Joey De Leon, Jr. was born sometime in the 1960’s in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City but was primarily raised in the Bronx and North Bergen, New Jersey, the oldest of 2 children. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he was presented with the George Schick Award for Most Outstanding Musicianship. The diverse list of artists he has performed and recorded with is too long to mention but vary as wide as Queen Latifah and Al Jarreau to Juan Gabriel and Cyndi Lauper. He currently is a member of two Grammy Award Winning Bands - Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band as well as Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. He also did a one-year stint with the legendary Arturo Sandoval and participated on albums in which the last 2 artists mentioned won Grammys.