American writer, producer, director, filmmaker, speaker and host. Born on April 20th, 1952, Leaf is known for his books, documentaries, music programs and pop culture retrospectives. His 1978 book The Beach Boys And The California Myth was one of the first serious works on the band, and it has been revised and updated twice since, in 1985 and 2022. He has followed it up with SMiLE - The Rise, Fall & Resurrection Of Brian Wilson (2025-04), which was preceded by his TV documentary Beautiful Dreamer - Brian Wilson And The Story Of Smile (2004). He is also known for his documentary films The US Vs John Lennon (2006) and The Unknown Peter Sellers (2000), both made with John Scheinfeld, and for coproducing the documentary Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)? (2006, written by Scheinfeld). Leaf also wrote the first authorised biography of the Bee Gees (1979) and co-authored Kiss Behind The Mask - The Official Authorized Biography (2003) with Ken Sharp.
For his company, see David Leaf Productions, Inc..
For his rightsholder profile, see David Leaf.