Leonard White III (born December 19, 1949) is a three-time Grammy Award-winning American jazz fusion drummer, born in New York City, best known for being the drummer of Chick Corea‘s Return to Forever. A resident of Teaneck, New Jersey, White has been described as “one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion”.

Born in Queens, New York City, White became interested in music at a young age. As a self taught drummer he started off his career playing with groups at the New York jazz scene. During the late 1960s he began performing with saxophonist Jackie Mclean. He went on to play on Miles Davis‘ landmark 1969 LP Bitches’ Brew and feature on Freddie Hubbard‘s 1970 LP Red Clay. Within 1972 White joined the famed jazz group Return to Forever.