Featured Artist – Leslie West (RIP)

Written by Lordy McLord on February 5, 2021

On December 23, 2020, we lost one of the legends of the rock world. Leslie West was 75 when he passed away, suffering from a cardiac arrest. He is best known as one of the founding members and lead vocalist of the rock band Mountain.

Leslie was born Leslie Weinstein on October 22, 1945 in New York, but changed his name to West following his parents divorce. His musical career began with The Vagrants before forming Mountain together with Felix Pappalardi. Mountain were considered to be one of the forerunners of Heavy Metal and Rolling Stone described them as a “Louder version of Cream”. Their song Mississippi Queen reached #21 on the Billboard 100.

His loss is made more poignant by the fact that he was friend and mentor to a very dear friend of mine, and had a massive influence on her guitar artistry back in the 60’s when she pioneered the female rock genre with her bands “The Pleasure Seekers” and “Cradle”.

Shangrla Radio is proud to feature Leslie and Mountain Featured Artist.

Rest in Peace Leslie and thank you for the music