LEON

LE♂N is an English VOCALOID developed and distributed by Zero-G Limited, and was released in January 2004 for the first VOCALOID engine. He, along with L♀LA, were among the first voice banks to be commercially distributed. LEON is advertised as a "virtual male soul vocalist modeled on a real professional singer"; his voice provider has never been revealed, but was described officially as "Black and English" and is a well established musician in Great Britain.

Etymology
While it is unknown why Zero-G chose this name, "Leon" is a name of Latin origins and is used in several countries in Europe as a variation of the name "Leo", meaning "Lion".

Appearance
LEON's boxart was standard for his day and rival software package Cantor would later adopt the same boxart style, the boxart for both products are from stock images. The photographer for LEON's boxart is unknown, but the photograph is on various stock photo sites. An example of the original is here titled "Profile of woman with finger next to lips" x13037575. LEON has since been taken as one of the few "Avatar-less" VOCALOIDs.

Relations

 * L♀LA: a complementary voice bank with feminine vocals.

Marketing
LEON and LOLA received standard advertisement for their day. They were advertised on the internet and in electronic magazines. At the time, this was normal for software synthesizers and there was no VOCALOID fandom to aid with their development. They were aimed at professionals and therefore, had no fan input in mind. Their boxart was changed, along with the method of marketing them, some time after Zero-G announced their role in the development of VOCALOID and both were intended to be marketed as a pair.

For a period he, along with LOLA and MIRIAM, were not for sale due to the lack of interest in synthesized voices. This lack of interest was owed to the sudden change in indie music trends. After increased interest began to occur in VOCALOID™ and demand was renewed, Zero-G began reselling LEON, LOLA, and MIRIAM from their own website via their virtual shop. According to Zero-G interview in 2010, the three may also get a redesign in the future.

Trivia

 * It was LOLA and LEON's appearance at the NAMM trade show that would later introduce rival VOCALOID studio PowerFX to the VOCALOID program.