LEON

Leon was the first Vocaloid to be launched along with Lola at the NAMM show on the 15th of January, 2004, and was eventually commercialized on the 3rd of March, 2004, at the price of 39,800 yen. He is a "virtual male soul vocalist modeled on a real professional singer" and was created for the English speaking community.

History
Leon was released along with fellow Vocaloid, Lola, by Zero-G Limited. They were one of the exhibits at the Zero-G Limited booth during Wired Nextfest and the Vocaloids won the 2005 Electronic Musician Editor’s Choice Award. Despite this, consumers complained that Leon sounded too muffled and almost like a woman's voice. Leon did not become popular with the public until a relatively unknown Nico Nico Douga user posted a video of him singing "True to my Heart". This featured Leon in an unusual looking fan design which soon struck the funny bone of Nico Nico users and the video eventually received over 50,000 views.

Fan Depiction
As he did not have an official box art appearance, fans often tried give him a physical appearance. His main depictions are usually:


 * A rather hairy man with large yellow headphones (Popular with the Japanese fandom); or
 * A blonde with blue eyes and a blue shirt (with pants that are white or black depending on the creator), which is exceptionally popular in the English-speaking fandom.

However, his most popular depiction is a render of Girolamo Panzetta, an Italian entertainer who appears very often in the men's fashion magazine Leon. The outfit comes from the promotional video, "Chichi wo Moge", in which he is dressed as Parco Folgore, a character from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatch_Bell! Zatch Bell!] (Konjiki no Gash!! in Japan) who originally sung the song.

In addition, because of the promotional video, "The Farthest End" (Saihate), Leon is often depicted with tulips which eventually became his character item.

CDs
A Place in the Sun Leon is featured in this CD with 14 modern dance tracks. The lyrics are in both English and Russian.

Under the Darkness
Covered by U-P


 * YouTube broadcast

Hoshi no Kakera/星のカケラ
Covered by Nagato Miku ruP


 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube

Mask/仮面
Duet with KAITO. LEON Covered by Leo-P, KAITO Covered by Nya-P


 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Monoke Hime/もののけ姫
Covered by Leo-P


 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Mr.Lonely
Covered by Giuseppe


 * YouTube broadcast

Pop Keyboard
Music by KotaroP


 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Magnet (Lola duet version)
Covered by Leo-P


 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Magnet (Kaito duet version)
Covered by Leo-P


 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube broadcast

Longest Time
Covered by 愛レオンP


 * Nico broadcast
 * YouTube