Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, but now residing in Los Angeles, Red Leather started his music career by performing on Hollywood Blvd and posting covers and original songs to TikTok. In 2022, he put out his first song, titled “The Only Time It Rains In Hollywood,” and several singles afterward before releasing RENO.

A significant part of his career has been spent remaining anonymous. Despite his fame, he has never revealed his legal name, age or face to the public. Even during our Zoom call, he wore his signature red cowboy hat with fringes that covered his face. Red Leather told Parade there are times when he can’t believe he’s sharing such personal stories to strangers, but being anonymous does give him the courage to do so without being judged.

The artist has also been very public about his battle with addiction, with most of the songs in RENO inspired and written during that period. He revealed that TAHOE is the first album he’s “written as a sober person,” and he has been clean for four years.

“It feels kind of like a gift that I don’t have to show everything about me, because I feel like I can be more honest about the darker things. I don’t feel like I’ll be judged as much,” he explained. “I think on top of that, like, I don’t give a [explicit] anymore, you know. I think that after going through addiction, it was just such a painful and horrible thing. And coming out of that, I was just like, ‘I really don’t care about any success or anything like that, I just wanted to be alive.'”