Leon Haywood

• Genre: Soul
• Hometown: Los Angeles

About

When Dr. Dre sampled Leon Haywood's "I Want'A Do Something Freaky to You" and turned it into the mega-hit "Nuthin' But A G Thang," it set the stage for silky G-Funk keyboard melodies and helped boost the careers of both Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre. But it wasn't the first time the song had seen the charts: Haywood hit the Pop Top-20 in the mid 1970s with his mixture of smooth, classic Soul singing and a healthy sprinkling of female moans spicing up the airwaves. He ventured into the nether realms of Disco as well, finding success with his dancefloor special "Don't Push It Don't Force It." It was somewhat sad to see Haywood try to latch on to Dre's success in 1994 by re-releasing his main hit "Freaky," complete with cheesy, hip-hop inspired production.

- Jessy Terry