Biography

In the winter of 2010, frustrated songwriter and multi instrumentalist Alex Feder — previously known as the frontman of Brooklyn band The XYZ Affair — nearly gave up on his childhood ambitions and quit music. Instead, he chose to move across the country to Los Angeles and create R&B singer Leonard Friend, a musical altar ego named after his grandfather, who abandoned a promising career as a big band saxophonist when he entered the family’s traveling salesman business.

The soundtrack for Feder’s cross country journey — Michael Jackson’s Dangerous, The Dismemberment Plan’s Emergency and I, Usher’s Confessions, Phil Collins’ Face Value, the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell duets, and the first three records by The Time — became the roots for his new project. Leonard Friend is the fusing of Feder’s Brooklyn indie rock roots with his longtime obsession with Michael Jackson, Prince, and hip hop producers like The Neptunes, Pete Rock and The RZA.