Now primarily a lecturer, he spends much of his time teaching and supervising undergraduate and Masters students at the Australian Institute of Music. Passionate about helping people perform confidently and to their fullest potential, he created Big Breath Productions to teach musicians and non-musicians alike his secrets to successful performances of all kinds.

Born in Sydney 1960 David is an artist, musician and educator who grew up on the far South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. He studied Fine Art for two years, then pursued a career in music. Over the last 30 years he has enjoyed a rich and varied career as a singer and actor, and a music lecturer since 2003. This includes performance as a singer/songwriter, band leader, session and backup singer, featured artist and actor. He has been in numerous television series’ and received top shelf musical theatre credits, notably a Mo Award nomination for best supporting actor in a musical. His recording career spans three albums and one EP covering jazz, blues, original songs and cast recordings.

David experienced a pivotal moment in 1990 that began his own journey with performance anxiety. Breaking both bones in his leg center stage at the Theatre Royal in Sydney, playing the role of the American in “Chess”, David explored a variety of techniques to diminish pain and ever-growing anxiety. Training in Vipassanā breathing and meditation was the catalyst that set him on the road to his own recovery and anxiety management. This lead to an ongoing exploration of the relationship between the breath and performance anxiety through a variety of other platforms, including a Masters in Music focusing on performance anxiety, which dovetailed perfectly into his career in education.

For 12 years he taught Vocal Coaching at the Academy of Music & Performing Arts (AMPA).  At AMPA he was involved in creating and running group workshops with the school’s Contemporary Music and Music Theatre Depts. David was also a member of the AMPA Academic Board of Studies 2010.

David has been lecturing as a vocal and performance coach since 2002, specializing in performance anxiety and breathing techniques. He dedicates most of his time lecturing and supervising students at the Australian Institute of Music. He holds a M.Mus (AIM) – GDMus – GCMus (AIM), Dip Ed St (CoT, Lond), Cert Ed St Coes Theory (CoT, Lond), Cert Coes Practice (CoT, Lond), Cert IV Assessment and Workplace training, completed levels one and two of Estill voice workshops, is Certified Buteyko Practitioner, and trained in Vipassana breathing and meditation techniques.

By the mid-eighties David had moved away from the piano and was fronting bands as lead vocalist.  Working steadily fronting his own bands such as “McLeod 9”, the “The David McLeod Band and” and “The David McLeod Quartet”, backed by some of Australia’s best jazz musicians and playing venues such as the Basement, Don Burrows’ Supper Club, Soup Plus, The Bacardi Club, ABC’s Livewire, and a variety of jazz festivals and corporate events.

As a soloist, David appeared regularly on TV, performing nationally on Good Morning Australia, Tonight Live with Steve Vizard, Hey, Hey it's Saturday, and over ten years as a regular guest on the Midday Show.

David’s voice has also been featured as a studio vocalist for radio and TV jingles and as a back up singer for artists such as Renee Geyer.

Following the critical acclaim that met the release of his first album, Am I Blue (Polygram/La Brava), David released his second album, Blue Lounge Sessions (La Brava). Am I Blue was an album of original songs, whereas Blue Lounge Sessions was a cover album of blues standards and contemporary hits, like Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” treated lounge style.

 Blue Lounge Sessions also being released in South-East Asia in 2003.  The tracks “My Love Is” and “If You Live” are currently on the ABC’s national play list. David also featured on the Australian cast recording of GODSPELL.

David’s acting credits include the lead role of “The American” in CHESS - The Musical followed by GODSPELL (for which he received a MO award nomination as best supporting actor in a musical), and Bard on Broadway for the Bell Shakespeare Company, plus the Australian classic Dimboola, in the role of Dangles, the best man.

His TV credits include roles in A Country Practice and a guest role on channel 7’s popular drama All Saints.  More recently David played Detective Clifford in The Suspects for channel 7 and portrayed Mark Standen in an episode of 4 CORNERS 2011 and played Herman Rockerfeller in Behind Mansion Walls 2012.

2013/14 saw David play roles in “Deadly Women” “Facing Evil” and Behind Mansion Walls for Beyond Productions as well as featured voice over work for the ABC’s 4 corners.

“The Moon the Heart the Journey” was released in 2013 available on iTunes and CD baby

2016 - Tracks from the EP “The Moon The Heart The Journey are being enjoyed by listeners of SBS Mandarin Radio  

2017 - Plays the role of the Priest in the return season Sydney production of “Bare”

2017 - Releases the single and clip “Sydneysider”

2017 - Plays Wilfred “Fred” Johnson - Deadly Women series 11 “Samantha Bachynski Story”

2017 – 18 – Exhibition of art works (acrylic on canvas) “Marine Dream”, ESD Gallery Darlinghurst Sydney.

2018 – Australia Day - East Side Radio Drive with Gemma Purves Interview and playing the single “Sydneysider’ and other back catalogue.

2018 – SBS Mandarin – Performing live to air, two songs from the EP “The Moon the Heart the Journey” and Interview for Chinse New Year

2018 – Fox Studios – Breath management, Speech and lip syncing. Working with Tilda Cobham - Hervy and director Unjoo Moon coaching Tilda in the making of “I Am Woman” the story of Helen Reddy.

2019 - Guest speaker, judge, and performer at the 2019 Sydney Piano Invitational and Chinese New Year Gala for the Australia China Youth Culture and Arts Festival.

A more comprehensive biography is coming soon. Stay tuned for more!