen to Toni Braxton sing and
you guys are like, chomping inmy ear.
What the heck?

Oh my gosh.
And her tambour is so low thatit's if you're crunching on
chips, you're a kid who drownedout the base of her voice.

Exactly.
I was like, I want to hear TonyBraxton.
Come on people, what are youdoing to me?

Oh, that's hilarious.

Toni Braxton

nothing like a little chips and a Broadway
show.

Exactly.
Bring your chips, but bring yourchips if it's a, like they're
singing eat'em.
Like when they're not singing,when they're doing dialogue.
I don't really need thedialogue.
I need the singing part.

Yeah, exactly.

Or maybe I do need some of the dialogue.
I don't know.
.All right, let's take anotherbreak.
We'll be right back.
Hang on.

You are still under the influence with DJ
DJJonniBravo.

We are back.
I'm DJJonniBravo.
You're going under the musicalinfluence of today's guest, Shay
Leona, under the end of theInfluence with DJ DJJonniBravo.
All right, question numberseven.
And it's the question thateverybody loves to hear.
What's your favorite song?

Oh, God.
I was bracing myself for this.
Oh, I honestly I don't know howto answer this because I've
learned this about myselfrecently.
I somehow feel like songs havefeelings and I'm, I promise I'm
not a woowoo person.

(36:06):
But somehow whenever I hear asong that I haven't heard in a
long time, I feel guilty, and Ifeel like, oh my gosh, I haven't
paid attention to that song.
I need to go listen to it soit'll feel better.
It's just and I'm trying toremember what song I experienced
that with recently.
I feel like it was a Drew Hillsong, I can't even I'm literally

(36:30):
glitching.
I glitch when I hear thatquestion.
I can't even answer it.
I can't,

I will say something and then maybe it'll
help re jog your memory.
I was listening the other day,and OP P came on by Naughty by
Nature..

Oh my gosh.

And I used to play that song all the time.
It was like one of the songs Iused to always play DJing, and I
hadn't heard that song in a longtime.
And I'm like, man, this song isso killer.
I forgot how killer this songis.

It really is.
Yeah.
And hip hop Horray, and, shoutout to Jersey, I actually did a
song with Treach years ago andit ended up being on his
mixtape.
I was so upset because the song,the guy that engineered the
song, we were in the studio andI was putting on so many vocal
stacks.
That he was like, all right, I'mjust gonna mute this stack right

(37:14):
here, and then we can continueadding on, because I'm gonna
have to mix them down and allthat kind of stuff.
So he, he mutes them.
In the version that went onTreach Mix tape.
The guy had never unmuted mystack.
He also never mixed my vocals.
So you hear like it's just sohorrible.

(37:36):
But then all of a sudden you getto the end of the song and
there's like a minute and a halfof dead air.
That the guy just, I don't knowwhat happened.
I don't know if the engineer maybe sent a rough to Treach or to
Treach team, and then Treach waslike, eh, it's just a mixtape.
I'll just put it on withoutchecking it.
But unfortunately, that songended up being so many different

(37:58):
people's favorite song on theentire mixtape and Treach.
It's Treach of Naughty byNature.
So he has some really hardcorefans, especially overseas, and
they were loving this song, butI was mortified.
I was like, oh my God, this ismy first, like I'm working with
a legend on a song and it's justmixed so poorly.
It's not even mixed at all.

(38:18):
And

oh my,

It was just a nightmare.
But that's me ducking anddodging your question about what
my favorite song is.

So you're still ducking and dodging.
I'll let you duck and dodge alittle bit longer.
Because you were talkingearlier, when we first did the
first question about thePharcyde.
Did you say Lords of theunderground?
Who else did you say?

Oh, yeah.
Okay, who have I worked with?
So I've worked with Skillz, withLords of the Underground with El
Da Sensei from The Artifactswith Treach and Marley Marl.
Who else?
I've opened up for Raekwon andKeith Murray, but I have not
gotten to work with them yet.
Yeah, I think that's all theMonifah I've also worked with.
Yeah that's what my brain isreminding me of at the moment.

Raekwon the Chef.

Raekwon the Chef.
Yes.

And Marley Mar.
It's a Marley Mall remix.
Single y'all.
The Jingling baby.
Go ahead, baby And she's stillnot gonna answer the question.

I'm still not gonna answer the question.
No, I, you know what?
Because one of the songs isgonna hear me and they're gonna
be like she loves me more thanyou.
And they're feelings are gonnabe heard whole.
It's really toy Story.
But with songs!

You can put your name in the bottom of the shoe
of the song.

Exactly.

Now it's gonna haunt you.

It, I'm glad you understand.

I do understand.
And you'll go down in history asthe first person that, that
doesn't answer this question.
And I'm totally fine with it.
There's nothing that says thatyou have to answer all the
questions.
These are just questions that wehave, so you can answer, but it
doesn't mean you have to answer.
I'm being for real.
it sounds like I'm being funny,and I, maybe I am.

Are you a Seinfeld fan at all?

Yes.
My, wife watches that.
It's like one of her sleep timeshows, so I'm always catching.

Oh, I look, I have sleep time shows too.
Tell your wife I said hello.
I totally get it.

Yes.

So there's this episode where George gets some
guy, one of his coworkers disseshim.
And so then the whole time he'sthinking, why didn't I have a
good comeback?
So then he ends up likeliterally taking a plane or
driving.
It's just like a whole adventurethat he goes on to try to find
this guy who's in another workmeeting at another state just so

(40:15):
he can roll up on him and belike, oh yeah they ran outta you
at the jerk store, and it's justthis awful moment.
And so I just, I forget what mypoint was, but it's So I, oh,
that's, that was my point.
So once I say whatever I thinkmy favorite song would be to
you.
I feel like I would get off ofthis interview and the whole

(40:35):
rest of my life, I will bethinking, why didn't I tell him
this song or this song?
It's just, it's a whole thing.
It's a lot of pressure.

It's not a too long of a drive from Philly.
If you had to come to Richmondor we could just have another
phone call, and you could tellme.
No, it's totally fine.
We'll go to question numbereight,

which I know,

which just adds to the pressure, right?

It does.

Just adds to the pressure.
So we'll go to question numbereight and question number
Question number eight is, what'syour favorite band?

Yeah,

hurt somebody's feelings.
Y'all.
Come on.

I can't do it.
I'm not even trying to Peopleplease here, but I really can't.
There's so many.
I was even trying to like,think, okay, should I take the
James Varner route and list themby decade?
But I can't.
I can't.
It's, there's so many.
I'm really trying to figure outa way to even just throw some at
you.
Oh God.
Okay.
All right.
Who do I have tattoos of rightnow?

(41:35):
That's how I'll answer it.

Okay.
Tattoos.
That's good.

Fricking a.
Okay.
And there's so many more tocome, but this is who I have so
far.
I have Liza Minnelli on my arm.
I have George and Ira Gershwin.
I have Dizzy Gillespie.
I have Rocky.
So we'll mention the soundtrackthere.
I have Janet.
I have Michael the Jacksons, ofcourse, I have George Michael,
and then I have Miles Davis.

(41:59):
Those are who I have tattoos ofat the moment.

Now you're gonna have me add an extra question to
my list.
what tattoos do you, whatmusical tattoos do you have?
That's cool.
So you have plenty of favoriteartists and see that's it's any
way to answer the question.
Like James Varner, he did thatquestion in the, genre of the
nineties and the eighties andthe seventies or whatever.
So you just answered it in adifferent way with your tattoos
and that is a good collective.

Really the only fair way, it's the only fair way
because even if I were to try tothink of the nineties.
I start thinking, okay, are wetalking freestyle music?
Are we talking grunge?
Are we talking pop?
Just oh, hip hop.
It's too much.
It's too much.
It makes me sweat.

You got through it, you got through those those
two hardest questions on theexam.
So you don't get a good grade,but at least you got

That's right.
I'll take it.

At least you got, there's always, it's a
commutative grade, so you'll bejudged on just these nine
questions.
No it's fine.
It's totally cool.
It's, and whatever.
And it's your style and it'syour show and that's what it's
all about.
It's, some people think it's myshow, I just come on, I'm like a
guide and I just guide peoplealong with the questions.
And some of them, when we talkabout it, it's, this is a hard

(43:08):
question.
The previous one was a hardquestion and people have, lovers
of music have a difficult timewith that.
If you're out there justlistening and you have the same
artists that you listen to allover again, and you probably can
be like, oh, it's, the BeastieBoys, or whatever.
But, some people have trouble.
They have trouble with this.

Yeah.
It really is.
It's not, it's I don't know.
I'm, maybe some people can rightoff the bat say what their
favorite meal is, but I can'teven think of what my favorite
meal is.
It's just so much pressure cuzthere's so much variety out
there.
And there are songs that I hearthat I'm like, I don't remember
life before this song, eventhough I know this song only

(43:44):
came out like last year.
Or maybe I just discovered thissong last month, but what was my
life before this song?
Because I will, on a sunny day Iwill get into my car and I will
be able to roll down the windowsand it's just beautiful outside.
And all of a sudden I'll belike, you know what,
Technotronic, and I'll put onTechnotronic and I'll be like,

(44:04):
this song is just hidden forthis weather.
And then all of a sudden theTechnotronic will spin out into
a whole bunch of other songsthat I wanna follow after.
So then all of a sudden I startstacking up my cue with all of
the songs that I wanna hear in arow that fit this weather and
this mood that I'm in, and thesense of gratitude that I'm
feeling.
And it can be the same way ifI'm feeling like crap and I

(44:26):
wanna, reminisce about an X andI just suddenly I'll just stack
up those songs.
And it's just they're all myfavorites and they have all
supported me in a very.
Way in my life, in my mentalhealth, in my career, in my
pursuits, in my memories of mymom.
Like they're just songs are sospecial to me.

(44:47):
And that's one of the reasonswhy I'm so passionate about
helping indie artists.
Because so many indie artiststhink that their follower count
on Spotify is what determinestheir success.
But what they don't understandis if they let that determine
their success, they're gonna endup getting burnt out and quit.
And then people like me who needthese songs to survive are never

(45:09):
gonna get the chance to hearthese songs.
And when I say survive, itdoesn't have to be like, oh, I'm
making a song that's explicitlyabout someone's mental health
and getting through.
No, sometimes it could just bethe existence of a song like,
up, busy, do it.
Get up and move that body.
That could really make my dayand Imwe all need you out here
making this music.

(45:30):
So that's my little soapbox.

You're You're And the part that I love about music
is when I'm watching those showsor videos or whatever.
The last one I watched wasTaylor Swift.
The one before that was OliviaRodrigo.
But I love it when people breakdown the whole album and they
tell me about each individualsong, cuz it makes me love that
song and that album even more.

(45:53):
And yes, I am blaring OliviaRodrigo, she's on my

go for it.

My favorite songs, I don't listen to Taylor much,
but I know she's a greatsongwriter.
And I think Folklore was onDisney Plus and I was watching
that.
I really enjoyed it.
I just love when artists tellyou about the songs, and you're
right.
It might not mean anything tome, but it means the world to
you, and then it means the worldto somebody else.
And so you have to put that outthere and find a way to do it.

(46:18):
And back in the day, we'repeddling it out of our trunk,
and getting it out there tofolks because we, or mix tape,
like what you were talking aboutwith Treach.
There was mix tapes that weregoing around that you would
hear.
And you would hear artists from,and you would've never heard
that song again.
Maybe off the mix tape,

Yeah.

But it gets people exposure.
It gets people like youexposure.
That just pushed you that muchfurther.
it might not have if you weren'ton that song with Treach,
embrace it.
But don't just embrace one sideof it.
It really takes work and youreally have to get out there and
hit the streets and do what'srequired.
my son always makes fun of mecuz we have these stickers for

(46:55):
our podcast whenever we go outto eat, I'm handing these
stickers out, but that's anaudience that's untouched.
They're not all my socials, andthat's something that they'll
listen to.
they'll go on there and they'lllisten to a couple episodes.
I'm like, tell me what youthink.
And of course they never do.
But anyway, they, I'm glad thatthey're listening and getting,
hopefully getting something outof it.
And it's fun to go out back intothe place and we'll see a
sticker which

yeah.

Yeah.
And you see the sticker andyou're like, oh, cool.
so then they're experiencing orshowing it to other people.
It could just be a sticker thatlaunches your career.
It could be a

absolutely

t-shirt.
You gotta think about what youcan have out there, you never
know.
It could be a poster.

Even if it's not affecting like my following in
any way.
It still feels amazing whenevermy friend is visiting, anywhere
in New York or if they're inAustin, especially the states
that I know that I don't livein, and they send me a picture.
Hey, this you, and I'm like,yep, that's me.
That's my sticker on some randomstreet in Austin while I'm

(47:50):
sitting here in Philly.
And it's just so cool to like tosee my stickers get around.
It's awesome.

Yeah.
And even Young Blood is doingsomething with Adobe where
they're like having people dohis posters for whatever town,
and then he's gonna in turnwhoever wins, I guess that
particular town, they're gonnasell the poster at the concert
venue.
So he's getting his, followersin with him to do a poster and
be a part of the process.
And we've seen bands do that.

(48:16):
know, We've seen Bon Jovi dothat with video cameras and they
did a whole video.
They had people come in withvideo cameras, BC Boys the same
way, and other artists that dothat, that get people involved.
And that's the cool part ofmusic.
So not only are you into thatperson, but you're, look, I
designed the poster, or this isthe poster that I designed that
did never got picked, here itis, or whatever for young blood.
So you gotta keep that stuffgoing.

Absolutely.

Are you ready for the grand finale?

As I'll ever be?

All right, let's do this.
How has music impacted yourlife?

Whew.
I was born, literally born intomusic, and it's with me every
single day.
you heard me say how much Ada Iget in silence.
I am one of those people thatdoes not want to be alone with
their thoughts.
Cause I'm just craving when isthe next inspo for the next song
gonna come from.
And not even necessarily towrite, but just to listen to.

(49:14):
my friends get this from me allthe time where they'll just be
talking to me about somethingand, oh, God forbid it'd be
something serious or something Iactually need to focus on.
And they'll say a word or aphrase and it'll be, I'll just
start singing a song that.
I remember has that word or thatphrase in it, and I will, it's

(49:34):
like a jukebox.
It's like somebody just stuck acoin into the jukebox.
music is just such a part of myday-to-day.
There's, eat, sleep, crap andmusic I really just cannot
fathom my life without it,because in a very conscious, but
also a very unconscious way,it's always there.
And it was so funny because I'mvery like one of my random facts

(49:57):
about me is that I'm very biginto genealogy.
And so I handle a lot of thegenealogy for my family.
And of course, being a Jewishfamily, like there's a rich
history there that's alreadyestablished.
But there was plenty of thingsthat I didn't know.
And so when I was researching,both branches of my family.
Now on my mom's side.
Jack and Nathaniel Sherson whoare my great-grand uncles.

(50:20):
They started one of the firstmusic stores in Los Angeles when
they came over from Lithuaniaand it was called Sherson
Brothers Music.
And they were responsible forbeing the first distributors of
Sony in the US because at thetime, the Japanese companies
were not really doing too wellin the US because of what was
happening historically at thattime.

(50:41):
But my family decided to justput Sony out as an acronym.
I can't remember what theacronym was for, but they lied
and were basically saying itwasn't a Japanese company.
So they were also the firsttranscribers of traditional
Mexican songs.
And they had a guy in the backliterally writing out.
The different notes and lyricsfor these songs from Mexico and

(51:03):
distributing those.
And now you can find theirguitars on eBay.
It's wild.
So that was happening in theearly 19 hundreds from my
family.
Then I look on my father's sideof the family and it turns out
that my great-grand uncles,there were two of them, I
believe Bernard and Marcus Hastwere both famous cantors and
Warsaw, and I was able to findtheir sheet music online.

(51:26):
So when we talk about what typeof impact music has on me.
It's in my blood, literally inmy bloodline.
it's so fascinating to me.
I'm so glad that I was born,when I was born to the people
that I was born to because Ican't imagine life without
music, this being this impactfulon me.

If you collect vinyl long enough, sometimes
you'll get one of those stickerson the vinyl that says, say it,
play it.
And for you they're gonna say itand you're gonna sing it for me.
They're gonna say it and I'mgonna play it because I'm a DJ
So it's a little bit differentthere.
But and we have something incommon.
I do genealogy too, and

Really?

Yes.
And I'm trying to get back.
Now I'm working on my greatgrandfather and grandmother are
from Poland.
They were the first ones overhere.
And my grandfather was the firstone born here, but he had a
sister that was born in Polandcuz his mom had to leave her
because she was doing farm worksomewhere and the daughter was
staying with family.

(52:22):
So she left thinking, oh, it'lljust be easy to get her and
bring her over.
this was 1913 that she cameover.
My great-grandfather came overin 1905 and then again in 1906.
She didn't come over until 1951.
By the time she came over, shewas married.
Oh, she had kid the kid had beenmarried and she had kids.
So it took that long because of,world War II for my grandfather

(52:43):
to write letters and do that.
So genealogy is another kind ofway to find out about your roots
and to find out about what youreally care about and what your
family really cared about.
And that's just an awesome storythat you can take with you, that
you can tell your family aboutand other people.
That's just awesome.
The first record store out therein, in California.

I'm not sure if it was the first record store.
But I know it was one of theearliest record stores.
They were definitely the firstdistributors of Sony and the
Mexican songs.
But it's crazy too because itdoesn't even always necessarily
have to go that far back.
So all, there's this fascinatingstory of a few years ago, maybe
it was like five or six yearsago now.
I was consulting with one of mycousins who helps me with the

(53:26):
genealogy track.
I was telling him about mymaternal grandfather.
my maternal grandfather wasadopted.
I figured that the trail stoppedthere and he implored me to keep
digging.
He was like let's look a littlebit more about your grandfather.
He pulls up this document andit's a marriage license and it

(53:47):
doesn't have my grandmother'sname on it, it's some other
woman.
And I was like, who the heck isthis woman?
So sure enough, he startsdigging some more and turns out
that my grandfather had a wholeother family before he met my
grandmother.
so if you wanna insert somedramatic music here, like it's

(54:07):
super soap opera worthy.
then I figure, okay, the trailstopped there.
He had two sons before he met mygrandmother, and that's that.
But of course those sons hadchildren and one of those
children who is my cousin.
I was able to track him down onFacebook and we started speaking

(54:28):
and immediately he tells me thathe was a software engineer for
ADR, a recording software formusic.
And eventually that softwareended up being purchased by
Roland.
So,

oh man.

Even when I was just connecting with random
family that I never even knewexisted that are my age.
And we're very close now andthis is the same cousin that's
bringing me out to, to see Janetin Austin.
We're very close now.
And like when we first met I waslike, are you kidding me?
We're both into music.
It was just, it was so cool.
It was so.

that's that's really awesome, man.
I'm glad that you could be heretoday.
And I just, before we sign offand all that stuff, I want you
to tell us what kind of music doyou do what kind of music do you
like to do and give us yoursocials and all that where we
can find you, where the peoplecan find you and get into your
music and get into cuz you havea podcast and you have a

Yeah.

A company and just all kinds of of things going on.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat stuff, where we sign off
today.

Oh, thank you.
Yeah, she's a busy girl.
my own personal music is what Icall industrial r and b.
I was once told that it soundslike Kelis vocals over nine inch
nails beats, which I willabsolutely take that.
So if you're into either ofthose artists or you just wanna
explore like a more trashcansstyle of r and b music, I'm your
girl.
You can find all of my musicavailable on streaming.

(55:51):
You can also just hit up mywebsite, Shay Leonia dot com.
I'm always on Instagram onTikTok Shay Leonia once again.
And if you are an indie artistand you're looking for a way to
create, a successful musiccareer on your terms and you
would love some support doingthat, then hit me up at 44th
Minute Media.
I love supporting artists.

(56:11):
You can al also tune into mypodcast, the Millennial Musician
Podcast, where I also dole outsome.
Some hefty advice for those sameexact musicians, and I bring on
a bunch of incredible gueststhat are gonna help us both
learn along the way.
So yeah I'm availableeverywhere.
Just look up my name.
She, and thank the Google godsyou.
You'll be able to find me.

people are probably listening to this
podcast and be like, John andShay were like way back.
This is our first time talkinglike, we Imwe bit on the
internet and through one of thepodcast things that are on
Facebook and she has to be aguest.
I'm like, sure, let's be aguest.
And so I'm glad that, you coulddo that and be here today.
It's been so much fun talking toyou.

Yeah, likewise.

And having this discussion about music,
something that, you know, bothof us love and have a passion
for.
I wanna bring success to you andsuccess to your music.

Aw, thank you.

And to success to what you're doing for the indie
artist and your podcast and allthose things.
Because a lot of people don'trealize when you're creative and
you have all these creativethings that you want to do, that
you're outreaching and you'redoing stuff and you're doing
other things, and it takes a lotof work.

Oh yeah.

The least you could do is click a like, yeah.
You could share it with somebodyelse.
You could push it forward.
Say, Hey, you heard this song,doing those things.
Have you heard this artist?

Mm-hmm,

get the folks into it.
Get the folks out there becauseyou might be that bridge to me
knowing a new band or a newartist.
Exactly.
And there have been severalpeople in my life that have done
that.

Yeah.

Yeah.
So definitely glad that youcould be here today.
Thanks for going under themusical influence of today's
guest, Shay Leonia and Under theInfluence with DJ DJJonniBravo.
Go under the influence onInstagram at DJ J O N N I Bravo
underscore under the influence.
Contact us by email atDJJonniBravo dot under the
influence@yahoo.com.

(57:55):
Check out my other podcast withmy son, Hero Chat Show.
Please subscribe to Under theInfluence with DJJonniBravo
wherever you listen to yourpodcast.
I'm Jonni Bravo.
I'll see you next time.
Goodbye.

You are no longer under the influence with
DJJonniBravo until next week.

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S2-E7 - Shay Leonia | Recording Artist

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}S2-E7 - Shay Leonia | Recording Artist