Lil Xan - Lyricists & Songwriters, Family and Family

Xan was born Diego Leanos on September 6, 1996, in Redlands, California, US. He is also known by his nick-name ‘Shark Boi.’ He was raised by his mother, Candy. There is no information about his father or siblings. He grew up in hardships and for most of his childhood, he lived in cheap motels.

He attended the ‘Redland East Valley High School,’ but dropped out of high school during his freshman years. He remained unemployed for some years and spent time at home. Later he did odd jobs, such as street cleaning and even drug pedaling, to earn some money.

He took up photography with an aim to make a career in it. Some of his friends were into rapping and he took pictures of their shows. His camera was stolen from the DJ’s booth during one such show, and as he could not afford to get a new one, he decided to try rapping instead – and he succeeded at it.

He grew up listening to ‘Grunge’ and ‘Alternative Rock’ and music by artists like ‘Arctic Monkeys,’ ‘Queens of the Stone Age,’ ‘Black Flag,’ ‘N.E.R.D.’ and ‘Pharrell Williams’ among others. According to him, ‘Drake’ and ‘Mac Miller’ are his musical inspirations.

He began his music career in mid-2016. He released his first number ‘Xanny Montaya’ in May 2016, on his ‘SoundCloud’ page. This was produced by ‘Kaniel, The One.’ His other songs, including ‘Sorry,’ ‘Center Fold,’ and ‘Vicodin’ were also released online and got him a strong fan following, which increased with every new release. In September 2016, he released his mixtape ‘CITGO’ with tracks like ‘Been Bout It,’ ‘Who Are You,’ ‘Sling Shot,’ and ‘OTW” among others.

Xan was addicted to hard drugs like ‘Xanax,’ ‘Opiates,’ and ‘Benzodiazepines’ for about two years. He has taken his professional name from the drug ‘Xanax.’ His Xanax addiction was very severe and he had to be hospitalized for drug related kidney and liver failure. Not only did he quit drugs, but also began campaigning against it. When he lost a friend to drug addiction, his anti-drug campaign intensified more. Many of his fans quit drugs as result of his campaign. In his anti-drug campaign, he decided to change his stage name to Diego, but he wasn’t sure about it, so continued with the name ‘Lil Xan.’

In June 2017, he brought out an EP with 3 tracks – ‘Heart Broke,’ ‘Betrayed,’ and ‘Pink Roses.’ The number ‘Betrayed’ achieved quick popularity on the internet, with 148 million views and more than 48 million plays. This is his biggest hit till now and established him as one of the breakout stars of the year. It made to ‘Billboard Emerging Artists Chart’ and was on number 64 on ‘Billboard Hot 100.’ The official video of this song was shot and edited by Cole Bennett. This track speaks about drug ‘Xanax’ and how it would betray anyone.

Lil Xan’s project ‘Xanarchy’ was released in August 2017, and included works from ‘Mad Maxx,’ ‘Bobby Johnson,’ and ‘The Boat Brigade.’ Xan featured in a single ‘Shamoo’ (2017) by Nick Collett. He was also a part of acts by ‘Lil Wop,’ ‘Aris Ray,’ ‘Lucki,’ and ‘Julian Dova.’

‘Total Xanarchy,’ his debut studio album on Columbia Records, arrived in April 2018. The album has guest appearances from ‘2Chainz,’ ‘Diplo,’ ‘YG,’ and ‘Charli XCX.’ Before the release of this album, he launched his ‘Total Xanarchy’ tour in January 2018, which was sold out in 5 hours.

He is known to work solo, but is also a member of a band which was previously called ‘Low Gang,’ but now it is known as ‘Xanarchy.’ Steve Cannon is one of the co-members of his group. Xan has 32 tracks on ‘SoundCloud.’ Of all his songs, ‘Sling Shot’ is the most popular for its deep philosophical message.

He was involved in a car- accident, after which he wrote and recorded the song, ‘Crash the Whip.’

Xan has tattoos on his face, neck and body; one of the tattoos on his face reads Candy, his mother’s name.

He started dating singer and actress Noah Cyrus on June 30, 2018.