Samuel Di Leo: Multi-Talented Artist
Emerge Music: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Samuel Di Leo: I’m 22 years old. I was born and grew up in Mexico City. My background is Italian, Spanish, and obviously Mexican.
EM: You’re a singer/songwriter, producer, and mixing engineer. How old were you when you started to have an interest in music? And why?
SDL: Indeed! I grew up in a family surrounded by music, and sang since I was very little, but had no interest whatsoever in playing any instruments until I grew up a bit more and started playing the drums; if I remember correctly, I was 10 years old. After that, I just fell in love with every single thing about music, from playing to performing, to producing.
EM: I know you play the guitar but do you play any other instruments?
SDL: I do! As I mentioned before, I play the drums; I also play piano, bass, banjo, and ukulele. I would really like to learn how to play the cello.
EM: What was the first tune(s) you learned? How long did it take for you to master it?
SDL: It was definitely Simple Plan. Probably “I’m Just A Kid” or “Welcome To My Life”. I remember I asked my sister to teach me how to read a guitar tab, and after explaining it to me, I learned on my own. I was playing fluently after a few days of practicing.
EM: Who are your musical influences?
SDL: It has changed a bit over the years. My favorite band and biggest influence growing up was Simple Plan. Nowadays my main influences are Kodaline, The Script, Gavin James, and Madison (a pretty new band from Mexico City).
EM: In January 2017, you released your debut single “If I’m Not The One”. What was your inspiration for this song?
SDL: “If I’m Not The One” was one of the first songs I ever wrote; it’s a song about a breakup I went through a few years back. I was going through a hard time and there’s this moment in which you think ‘Who will be there for that person when I’m not any more?’, and I think that anyone that has been through a breakup has been there, and that’s how the song was born. I literally wrote it in 10 minutes, on the floor in my studio. I think there’s always something good behind every bad thing in life, and for me, it’s turning feelings into songs.
EM: A month after releasing your debut single, you released your debut EP, “Samuel Di Leo”. Did you write and produce the EP yourself?
SDL: I did! The whole thing originally started with a demo I was producing for “If I’m Not The One”, but after finishing it, I decided I wanted a whole EP, so I kept writing, started doing the musical arrangements and then went into to the study to produce the EP. It was an incredible process, and it helped me discover my sound as an artist, and where I want to take that sound to in my next songs.
EM: You currently have a little over 3,000 subscribers and almost 358,000 views on Youtube, what made you start a YouTube channel?
SDL: I was really inspired by artists like Tyler Ward, Kurt Hugo Schneider, and Boyce Avenue, and I also wanted to see what people thought about my singing and my music, so I started a YouTube channel.
EM: Who would you love to work with in the future?
SDL: There are so many talented people I would love to work with! Kodaline, Leroy Sanchez, Tyler Ward, Madison… to name a few! I recently moved to Mexico City for a while, and I’ll be working with really talented artists here too.
EM: What’s the best advice you’ve been given while in the music industry?
SDL: In the words of Chuck Comeau, ‘Don’t let anyone bring you down, don’t take “no” for an answer and work harder than everyone else… If you love what you do, work will never feel like work and you will succeed’. I’ve always had that mindset; as long as you’re doing what you love, and you never lose sight of that because you go the short way or the easy way, good things will happen in your life. There’s a lot of competition out there, but for me, it’s always been about the music and what comes from my heart, and that matters to my audience.
EM: What can we look forward to from you in the near future?
SDL: The official video for my latest track “Last Chance 4 Love”, in collaboration with Andrés Castillo, comes out in a few weeks and I’m very excited to share that one. We filmed that music video in Toronto, a few weeks back. You’ll also see lots of collaborations with other artists this year, while I keep growing my audience and working on new original music so I go back into the studio to produce a few songs to release in 2019. I’m very excited about the next few months!
Samuel Di Leo’s Social Media
