Leslie Mandoki was born as László Mándoki on January 7th 1953 in Budapest, Hungary. He studied at the Conservatory of Music in Budapest. The communist dictatorship persecuted him as a supporter of the student opposition and imposed a stage ban. This is why in 1975 he and two other artists escaped from Hungary to the German Federal Republic, whose citizen he later became. Initially he found almost unwanted commercial success as singer of the group „Dschinghis Khan“ with no. 1 hits in many countries as well as countless awards. In 1992, Ian Anderson, Jack Bruce, and Al Di Meola became founding members of Leslie Mandoki’s band project ManDoki Soulmates, and since then, Leslie Mandoki has continued to unite a who’s who of the icons of Anglo-American and European rock and jazz-rock in the ManDoki Soulmates band. The remarkable lineups in the band’s recordings and performances over the years have included singers and players including Ian Anderson, Jack Bruce, David Clayton-Thomas, Chaka Khan, Chris Thompson, Bobby Kimball, Steve Lukather, Nick van Eede, Eric Burdon, Nik Kershaw, Greg Lake, Al di Meola, Randy and Michael Brecker, Cory Henry, Bill Evans, John Helliwell, Jesse Siebenberg, Klaus Doldinger, Mike Stern, Richard Bona, Anthony Jackson, Victor Bailey, Pino Palladino, Tony Carey, Mark Hart, Paul Carrack, Peter Frampton, Steve Bailey, and Jon Lord.