Bill Leeb

• Genres: Rock
• Instrument: Producer

Biography

Known for his work in the aggressive industrial outfit Front Line Assembly and the ethnic/ambient project Delerium, Bill Leeb was born in Austria and emigrated to Vancouver, Canada, with his family around age 12. He joined the charter lineup of the seminal industrial band Skinny Puppy under the alias Wilhelm Schroeder, then left in 1986 to form Front Line Assembly with sampler/programmer Rhys Fulber and synth player Michael Balch (the latter left in 1990). FLA maintained a prolific recording pace over the next decade, turning out groundbreaking albums like Caustic Grip (1991), Tactical Neural Implant (1992), and the guitar-oriented Millennium (1994) that helped industrial music cross over to alternative audiences. In the meantime, Leeb and Fulber started a quieter, more meditative side project called Delerium, which made some recordings for a small German label during the late '80s and early '90s. A higher-profile, guest-heavy Delerium album, Karma, was released in 1997 and produced an international hit single in "Silence," which followed in the vein of ethnic fusion artists like Dead Can Dance, Enigma, and Deep Forest. The album sold well on the new age charts, and its dark, haunting quality earned Delerium a substantial cult following, which continued on 2001's Poem, another internationally popular release. In the meantime, Fulber departed to concentrate on his producing career, and was replaced by Chris Peterson; Leeb's various other side projects with Fulber, including Intermix and Noise Unit, fell by the wayside as the new teaming with Peterson took shape: Pro-Tech and the drum'n'bass-flavored Equinox. Leeb offered a new Delerium project, Chimera, in 2003. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

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