Doorperson of the Month: LeRoy Bronson

LeRoy Bronson adds a dynamic groove to the lobby at the Lakeshore Plaza. Besides serving as a member of the door staff, he is a professional drummer and a respected member of the city’s recording industry.

LeRoy’s musical talent has allowed him to play with legends like the Chi-Lites, En Vogue and Johnnie Taylor, but the residents at 445 E. Ohio St. have inspired him to remain with the property since the 1980s. 

“I have the best job in the world because it’s like an extended family with every nationality and age group,” he said. “The top priority is to take care of everybody, and I love them all.”

Familial loyalty has been a constant priority throughout LeRoy’s life. His father was an army drill sergeant who relocated often to meet the demands of his profession. His mother was the one who said, “that’s it, we’re staying here,’” after they arrived in Chicago when LeRoy was eight years old. Together, they raised three boys and three girls.

He remembers growing up in a house full of music.

“My mother played piano, my brother played guitar, my dad played guitar—everybody played something,” he said. “So I had a pretty good grasp on music when I started high school.”

LeRoy also knew how to read music, a valuable commodity he learned at home—“My mother told me, ‘if you can count to four, you can read the charts,’” he recalled.

He majored in music at Dunbar Vocational High School with the intention of learning a new instrument, but things took a different direction. “I played saxophone for about a month until my mother visited and told them that I could play drums and I knew how to read the charts.”

With her permission, he started playing clubs and studios with his instructor, the trumpet player Willie Naylor. “The first recording studio I went into was Universal on Walton Street,” he recalled. “I got a note from my mother so I could skip school.”

LeRoy earned a degree in music from Columbia College and spent his immediate post-graduate years teaching students at McCorkle Elementary School. At the same time, he continued pursuing music and began working at Lakeshore Plaza.

Since then, he has played gigs for Fox32, Channel 5, and Disney, and performed live at Jazz Fest, Gospel Fest, and Latin Fest. He also crossed paths with the Rolling Stones one night at the Checkerboard Lounge and met President Bill Clinton when he played saxophone at the funeral of a mutual friend, saxophonist Art Porter. 

Although LeRoy chooses not to perform live as often as he used to, he still plays and records in his home studio on a cul-de-sac in the south suburbs. 

“I got drums. I got a saxophone. I got keyboards,” he said. “It’s a single family home with a basement and a sub basement — I can’t live in an apartment because I make too much noise.