- - Who is Leon Thomas? Meet the Grammy best new artist nominee and Bruno Mars tour opener

Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAYJanuary 14, 2026 at 6:01 AM

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Leon Thomas was already having a celebratory 2025 with the sustained success of his sophomore album, “MUTT,” and its neo-soul grooving title track.

Then came a sold-out club tour in late fall and, a few dates into it, the news that he’d landed six Grammy Award nominations in four R&B categories as well as a best new artist nod and inclusion among the high-profile contenders (Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga) for the prestigious album of the year honor.

Excited? “That isn’t even the word,” Thomas tells USA TODAY. “It was such a beautiful day filled with love and affirmations from my family and other artists and creatives who have supported me. They knew they weren’t crazy for believing me in the early days. It was nice to know everybody has something to hold on to.”

Regardless of how many trophies he takes home at the Feb. 1 Grammys ceremony, Thomas already has a platform-enhancing career boost on the books as the opening act for the first 14 shows of Bruno Mars’ anticipated stadium tour that kickstarts April 10 in Las Vegas.

As his live outings intensify, Thomas says he’s already noticed the shifts in audience engagement as they become more familiar with his music.

“I performed ‘Mutt’ at The Roots Picnic (in 2024) and people just stared at me. And now everyone sings it word for word,” Thomas says. “It lets me know to be patient with the audience and let them become obsessed with the sound.”

Leon Thomas has six Grammy nominations in 2026, including best new artist and album of the year.

More: See Grammy 2026 nominations, including front-runners Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga

Who is Leon Thomas, Grammys best new artist nominee?

Despite Thomas’ impressive showing for this year’s Grammys, his multiple nominations aren’t the first time the Recording Academy has tipped its hat to the 32-year-old Brooklyn, New York native.

Thomas has been a noted songwriter and producer in hip-hop and R&B circles and factored in a best rap song nomination for Rick Ross’ “Gold Roses” in 2020. He won a Grammy in 2024 for best R&B song as a cowriter of SZA’s “Snooze”.

He’s also been dropping mixtapes since 2012, and his 2014 collection, “V1bes,” marked a breakthrough with his remixes of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebum” and Drake’s “Wu-Tang Forever.”

But, the humble multi-hyphenate understands that the success he’s experiencing now differs from the trajectory of many of his peers. He points to his debut studio album, 2023’s “Electric Dusk,” as the template.

“That album was a great opportunity to introduce me to a lot of people and ‘Mutt’ was to fall in love with me,” Thomas says. “It’s a journey that isn’t an overnight thing. This wasn’t a TikTok journey. This was relationships and hard work.”

To that end, the title track of “Mutt” took 38 weeks to break into the Billboard Top 10, after first entering the Billboard Hot 100 in August 2024. It marked the third-longest trip into the Top 10 in the history of the Billboard chart.

Leon Thomas taps into his Broadway background onstage

Thomas, who says he’s hoping to attend the Grammys in some “cool, custom pieces” that nod to heroes including Prince, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, also knows a bit about presentation.

He debuted on Broadway at the age of 10 playing Young Simba in “The Lion King.” His theater resume blossomed with other Broadway roles in “Caroline, or Change” and “The Color Purple.”

Thomas’ acting ambitions expanded to films (“August Rush,” “Runaway Island,” “Detroit”) and TV, where a development deal with Nickelodeon landed him a role as the singing voice for “Tyrone” in “The Backyardigans.”

But he might be most familiar to fans of Nickelodeon’s “Victorious,” where Thomas portrayed Andre Harris from 2010-2013 and also contributed several songs on the show’s companion soundtrack.

Leon Thomas' "MUTT" album is nominated for album of the year at the 2026 Grammy Awards.

Even though he was acting, Thomas says music was always in the bones of his performances.

“About 80% of the roles I had involved music. Music has always been a friend. Actually more like a family member,” he says.

Thomas, who released the R&B-meets-classic-rock EP “Pholks” in October as a bridge project to his next album, agrees that his acting background has enhanced his live performances.

“I feel like the character I play onstage is more confident than my everyday self – that’s a different brother. I’m bringing a sense of bravado and a rock edge from my heroes like Jimi Hendrix and I get into that mode,” he says. “It’s important to pay attention to posture and stage etiquette. All of the people who inspire me, I take pieces from all of them. It’s an art form.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Meet Leon Thomas, Grammy best new artist nominee and Bruno Mars opener

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