All Photos: Alan Mercer
Leon Isaac Kennedy is already in the history books as a creative pioneer in radio, TV and movies. His trailblazing broke down barriers. Today many more doors and opportunities are open for minorities in front of and behind the camera. Additionally, many more opportunities are enjoyed by African Americans, Hispanics and Women in all of today’s media. But it was Leon, the kid with a dream, with no help from agents, managers, or any support system, who opened many of those doors.
Leon is a child of the media, one of the rare few, creatively blessed to write, produce and perform in all aspects of radio, television and movies. Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, while some inner city kids were taking drugs and getting involved with gangs, Leon was only 15 years old when he sounded crazy to some of his friends for announcing that he had decided to be a Movie Star! Writer! Producer!
Even at age 15, knowing how to dare to dream and overcome reality, Kennedy realized there was not much opportunity for Blacks. So he formulated a plan. “I’ll be a disc jockey… then become a big time air personality … then get my own television show … then do movies!”
Immediately working on his plan, by the time he was 16 Leon made history by becoming one of the youngest disc jockeys in a top ten market. Still working on “his plan” Leon had his first TV show “Teen-A-Rama” by age 19. He was promoted from Teen Weekend DJ in Cleveland, Ohio to full time in an even bigger market, Detroit – Motown!
It was in The Motor City that Leon started to become a radio legend as ‘Leon The Lover!’ Almost 45 years later fans still ask about Leon The Lover and his classic Leon’s Lover’s Lane! Some say it was his voice, others say the poems he personally wrote to go with his theme song and slow jams as Leon sometimes charmed, sometimes made them cry and certainly made them tune in.
As recently as Berry Gordy’s Motown Musical opening, while exchanging hugs legendary performer, Gladys Knight reminisced how she and her cousins, The Pips would sit out on their front porch and listen. It was like every house, every car radio was listening to Leon The Lover!
Leon reminisced, what better place for a young teen to grow up as a top disc jockey than The Motor City? While others my age were just beginning college, I was friends with all of the Motown Legends.
When Leon made personal appearances or played records at a club, lines for entrance circled around the block. Modestly Leon laughs, “It wasn’t just to see me; on any given night, Dennis Edwards or the great David Ruffin from The Temptations might sing and my dear friend, Stevie Wonder judged Leon’s Pretty Leg Contest. Living and DJ’ing in Motown I made lifelong friends in a slice of time and history that can never be replicated.”
Still pursuing his dream Leon moved onto Washington, D.C. doing both radio and television. The wonderful Businesswoman and Entrepreneur, TV One’s Cathy Hughes remarked, “Leon, with his great talents and Lover’s Lane, took Black radio to a higher level of class and talent.”
Leon next took on Houston, Texas wherein he hooked up with one of his mentors and great friends, Disc Jockey Extraordinaire, Mike Payne. Not content to be just an on the air personality, Leon with Mike wrote, produced and co-hosted “Outta Sight”! Leon was the driving force that syndicated this “Laugh In” type comedy show. Think of “In Living Color”, only 20 years earlier. Always the pioneer, Leon again made history. Prior to “Soul Train” it was Leon with “Outta Sight” that had the nation’s first Black Syndicated TV Show.
Leon then met the beautiful Jane Harrison, the first Black Miss Ohio, who through their marriage became Mrs. Jayne Kennedy. One week before their marriage, Leon astounded all of their friends by announcing that he and Jayne were leaving Cleveland to make it in Hollywood. What was astounding was that Leon knew no one in Hollywood. -- They had no jobs waiting, no semblance of beckoning security, and he had resigned from a very lucrative radio and television position.
Leon hit Los Angeles with the tenacity and faith with which he tackled every project. He became one of L.A.’s top disc jockeys and promoted and owned a string of discos. This gave him the economic freedom and time he needed to go after bigger things. He carefully launched and helped guide his wife Jayne’s career - helping her to become not just a star -- but a household name. Leon stated, “We were a great team. As a young couple we worked hard together, broke down a lot of barriers, set a variety of high goals and realized them!”
Leon vowed it was about faith! And believing in your dreams! With a lot of prayer, hard work and tenacity, from knowing no one, he helped make them both into someone all would come to know.
Leon once stated, “It certainly was not easy for a young Black man or Black woman back then. The career opportunities just were not there. I had to use my own money and create our own opportunities.” Leon also explained how he’s been told it was impossible to achieve every goal he’s ever had. But with positive prayer, of God’s Word and its Spiritual Principles -- positive action -- always equals positive results!
Once cast as “Two Sweet Gordon” in ‘Penitentiary,’ Leon became an immediate bona fide star. Fan magazines named him, along with John Travolta, Sylvester Stallone, and others “… Box office Stars of the 80s.” Leon Isaac Kennedy’s ‘Penitentiary’ was the number one independent film of the year! ‘Penitentiary’ broke box office records all across the country.
Done for less than $500,000, it grossed over $18 million in just the U.S. box office, resulting in a whopping profit for participating investors. Back then ticket prices were $3.00 and in some theatres 99¢. In today’s market -- Penitentiary represents a $70 million film done for less than $500,000!
Unlike many Hollywood products, Leon was not a manufactured studio star. He created his own product, his own image - his own good! Kennedy showed the range of his talents in “Body and Soul” which he wrote, starred in and produced. He starred opposite Muhammad Ali, Jayne Kennedy and movie legend Peter Lawford.
He has starred with such super stars as Chuck Norris in 'Lone Wolfe McQuade,' Sammy Davis, Jr. in 'Knights of the City,' Barbara Carrera, Peter Lawford, David Carradine, and Academy Award winners, Ann Archer, Oliver Reed and Ernest Borgnine.
Then, at the top of his career, Kennedy suddenly stopped. No acting -- no writing -- or producing. Kennedy simply walked away from the business and industry he so dearly loved.
Kennedy, the international star, was not seen on a Hollywood movie lot -- but instead was discovered speaking, devoting his time to visiting detention centers, drug rehab centers, homes for unwed mothers, churches and hundreds of prisons. He explains: “I’ve never done drugs -- nothing tragic had occurred in my life -- God has always blessed me. Yet, so many people were going down the drain of drugs -- gangs -- hopelessness and despair -- there was a tug of God on my life. It was just time to give something back.”
“The Hollywood film business and movie making process has always been one of my great loves. However, positively impacting the lives of others is far more significant than winning any Hollywood trophy.”
AM: Leon I know that you have been an evangelist the last several years. What is your main message?
LIK: We are all God’s children and we should treat each other as God’s children. It doesn’t matter if someone is a so called star or if they are an extra.
AM: Well that’s the right message. Some people just don’t want equality for everyone.
LIK: That’s too bad. That is just ignorance. God loves all of his children. We are all his creation and he wants us all to treat each other as such. In some form or another we are all interconnected.
AM: Why do you think some people think they are better than others?
LIK: It’s ignorance again and they are compensating for their own low self-esteem. That’s something that people have to grow out of. We have to become more evolved. I call it graduating. It’s spiritual graduation. Many people are in the kindergarten of their emotions and the way they let their emotions dominate them. That affects how they treat other people.
AM: Did you hear a calling to be an evangelist?
LIK: It was a calling for sure! (laughter) It was never part of my ten year plan! When I was attending school, I was always going to be a doctor. Then when I was in tenth grade I went to a hospital with a pre-med club and it seemed so depressing. I was in a school play that same week and I had just read Errol Flynn’s autobiography and I realized I wanted to be like him. That started me on my path to acting. I had to get a plan because there weren’t many parts for minorities at that time.
AM: What was at the heart of your plan?
LIK: I thought I would enter the business through the back door. First I would be a DJ and turn into an on the air personality and from there I would get a TV show and from there I would be in movies. I really followed that plan. Thank God it worked out. So then I’m writing, producing and starring in movies. I was doing a film in the Philippines and I got saved. That started my spiritual journey.
AM: What did you do to get started?
LIK: I started studying. I have always said “Lord, I’ll do whatever you want me to.” Many atrocities have occurred in the name of the Lord and God had nothing to do with any of it. So the call of God came into my life.
AM: And you never wanted to be in the ministry before?
LIK: I never wanted to be in the ministry at all so I ran and ran. I learned you can run from God but you cannot hide. Eventually I stopped running from God and started running to him.
AM: Did your life change at this point?
LIK: It’s been a wonderful journey going out and touching other people’s lives. This is not the kind of ministry where we put people down and tell them if they don’t act like we think they should, they are going to hell. It’s about bringing the best out of every single person. Everyone has some great, God given talents. Many people haven’t discovered their talents and don’t know the divine part that is in them. When you start cultivating those talents you see life much differently.
AM: Tell me about the new films you are starting to produce.
LIK: I’ve been away from the industry for over fifteen years because I went into ministry. Now it’s been put in my spirit to come back into the industry and make, what I call transformational films. These are films that will entertain and be profitable by dropping some golden nuggets of inspiration and motivation.
AM: How many films are you looking to produce?
LIK: We have four films that are on the slate now. The first one is called, ‘Heavenly Stars.’ This will be a Christmas classic. It’s about a DJ named Rock n’ Roll Eddie who gets a visit from some legendary Rock n’ Roll spirits. They want him to produce a CD where the profits will feed and house the homeless. It’s a wonderful, heartwarming, touching film.
AM: Who are these films for?
LIK: These films will reach a great under served segment of the population. There are so many people who want family, inspirational type films and they are not getting that product. The major studios are not producing them and then they are surprised when the films do well. I’m not surprised at all. I know that audience and I know what they want. We are going to give it to them.
AM: This seems like a return to your passions by mixing your experience in film and your calling for the ministry.
LIK: Alan, you are absolutely right. This is a combination of my whole life’s journey. Also, as these films come out I am going to take the profits to do good for people.
AM: What else do you enjoy doing?
LIK: There’s also been an entrepreneurial side to me. We have a great skin care product that’s getting ready to come out. My partner in this is my best friend and brother in life, Mr. Smokey Robinson. This will be on the home shopping network in September.
AM: You sound very excited to be where you are in your life right now. Is that so?
LIK: Yes, I’m excited about my return to the industry. It’s giving me a chance to work with a younger generation in Hollywood. There are a lot more opportunities now. The equipment is so much different. It doesn’t cost as much to make a film anymore.
AM: So you are really enjoying this now.
LIK: It’s refreshing for me to talk with the new writers, new directors and new talent. It’s a whole new frontier and I have forty years’ worth of experience. It’s very rewarding for me to share my knowledge.
