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Lee Morris | |
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Background information | |
Born | [1] Wolverhampton, England | 11 January 1970
Genres | Hard rock, gothic metal |
Lee Morris (born 11 January 1970) is an English hard rock and metal drummer, known as current drummer of Magnum [2] and former drummer of Paradise Lost. [3]
Morris came from a musical family and started playing the drums at six years of age. He learnt his instrument from his dad (Ivor Morris) and spent many hours during his early years playing along with various records from the family record collection. At age 12, he joined his first high school cover band, playing the top 40 songs at the time, but the band never played outside the school walls. At the age of 14, Morris discovered a love of rock music after hearing the Iron Maiden Killers and Kiss Alive! albums. [4]
Morris joined his first rock covers band called Wyzed in the early 1980s, and got to enjoy playing rock regularly at various halls, pubs and clubs throughout the English Midlands. He got frustrated with playing covers at that time, and joined Royale, that included Vince O'Regan (Bob Catley / Pulse) in the line-up. During the late 1980s and early 1990s Morris played in his first signed band which was the Birmingham based Marshall Law. He recorded an EP (Power Crazy EP), one studio album (Power Game) and one live album with the outfit before they disbanded. [5] At the start of 1991, Morris auditioned for Little Angels, after a recommendation from departing drummer Michael Lee. He got down to the last two but eventually lost out to Mark Richardson. [4]
After the demise of Marshall Law, Morris was invited to team up with guitarist Robin George in a band called The Promise. He recorded a demo for their album, and appeared on the James Whale TV show, before joining Paradise Lost in December 1994. He recorded seven albums with the band between 1994 and 2003 and got to tour the globe several times and played on Top of the Pops in Germany. [4] Blabbermouth reported that Morris "parted ways" with Paradise Lost in 2004 due to "personal and musical differences". [3]
After leaving Paradise Lost, Morris began teaching drums to aspiring drummers, while also getting involved in session work. His first session was some live dates with Ten. [6] He also worked with Danny Vaughn, recording two albums with Vaughn; Traveller [7] and The Road Less Travelled. [8] In 2010, he recorded the Methods to End It All album with Creation's Tears. [9]
In 2011, Morris played drums for the Arabia album, Welcome to the Freakshow, and also performed at the Z Rock Festival with the band. [10] In 2012, he again played the Z Rock Festival with Paul Sabu after having played drums on Sabu's Bangkok Rules album. [11] In September 2013, Thin Lizzy tribute band Limehouse Lizzy announced Lee Morris as their new drummer. [12]
In 2017, he joined the British band Magnum and played on their albums Lost on the Road to Eternity , [13] The Serpent Rings , The Monster Roars , and Here Comes the Rain .
UFO were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the new wave of British heavy metal. The band's final lineup consisted of vocalist Phil Mogg, lead guitarist Vinnie Moore, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Neil Carter, bass guitarist Rob De Luca, and drummer Andy Parker. They had gone through several line-up changes, leaving Mogg as the only constant member, and had disbanded three times. The band's classic line-up comprised Mogg, Parker, bassist Pete Way, keyboardist Paul Raymond and former Scorpions guitarist Michael Schenker. In May 2018, Mogg announced that he would retire from UFO after one last tour as a member of the band in 2019; however, their farewell tour was set to conclude in 2022 before it was cancelled, due to Mogg's health issues. Mogg confirmed UFO's third disbandment in April 2024.
Thin Lizzy is an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Thin Lizzy initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon, although Wrixon left after a few months. Bell left at the end of 1973 and was briefly replaced by Gary Moore, who himself was replaced in mid-1974 by twin lead guitarists: Scott Gorham, who remained with the band until their break-up in 1983, and Brian Robertson, who remained with the band until 1978 when Moore re-joined. Moore left a second time and was replaced by Snowy White in 1980, who was himself replaced by John Sykes in 1982. The line-up was augmented by keyboardist Darren Wharton in 1980. The singles "Whiskey in the Jar" (1972), "The Boys Are Back in Town" (1976) and "Waiting for an Alibi" (1979) were international hits, and several Thin Lizzy albums reached the top ten in the UK. The band's music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or sometimes heavy metal.
Robert William Gary Moore was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz fusion.
Kingdom Come is a Germany-based hard rock band formed in 1987. The band was originally fronted by Lenny Wolf, until their hiatus in 2016. While there have been no constant Kingdom Come members throughout the band's history, their most recent lineup features three original members who, along with drummer James Kottak, left the band in 1989 and returned in 2018. Wolf was replaced by Keith St. John in 2018, and he remained until 2024, when Ezekiel "Zeke" Kaplan replaced him. Kottak remained in Kingdom Come until his death in January of the same year and was replaced by Matt Muckle. The band's 1988 debut album, Kingdom Come, is to date their most internationally popular and biggest selling recording and features their most notable hit "Get It On".
Paradise Lost are an English gothic metal band. Formed in Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1988, they are considered to be among the pioneers of the death-doom genre and regarded as the main influence for the later gothic metal movement. Bands that have cited Paradise Lost as an influence, or have covered them, include My Dying Bride, Anathema, The Gathering, Amorphis, Cradle of Filth, Katatonia, Moonspell, Lacuna Coil, HIM, Nightwish and many others. As of 2005, Paradise Lost have sold over two million albums worldwide.
Frehley's Comet was an American rock band formed and led by ex-Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley. The group released two studio albums and one live EP before Frehley left the band to release his 1989 solo album, Trouble Walkin'.
Lordi is a Finnish hard rock and heavy metal band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi, Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during concerts and music videos. The band rose to fame in 2002 with their hit single "Would You Love a Monsterman?", and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah".
Joshua Ryan Freese is an American drummer. A member of punk rock band the Vandals since 1989, Freese has also been a member of new wave band Devo since 1996 and rock band Foo Fighters since 2023.
Molly Hatchet is an American rock band formed by guitarist Dave Hlubek in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1971. They experienced popularity and commercial success during the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s amongst southern rock and hard rock communities and listeners. The band released six studio albums on Epic Records between 1978 and 1984, including the platinum-selling hit records Molly Hatchet (1978), Flirtin' with Disaster (1979), and Beatin' the Odds (1980). They also had charting singles on the US Billboard charts, including "Flirtin' with Disaster", "The Rambler", "Bloody Reunion" and "Satisfied Man". Molly Hatchet has released many more studio albums since their split with Epic Records in 1985, although none have been as successful as their early albums, nor have charted in the United States.
Nicholas D'Virgilio, often abbreviated and referred to as NDV, is an American drummer, singer, keyboard player and guitarist, best known as a member of the progressive rock band Spock's Beard. He was also one of two drummers chosen to replace Phil Collins in Genesis on the Calling All Stations album. He has also done session work with many artists including Tears for Fears and Mystery, and is an official member of Big Big Train.
Adrian Paul Erlandsson is a Swedish heavy metal drummer who is a member of At the Gates, the Haunted, and Nemhain (2006–present).
Tommy Aldridge is an American heavy metal and hard rock drummer. He is noted for his work with numerous bands and artists since the 1970s, such as Black Oak Arkansas, Pat Travers Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Whitesnake, Ted Nugent, Thin Lizzy, Vinnie Moore and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Magnum are an English progressive rock, melodic hard rock and AOR band. They were formed in Birmingham in 1972 by Tony Clarkin and Bob Catley (vocals) in order to appear as the resident band at the Rum Runner nightclub in the city. Magnum have undergone several changes in personnel over the years; however, the core of Catley and Clarkin remained until Clarkin's death in 2024.
Heathen is an American thrash metal band originating from the San Francisco Bay Area, active from 1984 to 1993 and again from 2001 onwards. Despite never achieving commercial success, the band is often credited – alongside Exodus, Testament, Forbidden, Death Angel and Vio-lence – as one of the leaders of the Bay Area thrash metal scene of the mid-to-late 1980s, and they have gone through several lineup changes, leaving guitarist Lee Altus as the only constant member. To date, Heathen has released four studio albums: Breaking the Silence (1987), Victims of Deception (1991), The Evolution of Chaos (2009) and Empire of the Blind (2020).
Brown Brigade was a reggae-influenced heavy metal band created by Sum 41 guitarist Dave "Brownsound" Baksh. The band's final lineup was Baksh, Vaughn Lal, Johnny Owens (drums), Chuck Coles (guitar), and Cess Rock (percussion).
Marco Mendoza is an American bass guitarist who has worked in diverse genres. He became a professional rock musician in 1989 and debuted on Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward's solo album Along the Way. He has performed on a number of notable releases throughout his career, including Live... in the Still of the Night by Whitesnake, One Night Only by Thin Lizzy and Live in Concert at Lollapalooza by Journey.
Creation's Tears are an Irish heavy metal/gothic metal band based in Northern Ireland, with some members based in England.
Black Star Riders is a hard rock band formed in December 2012. The band began when members of the 2011–2012 line-up of Thin Lizzy decided to record new material, but chose not to release it under the Thin Lizzy name. While Thin Lizzy continues on an occasional basis, Black Star Riders is a full-time band, described as "the next step in the evolution of the Thin Lizzy story". The band's first album, All Hell Breaks Loose, was released on May 21, 2013, and the follow-up album, The Killer Instinct was released on February 20, 2015. The band's third album, Heavy Fire, was released on February 3, 2017, and reached number six on the UK Albums Chart.
Aaron Sterling is an American drummer, producer, engineer, and session musician who lives in Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee. The son of professional musicians, Sterling grew up in Texas and Nashville, before moving to L.A. in 2000. Known for his studio work, Sterling has played on hundreds of records over the past decade and has drummed for John Mayer since 2011, and has recorded for artists such as Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Post Malone, Lana Del Rey, Madison Cunningham, Keith Urban, Ben Rector, Lizzy McAlpine, Maren Morris and many, many more.