Daily Inspiration: Meet Christopher Leyva

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Leyva.

Hi Christopher, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am going to walk you through how I got here today. As I am writing this, I am taking a short sabbatical after 10 years of international touring with no breaks. It has almost been 25 years since I started this career, 11 since I began the journey with The Falling Doves, which have taken me to worldwide fame, I guess, and international brand recognition.

But it all began in a little mobile home park in a small, working-class town in Chula Vista, California, where I grew up as a Mexican-born transplant.

I began my journey as an entertainer, looking for any break I could get. Songwriting came naturally; musicianship had to be earned by shadowing other musicians and street performers, even paying a homeless guy a dollar per string to tune my guitar. The journey was always the destination, and I still tend to look at life in the same excited way. I have been so blessed with so many winding roads that have led me into incredible destinations beyond my wildest dreams.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’ve done my best to overcome every obstacle that’s come my way. Coming to America in the first place was already an unprecedented journey—stepping into a new world from a working-class, single-parent home.

The first real obstacle was staying out of trouble, Latin gangs, shootings, and the constant pull toward a life that could’ve taken me out before I even had a chance.

The second was fighting for recognition in the San Diego music scene, where I was put down for the color of my skin, where the big stages were reserved for white musicians.

It wasn’t until I moved to Los Angeles that things shifted, where the only thing that mattered was how good you were as an artist.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As an entertainer, I’m at a place in life where I get to give back to communities all over the world. I see the same young people struggling with identity, with finding their place in society, with being recognized—and that’s what I’m most proud of now, being able to lend a hand wherever I can.

I also own an agency called Black Cherry Music Group, where from time to time I design events, curate marketing strategies, and execute brand programs.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Community! – and remaining accessible and tangible in order to inspire hope in others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fallingdoves.com/
• Instagram: @fallingdovesmusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fallingdoves/
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@fallingdovesmusic
• Other: https://www.blackcherrygroup.com/

Image Credits
Kelli Hayden, Charles Schrader, Char Najjar, Lee Isserow