Leroy Burgess is a prolific singer/recording artist, songwriter, keyboard player and producer. He is related to Thom Bell

Thom Bell

Thomas Randolph "Thom" Bell is an American songwriter and producer, best known as one of the creators of the Philadelphia style of soul music in the 1970s. He moved to Philadelphia as a child.-Biography:...

 and Kool & The Gang

Kool & the Gang

Kool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...

 members Robert "Kool" Bell, Ronald Bell

Ronald Bell (musician)

Ronald Bell, also known by his Arabic name Khalis Bayyan is an American saxophonist, composer, songwriter, arranger, producer and singer, who was a founding member of the band, Kool & the Gang...

 (a.k.a. Khalis Bayyan) and Amir Bayyan (a.k.a. Kevin Bell) of the Kay-Gees.

Burgess was a member of Black Ivory

Black Ivory

Black Ivory was a R&B group from Harlem, which had a number of hits in the 1970s, including "Don't Turn Around", "You and I" , "I'll Find a Way ", "Spinning Around", "What Goes Around ", "Will We Ever Come Together", and "Mainline." -Career:The group features songwriter and prolific...

 and lead vocalist of the majority of their hits in the early '70s. The band was signed by small East Coast label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 Today/Perception, which was run by Patrick Adams, also the band's manager.