Born in Richmond, Virginia, Leverty's parents gave him a guitar when he was 4 years old, although he didn't take playing guitar seriously until he was 15. Around this same time, Leverty began to study music theory in high school. In 1984, Leverty's band, White Heat, held auditions for drummers and it was here that Leverty met fellow Richmond native and his longtime bandmate and collaborator, Michael Foster. In 1988, Leverty and Foster's White Heat combined forces with C.J. Snare and Perry Richardson. Before signing to Epic Records in 1989, White Heat changed their name to FireHouse. Firehouse went on to sell over 7 million albums worldwide, as well as win the 1991 American Music Award for "Favorite New Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist."