Brett Leboff has spent 20 years (and counting) in the music business, firstly as an artist,
drumming in bands and as a manager.
Never being one to tread the obvious path, he walked away from his own management
company and his biggest signed artist (who was touring the world), and went on an
adventure which culminated in raising money to buy sound equipment in order to start a
music event on a coexistence project in the West Bank, with Israelis and Palestinians; an
incredible experience.
Once back in the UK he was invited by Diplomats of Sound, a well-known music booking
agency to create an artist development arm with an eye on an ethical and progressive
approach. As well as this adventure he embarked on a campaign of self-development, firstly
adopting 1.5 years of regular psychotherapy, then engaging with the Mankind Project,
Vipassana (10 day silent meditation retreat), iEvolve, Tantra and Sexual Deconditioning
workshops.
Quote from Brett about the book he wrote – “The purpose of life is to learn, grow and face
challenges, and I started viewing my life and career from an aerial viewpoint, making course
corrections and some hard life choices that perhaps I had been avoiding. It gave me a fresh
perspective on everything I had seen before in my career with artists and prior to that,
being an artist myself, which led me to write this; a book about staying sane in the music
game. In an industry that has to keep reinventing itself it’s important to keep supporting
artists and this manual shares the stories, rituals and tools I’ve used over the years.”
Brett himself has suffered from crippling mental health issues in his formative years
particularly when drumming but also as a manager. He has learned to overcome these on
his journey and he will allude to them in the talk. The focus of the talk will be overcoming
the challenges of working full time in the music industry, how to keep on top of mental
health and stay in control of our heads when the pressure is on!