Leon Redbone (born Dickran Gobalian;[2][3] August 26, 1949 – May 30, 2019) was a singer-songwriter and musician specializing in jazz, blues, and Tin Pan Alley classics.

Recognized by his hat (often a Panama), dark sunglasses, and black tie, he was born in Cyprus of Armenian ancestry and first appeared on stage in Toronto, Canada, in the early 1970s.

His recurrent gags involved the influence of alcohol and claims he had written works originating well before he was born.

[2] While living in Canada in the late 1960s,[2] Redbone began performing in public at Toronto area nightclubs and folk music festivals.

[7] He was introduced to a larger public as a semi-regular musical guest on NBC's Saturday Night Live, appearing twice in the first season.

[11] A self-taught musician, he played by ear, sometimes changing the chords of established tunes, never rehearsing with a band, and not following set lists.

[Redbone's] taste in music was more eclectic than that of anyone I've ever known – it included Emmett Miller, Blind Blake, Paganini, Caruso, Gene Austin, John McCormack, Moran and Mack, Cliff Edwards, Jelly Roll Morton, Ted Lewis, Mustafa the Castrato, the Hungarian singer Imre Laszlo, Jimmie Rodgers ('the Singing Brakeman'), Mongolian throat singers, W. C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy ... and early Bing Crosby.Redbone was described as "both a musical artist and a performance artist whose very identity was part of his creative output.

Though sometimes compared to Zappa and Tom Waits for "the strength and strangeness of his persona", he almost exclusively played music from decades before the rock era, occasionally writing his own new material in a similar blues-influenced Tin Pan Alley style.

Redbone disdained "blatant sound for people to dance to",[2] and in a 1991 interview, he said: "The only thing that interests me is history, reviewing the past and making something out of it.

[27] He performed in TV commercials for various companies, including Budweiser beer (where he lay on a surfboard singing "This Bud's for You"[28]), the U.S. automobile brand Geo,[29] All laundry detergent,[30] and InterCity British Rail service (where he sang the song "Relax"[31]).