About
Rocky Leplin is a singer-songwriter and author. He has written 600 songs; the rhymed verse novel Humphrey’s Long Journey Away From the Sea, available on Amazon; the spooky rhymed verse books with drawings, Horrors of the Household and Zoozles, Skogs and a Morfflemore, available on Amazon, A Psycho’s Guide to Animal Companionship, and Nightmares in the Neighborhood. Also, the book, lyrics and music of two musicals, and three (prose) novels. Rocky has also been boarding dogs for twenty four years at his house in Richmond, California.
Rocky Leplin is a songwriter, composer, and author. His creations, spanning over 50 years, include 600 songs, and:
- The book, lyrics and music for the musical The Purpose of the Moon and the children’s musical Railroad Bill, the Hobo
- The rhymed verse novel Humphrey’s Long Journey Away From the Sea, available as Book One: Tales of Endangered Lives and, separately, Book Two: The Endangering Species
- The lol manual A Psycho’s Guide to Animal Companionship—Instructions for the Abnormal Pet Companion
- The novels:
- Ellis in Imaginedland (or Prince of Whales)
- The Japanese Man With the Ring in His Nose
- The Nails Gang’s First Caper
- The rhymed verse books:
- Horrors of the Household
- Nightmares in the Neighborhood
- Zoozles, Skogs and a Morfflemore
- Never Kiss a Crocodile, Never Slap a Skunk
- The Darker Possibilities
- Problem People
- Choral arrangements twelve of his songs
- The choral piece Sea Trilogy for Chorus and Piano
- Orchestrations of 25 songs using synthesized resources and timbres
As of 2022, Rocky’s been boarding dogs for 24 years at Rocky’s Rover Roadhouse.
Rocky is the grandson of Russian Jewish immigrants. He was born in San Francisco, and as of this writing is 72. His father, Emanuel Leplin, was born in San Francisco in 1917. He was a composer, conductor, painter, and veteran of the string section of the San Francisco Symphony. SFS premiered his Symphony #1 and Symphony #2 in 1966. (The musicians liked the opening passages of Symphony #2 Mvt 3 so much they played them twice.) His brother Jarrett is Prof. Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina. Emanuel Leplin was stricken by polio and paralyzed, at the age of 36. He can be seen here, painting with a brush in his teeth. Click here to see Emanuel Leplin’s website. Hover the mouse over the photo and it will show which ones were painted with a brush in his teeth. He composed all of his symphonies and most of his chamber music with the thumb and first two fingers of his right hand.