Lauv

Ari Staprans Leff (born August 8, 1994), known professionally as Lauv (), is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his breakout hit "I Like Me Better"; included on his compilation album I Met You When I Was 18 (The Playlist), which was released in 2018. His debut album, How I'm Feeling, was released on March 6, 2020, and debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard 200. Lauv has also written songs for other artists such as "Boys" by Charli XCX and "No Promises" by Cheat Codes (featuring Demi Lovato).

Early life

Leff was born in San Francisco, California. His father, Stuart Leff, is Jewish, and his mother, Silvija Staprāne, is Latvian. He spent his early childhood in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, and then his family relocated to a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He went to Radnor High School. As a child, he was interested in music and took piano and viola lessons before learning how to play the guitar at the age of 11. Leff studied guitar, recording, sound design, production, voice, and songwriting with Jason Brook Zimmerman, co-owner and founder of the music lesson organization Traveling Musician. He started writing songs in middle school, at around 14 years old. Many of his songs during this period focused on heartbreak and breakups, despite at the time, never having had a girlfriend. During his time in high school, he played in several bands and studied jazz before moving on to electronic music. He has said that his sister Aiva would drive him and his friends on tour, where they often played "to zero people". His early musical influences were Owl City and Never Shout Never. He would listen to Owl City's Maybe I'm Dreaming and study the production style and the abstract lyrical themes that use "dreamy" and "whimsical" images to describe love. He also adopted the artist name, Somersault Sunday, and published some songs and extended plays on his Myspace account.

After graduating highschool, Leff decided to pursue a behind-the-scenes role in music seeing that his career was not taking off. He chose to study music technology at New York University's Steinhardt School. While at university, he studied abroad in Prague and was a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity. He spent two of his four years at NYU as a studio intern for Jungle City Studios, where artists such as Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, and Alicia Keys recorded. During his junior year, he signed a publishing deal after the success of his song "The Other" but he decided to finish university and enjoy it having only a year left and because he was also feeling fortunate enough to be able to go there.

Career

2008–2012: Early years and Somersault Sunday

Leff began writing music at an early age. When he was 12, he started his first rock duo with his best friend Mike Wagenheim, and by age 13, the two teens started a metal band. After starting to try and write music, Leff began experimenting with an acoustic guitar and some synth sounds. A few months later, he wrote his own solo acoustic song called Parting Ways. Leff then formed his first solo music project, Somersault Sunday, when he was 14 years old on April 28, 2008. He started it first "as a side project, just for fun," but continued it after receiving enthusiastic online response.