Lenny LeBlanc: This is my home
By Monica Collier Staff Writer
Originally published in the TimesDaily, May 28, 2017
The year was 1977.
The song “Falling” was in heavy radio rotation and was a mainstay on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and also on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart for 28 weeks. The song has since been included as one of Billboard’s all-time favorite Top 40 Hits.
Florence’s Lenny LeBlanc said when he co-wrote “Falling” 40 years ago, he knew it was going to be a hit.
“’Falling’ was just one of those songs,” he said. “Eddie Struzick — who’s in heaven now — and I were roommates for many years. We wrote a lot of songs together. ‘Falling’ was one of those. As soon as we wrote it, we knew it was a hit. I just had that feeling. I’ve had that feeling several times, but with that one, I knew.”
LeBlanc said one minute he was singing “Falling” in his living room and the next minute he and Pete Carr were singing it on “American Bandstand.”
“It was a whirlwind,” he said. “It was pretty amazing. It doesn’t appear on a lot of those ‘Hits of the '70s’ because it only made it to 13 on the charts. The reason is, when they did the charts back then, you had to be No. 1 in every major market around the country at the same time.”
LeBlanc and Carr's “Falling” had widespread chart success for more than six months, but was never popular in all the major markets at the same time. The lack of consistency kept the single from cracking Billboard’s top 10.
“We would go to Atlanta, and it would be No. 1 there one week but then other places, maybe it was No. 1 there a month ago,” LeBlanc said. “It was actually a much bigger hit than the charts indicate. I still love it. It’s not a heavy, profound lyric, but we were 25 and writing love songs.”
LeBlanc calls “Falling” a blessing that continues to open doors for him as a songwriter.
Florence by choice
Before “Falling” (and before coming to the Shoals), LeBlanc and Carr lived in Florida where there wasn’t much of a music scene. In 1973, Carr left Florida to follow his music-making dreams in the “Hit Recording Capital of the World” — Muscle Shoals.
At 21, LeBlanc followed suit and hearkened the call of the Muscle Shoals Sound. He started his four decades-long music career as a session bass player and back-up vocalist.
Ultimately, LeBlanc stayed in the Shoals and adopted Florence as his hometown.
“It was the best move I ever made in my life,” LeBlanc said. “This is my home. I’ve been here longer than anywhere. I’m from somewhere else, but this is my home.”
LeBlanc has been around the world several times, but always looks forward to coming home to the Shoals.
“I love this area,” he said. “You go other places — even Nashville or Birmingham — they don’t know you when you go to the bank. You go to the grocery store, they don’t know you. Here, you go somewhere and you run into 10 people you know.”
Just like a native, LeBlanc takes pride in the history of the Shoals. He feels rooted in the area and enjoys the slower pace of life.
“Not only have families been here for hundreds of years, there are no traffic jams,” he said. “When you sit in traffic in Atlanta or Nashville, you’re thankful for a place like this. The only time we have traffic jams is on Fourth of July because of the fireworks.”
LeBlanc’s list of what he loves about the Shoals is long. From being a great place to raise kids to being a strong artistic community, he said the Shoals has everything he needs.
Lasting friendships
During his early days on the Shoals music scene, LeBlanc forged friendships that have stayed with him a lifetime.
“I’ve kept those relationships even though I had a transition in the early '80s to Christian music,” he said. “I’ve stayed close to my buddies who are in secular music. They have had success in those realms, and I still work with them.”
LeBlanc uses Florence native and Muscle Shoals Sound legend Donnie Fritts as an example.
“He’s a good friend of mine — I’ve known him for years,” he said. “He’s an amazing songwriter and artist. We talked about writing together for years. We just never did do it. Last fall, I was writing a song. I had it started and I thought, I need to call Donnie and we need to get together and finish writing this song. We finished that song, and we just had a great chemistry.”
After that, LeBlanc and Fritts wrote another song, “Old Timer.” Willie Nelson recorded it for his latest album, “God’s Problem Child,” which came out in April.
“This week (May 8), the album debuted at No. 1 on the country charts,” LeBlanc said. “Oh my gosh, how does this happen?”
Hometown network
LeBlanc, a Dove award-winning Christian artist, is a self-taught musician whose first foray into music was as part of a band while living in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He said he always wanted to be a songwriter, but before coming to the Shoals, he wasn’t in a community of songwriters. He knew he had a gift, but he didn’t know how to develop it, or what to do with it.
“I was pretty much the only songwriter in the band,” he said. “I didn’t have anyone to collaborate with or to learn from. When I moved here, I started rubbing shoulders and meeting all of these incredible songwriters. I gleaned so much and learned so much.”
Being part of the songwriters’ scene in the Shoals helped LeBlanc blossom. In the early 1980s, when he switched from secular music to Christian music, his local friends in the business were supportive.
“There were a lot of opinions that I had lost my mind,” he said. “It was not the best career move because there was no financial gain in Christian music then. It was understandable that many of them couldn’t understand.”
He said there were times he didn’t fully understand his decision himself. Above all, though, he knew God was real and was calling him to do something different.
“It wasn’t that the other (music) wasn’t valid and good,” he explained. “I just knew inside that there was a different path for me.”
Walking forward
After walking away from secular music, LeBlanc said the financial bottom fell out for him.
“But, God was faithful,” he said. “I never missed a house payment. I did have to sell my car, my motorcycle and several guitars. I was glad I had amassed a few guitars — every time a bill came due, I would sell a guitar.”
LeBlanc laughed as he recalled his hard times from some 30-plus years ago, but reiterated that taking a different path musically was challenging.
“Those weren’t easy times, but I learned a lot,” he said. “There were quite a few times there was no natural way I was going to be able to pay a bill, and God would make something happen. I knew it wasn’t just circumstance, it was the hand of God.”
A new genre
When LeBlanc shifted to Christian music in the 1980s, it was a new genre and there were only a handful of contemporary Christian artists. As a secular artist, he was signed with Capitol Records and it was several years before a Christian label was able to buy out his contract.
“They — the Christian labels — wanted to sign me, but it was so much money to them,” he said. “It was a good price, but it was expensive for them. A few Christian labels wanted me pretty badly, but it just didn’t make sense for them business-wise.”
After two years of being bound by Capitol and not being able to work, LeBlanc was thankful when he was finally released from his contract.
“I had many new songs written,” he said. “I had already written and sang duets with several (Christian) artists who were already on the radio — one was Michele Pillar.”
Pillar, a popular contemporary Christian artist in the 1980s, was in the Shoals working on a record with LeBlanc’s friend, Jerry Wallace.
“He was producing her record,” LeBlanc said. “She was looking through Jerry’s record collection. Turns out, she was a fan of LeBlanc and Carr. She told Jerry she would love it if I could sing on her record.”
Wallace told Pillar that LeBlanc lived in the Shoals, and he had become a Christian six months earlier.
“They already had all of her songs recorded,” LeBlanc said. “They took two of the songs off her record and put two of mine on there. One was a duet I sung with her, and it became a big hit. That was a door opening for me into Christian radio.”
LeBlanc said by the time his own Christian record came out in 1983, “Say A Prayer,” the duet with Pillar – along with the success of “Falling”— helped him have a foundation with a new audience. His career gained steamed from there and more than 30 years later, he is still a critically acclaimed, internationally successful Christian songwriter and artist.
A new path
LeBlanc’s songwriting methods didn’t change when he became a Christian — it was his heart that had changed.
“The musicality of my songs didn’t change that much,” he said. “It was the message that changed. I was writing about something different — something bigger than myself. Even in Christian music, I’m able to incorporate my stories, my struggles. It’s real similar in a lot of ways.”
Not just as a Christian artist but as a Christian in general, LeBlanc said he feels the weight of trying to be a good example. He feels the responsibility of being a friend who leads someone to Christ just as he was led to Christ by a friend.
Over the years, he’s been humbled as many people have told him he has made a difference in their life. One firsthand story in particular — about a friend he grew up with in Florida — is especially close to his heart.
“Every time I would do a concert back in Daytona, he wouldn’t come,” LeBlanc said. “I wrote him a letter when I got saved and told him my story. He wrote me a nasty letter back. It was offensive to him, and I wasn’t judging him or anything. I was just telling him about the joy I found and how I wanted him to experience it, too.”
LeBlanc said a few years went by and his friend still wouldn’t come to his concerts.
“Then, one time he came after the concert,” he said. “Then, he came and sat through half the concert. The next time, he stayed for the whole concert.”
After the concert, they went to dinner and LeBlanc was finally able to talk to him.
“He was really a nice guy,” LeBlanc said. “Sometimes nice people have a hard time seeing their need of God. He reminded me that I had told him a few years earlier that even nice people need Jesus. I didn’t really remember, but I told him I’d take his word for it. That’s when he told me he was one of those nice people.”
LeBlanc said his friend gave his heart to Christ that night. Now, he’s a worship leader and leads Bible study.
“Being a Christian doesn’t mean you’re immune to the things of life,” he said. “But, I can see so much fruit in his life. A lot of times, we don’t have to preach to people, we just live our lives, love on them and share our story. God does the rest. The Holy Spirit draws people and does the work.”
LeBlanc said he feels blessed to have a career that gives him opportunities to tell his story.
“I know I never really see all the fruit that’s out there,” he said. “Sometimes I get letters or emails that are really encouraging. You never know who (your life) is touching.”
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