Josh Leo

Who is Josh Leo?

Josh Leo is an American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer active in Nashville, Tennessee.

Leo was born in Des Moines, Iowa, but was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1973, he moved to Chicago, Illinois and subsequently became a guitarist of the short-lived Eddie Boy Band. The band then traveled to Los Angeles, California two years later, where they recorded an album for MCA Records. The Eddie Boy Band, however, was unsatisfied with the sound quality of the album, and they disbanded shortly afterward.

In 1979, four years after the Eddie Boy Band broke up, Leo began touring with J. D. Souther as a guitarist. And over the next few years, he would record and tour with the likes of Kim Carnes, Jimmy Buffett and Glenn Frey. During this time, Leo also began a songwriting career. In 1983, he scored his first hit when Crystal Gayle reached Number One on the Billboard Country Singles chart with his composition, "Baby What About You." That same year, Leo recorded a pop album for Warner Bros. Records titled Rockin' on 6th, and he made his first venture into music production, when he produced Timothy B. Schmit's 1984 album, Playin' It Cool. In 1985, Leo moved to Nashville, Tennessee to focus more on his writing and producing careers. The first album he produced while in Nashville was the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1987 project, Hold On. One of the tracks from that album, "Baby's Got A Hold On Me" an up-tempo song he co-wrote with Jeff Hannah and Bob Carpenter, scored him his first hit as a producer on the R&R charts.