Leon Ware (February 16, 1940 – February 23, 2017) was an American songwriter, producer, composer, and singer. Besides a solo career as a performer, Ware was best known for producing hits for other artists including Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Maxwell, Minnie Riperton and Marvin Gaye, co-producing the latter's album I Want You.

Ware was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, United States. His mother was a minister and a pianist for their local Baptist church and his father worked for Ford Motor Co. on the assembly line. Ware was the youngest of ten siblings. He was blind for two years after he had an accident with a slingshot when he was five years old. Despite being only blind in the right eye, his left eye was covered as well. Ware said that, "They [presumably his family] worried that if my left eye wasn’t covered, it would be too strong if my right eye regained its vision." Subsequently, he was sent to the Michigan School for the Blind. In his teens, he was a key member of a vocal group, the Romeos, with Lamont Dozier and Ty Hunter (later of the Originals).

Ware worked at ABC Records as an arranger and songwriter before he joined Motown as a songwriter in 1967. He had co-written songs for the Isley Brothers, Martha & the Vandellas, and the Jackson 5 during his early years at Motown.

In 1971, Ware collaborated with Ike & Tina Turner, co-writing six songs on their United Artists album 'Nuff Said. The album reached the number 21 on the Billboard R&B chart and also appeared on the Billboard 200. This led to a contract as a solo artist on United Artists where he released his self-titled debut album in 1972. Around this time, Ware began collaborating with Arthur "T-Boy" Ross, younger brother of Diana Ross. One of the songs they wrote together was "I Wanna Be Where You Are," recorded by Michael Jackson for his 1972 album Got To Be There. The single reached number two on the R&B charts and peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. Ware wrote for numerous artists during this period including Donny Hathaway and The Miracles.

In 1974, Quincy Jones booked Ware as songwriter and performer for two songs on Jones' Body Heat album. The song "If I Ever Lose This Heaven" hit the R&B chart in September of that year and was covered by the Average White Band. Ware had worked with Minnie Riperton on Jones' album, and they collaborated again on Riperton's album Adventures in Paradise, composing Riperton's R&B hit, "Inside My Love," and the two collaborated yet again on Ware's second album, Musical Massage. Ware and Ross worked on demos for Ware's second album, this one to be issued on Motown and also for Ross to win a deal. One of the demo recordings, "I Want You," was heard by Berry Gordy, who decided the song would be a good fit for Marvin Gaye. Gaye heard the other demos and decided to record much of it on what would be his next album, I Want You. Buoyed by the number one title track, the album peaked at number one on the R&B chart and it reached the Top Ten of the Billboard 200 and sold over a million copies.

Having given away the material for his album, Ware began again on a solo effort for Motown's Gordy label. The result would become his second album, Musical Massage, released in September 1976. The album was a commercial failure due to poor promotion. However, it became a cult hit among soul music fans that were intrigued by Gaye's I Want You album and the songs from Ware himself. After his brief stint as a recording artist at Motown, Ware decided to focus on writing and producing for other artists, and he wouldn't release another album until 1979. He finally achieved chart success when he released his third album, Inside Is Love, via Fabulous Records in 1979. It reached the charts along with its single, "What's Your Name," establishing him as a recording artist for the first time. After recording for Fabulous Records, Ware signed with Elektra Records, and he released his fourth album in 1981, titled Rockin' You Eternally, which spawned two R&B singles chart entries, "Baby Don't Stop Me" and the title song, but the album itself did not reach the charts. Elektra financed a follow-up, and Ware's fifth album, Leon Ware, was released in 1982. Unfortunately for Ware, the label dropped him when the album failed to sell many copies. In 1987, he signed with Slingshot Records and released his sixth album, Undercover.

From the late 70s on, he started a long-standing collaboration with Brazilian musician Marcos Valle. https://www.faroutrecordings.com/collections/marcos-valle Archived July 28, 2021, at the Wayback Machine

Some of the artists that Ware had written and produced for in between and after those periods include Shadow, Teena Marie, Jeffrey Osborne, Loose Ends, James Ingram, Melissa Manchester, Krystol, Bobby Womack, and Lulu, co-writing the latter's European hit, "Independence."