Craig Leon

Craig grew up in Florida, where he received private classical music training in keyboard performance, composition, and musicology. While working in local bands and on local rock and R&B records as a keyboard player and arranger he recorded in various studios including Criteria in Miami. He eventually built his own recording studio with the help of his friend, Alex Sadkin, another Floridian who also worked at Criteria at that time. After producer, Richard Gottehrer brought in Sire recording artists, The Climax Blues Band, in to record at the studio he offered Craig an appointment in New York as his assistant.

As a result, Leon moved to Manhattan in the early 1970s where he accepted an A&R position at Sire Records in New York under Gottehrer and his partner Seymour Stein. There he was responsible for the discovery and early development of the Ramones and Talking Heads amongst other artists. He produced the first Ramones album and also concentrated on licensing more adventurous European records which the majors were unwilling to release in the U.S. At Sire, Craig learned the skills necessary for the production, as well as manufacture of recorded music.

After producing the 'Live at CBGBs' compilation for Atlantic Records, Craig joined Richard Gottehrer and Marty Thau to set up a production company called Instant Records. Projects included the early Blondie records, Richard Hell & The Voidoids and Suicide.