Leon Redbone

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Leon Redbone (born August 26, 1949) is a performer of early 20th-century jazz and blues music who has been called "the most famous non-famous American musician".

Supposedly born in Cyprus to Armenian parents (born Dickran Gobalian, according to some sources), Redbone cultivates an aura of mystery and therefore is not easy to biographize. It is known that he lived in Canada for years, where he first began performing in public. Frequent appearances in Toronto clubs and at folk music festivals in the early 1970s helped him to build his musical reputation and his mysterious persona. At one point, it was rumored that he was Frank Zappa in disguise, but since the latter's death due to cancer, these rumors have subsided.

In 1974, Rolling Stone magazine ran a feature article on Redbone, a full year before he even had a recording contract. Described in the article as "so authentic you can hear the surface noise," Redbone told the magazine that he was the love child of Paganini and Jenny Lind.

Redbone finally released his first album, On the Track, for Warner Bros. Records in 1975.

He became known to the public as a semi-regular musical guest on NBC's Saturday Night Live throughout the late '70s and into the '80s. In a late-'70s appearance on the Merv Griffin show, he was introduced as "Andy Kaufman ...maybe or maybe not," alluding to the eccentric comedian as being his possible true(?) identity. (They were both born in 1949.) He also has had an extensive and enviable performance history with musical greats, and has even made appearances in the comic strips of Mister Boffo and Gary Larson. Redbone performed the theme song for the popular '80s sitcom Mr. Belvedere and appears regularly on the PBS children's show Between the Lions. He has also done music for and appeared in television commercials, the most famous being the advertisement for Budweiser beer, where he flies over a beach on a flying carpet, singing "This Bud's for You."

On top of soundtrack and lesser compositions, Redbone has released approximately a dozen albums and earned a cult-like fan community who will travel significant distances to hear him perform. His recurrent gags involve the influence of alcohol and claiming to have written works well before his time (as part of the age mystery schtick), and his concerts blend performance, comedy, and skilled instrumentals.

He did a cover of Frank Loesser's romantic Christmas song Baby, It's Cold Outside with Zooey Deschanel for the closing credits of the 2003 film Elf.

Redbone survived the crash of a small plane in the early 1980s and now travels to engagements exclusively by car.

[edit] Trademarks

Performs in a panama hat with a black band and dark sunglasses, often while sitting at almost rigid attention on a stool. Usually wears white coat and trousers with a black string tie, but sometimes wears darker clothing.