Michael League (born April 24, 1984) is anAmericancomposer, producer, andmulti-instrumentalist. He is the bandleader of instrumental bandSnarky Puppy and the international music ensembleBokanté. He also founded the bandForq with keyboardistHenry Hey, and is also an owner and founder of the record label GroundUP Music.^[2] League has won fiveGrammy Awards.

Michael League
League at the Heineken Jazzaldia
Background information
Birth name	Michael Kellyrea League[1]
Born	(1984-04-24)April 24, 1984 (age 41) Long Beach,California, US
Genres	Jazz fusion world music
Instruments	Bass guitar keyboards
Years active	2004–present
Member of	Snarky Puppy
Formerly of	Forq

League was born in California on April 24, 1984.^[1] He had an attraction to music from an early age and began playing guitar at 13 years old. He started playing bass at age 17, when he was requested to do so in his senior high school jazz band.^[3] He was raisedCatholic.^[4]

League went on to study jazz at theUniversity of North Texas, then spent three years playing in Dallas's Gospel and R&B scene under the unofficial mentorship of keyboardistBernard Wright.^[5] There he performed with gospel artists likeWalter Hawkins,Kirk Franklin,^[6]Marvin Sapp,Myron Butler & Levi, andIsrael Houghton, and frequently performed at thePotter's House.^[3] He was also a regular member ofErykah Badu's backing band, the Gritz. League moved toBrooklyn, New York, in 2009.

League formed Snarky Puppy in his freshman year of college at the University of North Texas, originally consisting of him and nine of his peers. He composed most of their original music, as well as produced all albums released by the band.

He has performed or recorded with artists from a variety of genres includingLaura Mvula,Lalah Hathaway,Joe Walsh,Chris Thile,Michael McDonald,Terence Blanchard,Esperanza Spalding,Joshua Redman,Wayne Krantz,Chris Potter,Salif Keita,Eliades Ochoa,Fatoumata Diawara,Bassekou Kouyate,Susana Baca, andKardeş Türküler.^{[citation needed]} He served as musical director forDavid Crosby in his Lighthouse touring band, alongsideBecca Stevens andMichelle Willis.

In 2014, League won his firstGrammy Award for Best R&B Performance with Snarky Puppy and Lalah Hathaway for a live performance of theBrenda Russell andDavid Foster song "Something" on theFamily Dinner – Volume 1 album.^[5] In 2016,Sylva, the collaborative album between Snarky Puppy and theMetropole Orkest and conducted byJules Buckley, won aGrammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, as did the band's follow-up album,Culcha Vulcha in 2017.;^[7] Snarky Puppy's 2020 albumLive at the Royal Albert Hall, recorded before a sold-out crowd at the historic London venue, won the 2021Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.^[8]

League formed the world/blues ensembleBokanté in 2016, and has produced two albums for the band:Strange Circles, andWhat Heat.Strange Circles was released on GroundUP Music andWhat Heat, also a collaboration with Jules Buckley and the Metropole Orkest, was released on September 28, 2018, onReal World Records.^[9] In 2019,What Heat was nominated in theGrammy Award for Best World Music Album category.^[10]

One number onDavid Crosby's League-producedLighthouse album featured Crosby, League, Becca Stevens, and Michelle Willis (with Bill Laurence on piano). The quartet became the Lighthouse Band on Crosby's 2018Here If You Listen album. The band then toured for six weeks in November and December 2018.^[11]

League relocated toCatalonia, Spain in 2020.^[4]

In 2021, League released his debut solo albumSo Many Me on GroundUP Music. League himself performed every instrument on the album, including vocals, synthesizer, and various Turkish, Moroccan, and Kurdish percussion instruments. The album received critical acclaim.^[12][13]

Michael League has worked as producer or co-producer on 42 albums for artists including:^[14][15]

• David Crosby
• David Crosby,Michelle Willis,Becca Stevens, and Michael League
• Snarky Puppy (all thirteen albums)
• Bokanté +Metropole Orkest (conducted byJules Buckley)
• Susana Baca
• Becca Stevens
• Bill Laurance
• Forq
• Lucy Woodward
• Alison Wedding
• Malika Tirolien
• Gisela João

In 2017, the GroundUP Music Festival, also known as GUMFest, debuted^[16] within the grounds of the North Beach Band Shell inNorth Beach, Miami.^[17] The first GroundUP Music Festival was initiated by Andy Hurwitz, directed by Paul Lehr, and artistically directed by Michael League.^[18] The festival features performances by Snarky Puppy all three nights, with a line-up curated by League that has featuredDavid Crosby,Béla Fleck and the Flecktones,The Wood Brothers,Robert Glasper,Knower,Concha Buika, C4 Trio,Pedrito Martinez,Jojo Mayer + Nerve,Mark Guiliana's Beat Music,John Medeski's Mad Skillet,Charlie Hunter Trio,Laura Mvula, Eliades Ochoa,Esperanza Spalding,Lionel Loueke,Joshua Redman andTerence Blanchard, as well as the full GroundUP Music roster, among others.^[19][20] GroundUP Music Festival, Miami, is now planned as an annual event.