Keith LeBlanc on MySpace
Keith LeBlanc recently opened up his own MySpace. Check out new pictures and video clips and become a friend!
KLB Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/keithleblanc
Keith LeBlanc started playing drums at the age of four. He started playing in clubs at the age of fourteen.
In the summer of 1979 Keith LeBlanc met 
Doug Wimbish and Skip McDonald. This trio would become the legendary rhythm section behind the hits for Sugarhill Records. They performed on such classics as Grandmaster Flash's The Message and Freedom, the Melle Mel album White Lines, and Angie Stone's first record Funk You Up, The Sugar Hill Gang's Eight Wonder and Funky Four's That's the Joint.
Moving on from the early 80's rap explosion, drummer Keith LeBlanc already released some solo work on Tommy Boy Records, mixing the DMX drumbeats with his own special drumsound. His release No Sell Out, featuring the cut-up raps of civil rights activist Malcolm X pitched against the infamous DMX drumbeat.
No Sell Out was acknowledged as the first ever 'sampling record'. Ahead of the time and timeless. This led Keith into producing and doing drum sessions for Tommy Boy Records. He worked with Africa Bambaata and James Brown (Unity, for example) and many of other Tommy Boy artists. He also did lots of sessions for Arthur Baker. 
Doug and Keith also contributed to the Artists United Against Apartheid project, released in1985.
LeBlanc then moved to London to work with British mixer/producer Adrian Sherwood of On-U Sound. Together they formed the radical cutting edge ensemble Tackhead. They achieved success in the London underground and dance hall scene with hits like Mind at the End of the Tether and What's My Mission Now?.
"Tackhead's first three songs at The Ritz on Saturday re-emphasized its status as one of the finest rhythm sections of the 1980's. Skip McDonald on guitar, Doug Wimbish on bass, and Keith LeBlanc on drums - the core of the famed early rap label Sugarhill Records - put on an astonishingly hard show; the beat sounded like a thousand iron doors shutting at once. Like the great rhythm sections of the past, from Walter Page and Jo Jones to the Meters, Tackhead has its own set of addictive rhythms - which can be listened to, with no embellishment, all night long."
Peter Watrous, The New York Times
Keith, Doug and Skip also did some work with Mark Stewart (formerly of The Pop Group), Gary Clail, and Bim Sherman. Keith's first solo album Major Malfunction, is a classic. They went on to produce Friendly as a Hand grenade, featuring vocalist Bernard Fowler, followed by the SBK album Strange Things. Tackhead-members have never stopped recording. They have worked together under various names such as Interference, Strange Parcels and of course Skip McDonald's soloproject Little Axe, featuring vocalists Saz Bell and Keven Gibbs.
Apart from his work as member of the legendary On-U Sound posse, Keith LeBlanc has continued to experiment. He made ten sampling cd's with loads of drum samples and sound effects, free for anyone to use, and released many solo projects. Keith also plays with a long established musician in Peru, Mano Ventura. Their UK outfit Noah Ground is a blend of haunting Peruvian sounds, complexity of Arabic - Latin - African rhythms, with exciting bass patterns (drum and bass orientated) within the jazz format, featuring Keith LeBlanc on drums, Nico Gomez on bass and Mano Ventura on guitar.
Leblanc recently moved back to the Unites States and has also been doing gigs with Bernie Worrell. Keith's writing and production skills have attracted the likes of Living Colour, Peter Gabriel, The Cure, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails.
As a drummer/programmer he has worked with everyone from James Brown to Trevor Horn, Seal to R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, Annie Lennox, Jalal (Last Poets), The Stone Roses and Robert Palmer.
He also produced Charles & Eddie's hit record Would I Lie To You, along with Tim Simenon of Bomb The Bass.
Michael Stipe (REM): "Keith LeBlanc is a revolutionary House God Head with a beanie cap on. He rules my roost."
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