Whether it’s his autumn colored flannel shirt and scuffed up brown boots, the unraveling wiry strings bursting from the head of his guitar, or the red flower pinned to his fedora, there’s something about folk-singer Robert Leslie that gives audience members a feeling of being thrust back in time to the 1960′s. This feeling becomes even more prevalent when he introduces himself in an accent reminiscent of the British Invasion. But when Leslie finally begins to play, listeners begin to put aside any such judgments of the young musician, as all whispers and chatter are silenced by Arpeggio. Once he opens his mouth, and melodies pour out, on-lookers are hypnotized by the poetic beauty in his lyrics, and the addicting and compelling sound of his voice.
Leslie’s pursuit of a musical career is a British Invasion in its own right. He spent a great portion of his youth living in England, the Rest he spent in Amsterdam. Upon deciding to try and make a career in music, Leslie made a plethora of different stops before eventually ending up in Brooklyn, where he currently lives.
“I’ve been doing this for the past two years,” Leslie said. “Before coming to New York, I was going around Europe, and North Africa, playing music on the streets, small shows, and things like that.”
After struggling to find that success he yearned for overseas, Leslie eventually concluded that things were not working out has he had envisioned, as he found it difficult to do well in his musical endeavors.
“I was hanging around Madrid doing music there, but the European music scene is quite boring,” said Leslie. “You can sort of making a living doing it, but you kind of stay muddling around at the bottom all the time.”
This led Leslie to consider other destinations to pursue his talents.
“I was asking people ‘Where do I go if I want to be a star?’ and they told me ‘New York City,’” Leslie said.
Fortunately for Leslie, his parents lived in New York City for a short period, and he was born in the United States just before his parents made the move back to Europe, making him a legal citizen. But while he was born here, Leslie does not consider himself an American, as his time here after his birth was only a few months.
“I don’t really consider it coming back to New York, to me this is the first time,” Leslie said.
Upon arriving in New York, Leslie began to play his music in the subway, and small venues, hoping to garner support and gain fans. So far, he has been pleased with his reception.
“People are much more enthusiastic,” Leslie said. “In Europe it’s all like ‘Oh yeah, you can have one Euro, I hope you don’t starve’ Here it’s more like ‘Oh yeah kid, I’m going to make you big, let me give you my card, I know a guy, let me give him a call.’”
Leslie’s subway performances have been an affective way to gain fans much like New York City College student, Joseph Loyer, who has been a follower of Leslie ever since he serendipitously discovered him earlier this year.
“I was coming home one night and I was on the platform in Union Square when I saw Robert and was like ‘Oh, here’s another guy with a guitar on the subway,’” Loyer said. “But when he started playing, everybody on that platform was like ‘wow.’ It was probably the first time I was ever disappointed when the train came so soon.”
While Leslie does feel the United States is a great place to be for musicians, he doesn’t feel there aren’t opportunities in Europe at all.
“London is good too, but England depresses me,” said Leslie. “Berlin’s wonderful if you’re into electrical stuff, but don’t expect to get rich.”
Although Leslie does not know what the future holds, he doesn’t plan on leaving New York in the near future.
“I’ll be here for a while, I suspect,” he said. “But if someone were to say ‘I will give you $10 million American USA Dollars to sign with my weird record label in Venezuela,’ I probably wouldn’t say no.”
Making a steady career in the music industry is never easy no matter where you live, but Leslie has chosen a place that will give him as many opportunities as anywhere. Between the diverse New York residents, with various interests in music, and the countless places to perform, Robert Leslie has chosen an ideal location for a musician to search for success in the trade that they are passionate about, as he himself sees New York as a good place to make it in the industry.
“I figured it’s as good a place as anywhere for things to happen,” said Leslie. “I like it here, I don’t want to leave.”