Born in Philadelphia, raised in Chicago. At age 14, I began writing songs out of an interest in music and poetry. At 16 I auditioned for Oscar Brown Jr., for a part in a musical review he wrote and produced in Chicago. His encouragement was instrumental in deciding my future as a musician and composer; it was an example that taught me to respect the significance of an accomplished performer's influence on young people. 

My music career began in Chicago when I signed with Mercury Records. Jeff Labes and Daud Shaah, the pianist and drummer with Van Morrison’s “Moondance” period band, produced the album, Sam Leopold, which Billboard Magazine called “original, dynamic and energized.” Touring, I played concerts and music clubs on bills with country acts Emmylou Harris and Vassar Clemens, folk singers Harry Chapin and Pete Seeger, blues singers Bonnie Raitt and Lightnin’ Hopkins, jazz great Charles Mingus, guitar stylist Leo Kotke, and many others.

Moving to New York City for advanced music studies, I entered the corporate world as a promotion writer and composer at CBS, Inc., eventually transferring to The New York Times Company and then to Arts and Entertainment Magazine (now Biography Magazine) as an editor and writer of general interest articles. 

Looking for a story, I visited The Fellowship Community in Spring Valley, New York, with its small farm, elder care facility, and workshops providing activities and financial support for about 130 people of all ages. They were living and experimenting with the ideas of the philosopher Rudolf Steiner. I was deeply impressed, enough to become a full-time co-worker. In the following years I learned bio-dynamic farming and elder care, and eventually returned to music and performing. 

In 1999, my wife and I moved to Japan to help another intentional community creating Steiner schools and teacher training programs. For three years I performed in the nightclubs of Sapporo. The plight of Japanese teenagers struggling with cultural changes happening with unprecedented speed and magnitude gave me a picture of the world's youth and the issues they face. "Songwriting with Young People" was founded at the Hokkaido International School to help students understand and work creatively with these issues. 

In 2002 we moved to Australia where I wrote songs for recording artists, performed in concerts, clubs and festivals, and gave songwriting workshops. I was invited to give ongoing classes in songwriting to teenage students with disabilities at a special school near Sydney. These classes continued until October, 2003 when I returned to the United States to work with young people here. I'm currently performing at venues in the Northeastern United States and working as a music specialist at Camp Venture, a facility for citizens with special needs in Rockland County, New York. We're living within an hour's drive of our three children and two grandchildren.