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Brandon Leake Never Chased Fame. He Chased Purpose.

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America's Got Talent winner & Stockton poet Brandon Leake puts purpose, faith & family over fame as he unveils a new album and book about drawing closer to God.



For most people, winning the popular television show, “America's Got Talent” would become the defining moment of their story.


For Stockton's Brandon Leake, it was simply another chapter.


The first spoken-word poet to ever win the hit NBC competition, Leake made history in 2020 with poems that moved millions to tears. But sitting across from him recently, I was reminded that the biggest thing about Brandon Leake isn't his trophy. It's his heart.


He's still unmistakably Stockton.


He still talks about growing up on the city's southeast side, attending Ebenezer Baptist Church where his grandfather served as assistant pastor, and learning life in a close-knit Black community. Even after traveling the world, teaching at universities, selling out theaters and standing on national stages, Stockton continues to shape the way he sees the world.



"I grew up in a very Black church community, a very Black neighborhood," Leake said. "Then I went away to college in Redding, and it was so drastically different from anything I'd ever experienced."


The change challenged him, but it also strengthened his faith. "I think God taught me that He's everywhere — not just in the places I know."


That perspective seems woven into everything he creates.


In August, Leake will release both a new spoken-word album and a companion book titled “Intimacy: The Price You Pay to Get Close to God.” While the two projects are connected, they aren't identical.


"The book features all the poems from the album," he explained. "But there are also poems that didn't make the album because I felt God was saying they belonged somewhere else. Then there's a third section that's made up of poems I've written over the last three years."


It's less a traditional poetry collection than a creative journal documenting one season of his spiritual life.


That theme — listening when God redirects your plans — has become familiar for Leake. His latest project was years in the making.


The result was a sold-out performance at San Joaquin Delta College earlier this year, featuring the Stockton Symphony, guest poets from around the country, dancers, choir and a full band.


The audience of 1,400-plus rewarded the performance with a three-minute standing ovation. Yet when I asked what the experience felt like, he didn't talk about applause.


He talked about the joy of creating.



"Creating art is for me," he said slowly. "Sharing it is for everybody else. When I started writing poetry, I wasn't chasing stages or fame. I wrote because my heart needed release. Creating is the most selfish thing I do because it's between me and God. Sharing it means thinking about everyone else — how they'll receive it, where I pause, how I deliver it."


It's those answers that make you stop writing for a second. As a creative myself, I immediately understood.


There are moments when an idea feels less like something you invented and more like something entrusted to you. You spend months — or years — bringing it to life, and when it's finally finished, you're almost overwhelmed that what once existed only in your imagination is now real.


Leake smiled as we talked about those moments. They aren't about recognition. They're about gratitude. His newest work reflects that same honesty.


Among his favorite pieces are "Shine," an uplifting celebration of God's grace, and "Doubts Parade," a deeply vulnerable poem exploring insecurity and faith. That willingness to wrestle publicly with difficult emotions has become one of his trademarks.


When I asked about another poem, "Pride vs. Ego," Leake said it grew out of his own questions surrounding success.


"What is driving me?" he asked himself. "Is it pride? Is it ego? Is it wanting to be seen?"


His answer surprised me.


"I don't think confidence is bad," he said. "I think idolatry is."


He explained that confidence comes from putting in the work to master your craft. But identity can't be tied to success because success can disappear. Basketball once consumed his life before poetry became his calling.


Now, he says, his identity rests somewhere much deeper.


That same perspective carried him through “America's Got Talent,” a contest, surprisingly, that Leake never expected to win. He had auditioned unsuccessfully in 2017 and again in 2019 before finally making the show. Even then, he expected to last only a round or two before using the exposure to build a career.


Instead, he found himself quarantined in a Los Angeles hotel for nearly three months during the COVID-19 pandemic while his wife and six-month-old daughter remained home in Stockton.


Watching his baby try to crawl over FaceTime nearly broke him. "I almost quit," he admitted.



He remembered removing his microphone during an interview, retreating to his hotel room and wondering whether any of it was worth missing those moments with his family.


"Before poetry was ever a thing, I wanted to be a husband and a father."


Eventually, producers arranged for him to return home briefly between rounds. After that performance, he skipped interviews, drove straight from Los Angeles to Stockton in the middle of the night and surprised his wife by waking up beside her the next morning.


Those stories reveal something audiences rarely see.


Behind the spotlight is a husband, father of three, professor and mentor who still spends much of his time leading workshops in schools, including teaching poetry at the University of the Pacific.


He also made sure to credit the hometown artists who helped bring his latest project to life, including Hallway Productions' Teek and Dee Underdew, Stockton Soul musicians, Composer John Wineglas, the Stockton Symphony, Joe Douglas and his Choir, Fariss Ryan, and numerous local collaborators.


"There is no deficit of talent in Stockton," Leake said. He gives credit to local poets Tama Brisbane, Jasmarie La Tour, and “The Saint”, who he feels laid the groundwork and foundation for the artistry of poetry to have a platform in Stockton before him.


For someone whose work is now being considered for Grammy recognition, it would be easy to focus on what's next. Leake certainly has big goals. But even after history-making television appearances, sold-out performances and international acclaim, he still speaks like someone who remembers exactly where he came from.


The new album and book, drop Aug. 21. To purchase Brandon Leake’s new and previously released poetry and music, visit his website at www.brandonleake.com


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