Leo The Kind

Joshua Jackson, a Massachusetts native, performs under the genre-blending moniker Leo the Kind as a self-taught vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who first built his reputation in electronic dance music by issuing material as IMAGIN8. In 2020 he stepped forward on a major label for the first time with his second artistic identity, unveiling the single “Ain’t Nobody Gon’ Judge.”

Born in Boston, the musician discovered his initial spark for sound through the childhood video game Music Maker. By his early teens he had advanced to a digital audio workstation, then independently mastered keyboards and guitar while achieving comparable results when he began writing songs and singing. Along the way he supplied beats to emerging rappers and, drawn to EDM, issued tracks as IMAGIN8, among them the Egzod collaboration “Focus.” While still active under that alias he adopted Leo the Kind, channeling a modestly unconventional blend of R&B, pop, and rock shaped by straightforward lyricism. After issuing a series of singles under the new name throughout the second half of the 2010s, he pressed ahead in 2020 with substantial backing from Swagg R’Celious, a frequent collaborator of H.E.R. The EP The U.G.L.Y. surfaced that April; three months afterward came “Ain’t Nobody Gon’ Judge,” released via Lava/Republic.