Sara Lee | |
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Background information | |
Genres | Alternative rock, art rock, pop rock, post-punk |
Occupation(s) | Musician, vocalist, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, bass, keyboards |
Years active | 1975–present |
Sara Lee is an English-American bassist and singer-songwriter, who came to prominence when replacing Dave Allen on bass guitar in the post-punk band Gang of Four, of which she was a member from 1982 to 1984. She was also a member of Robert Fripp's short-lived band The League of Gentlemen and is also notable for work with the B-52s, Ani DiFranco, and Indigo Girls. As of October 2021, Lee rejoined Gang of Four with founding members Hugo Burnham and Jon King as well as David Pajo, to tour in 2022. [1] [2]
Lee confirmed in an interview on Rundgrenradio.com that Sara Lee is her birth name. Born in the West Midlands of England, Lee's entire family was musical. Both parents were music teachers (her father was latterly a bass song man in the choir of York Minster), her sister a cellist, and her brother a trombone player. Music formed an important part of her childhood. She played tympani and double bass in school and local orchestras as a teenager, until the day she discovered the electric bass guitar. [3]
After playing with a couple of local bands, she moved to London and worked as a secretary at Polydor Records. Here she was discovered by King Crimson leader Robert Fripp, who was encouraged to stay at a show to see "a girl who works in the office". [4] Fripp invited her to join his band, The League of Gentlemen.
Lee went on to work with Robyn Hitchcock on his album Groovy Decay , [5] and recorded two albums with the Gang of Four in England. Later she moved to the United States. Lee became a sought-after session, concert and recording artist, playing with the Thompson Twins, before she crossed paths with The B-52's during the recording of their Cosmic Thing album, and can be seen in the "Love Shack" and the "Roam" videos. Following a stint on the Cosmic tour, Lee formed the Raging Hormones with B-52 session drummer Charley Drayton. She then started a seven-year run with the Indigo Girls, contributing "sterling performances". [6] In 1996 and 1997, she accompanied singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco on tours of Europe and North America, as documented on the double-live album Living in Clip .
Lee has played with many other artists, including Joan Osborne, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Fiona Apple, and is a close friend of former David Bowie bassist Gail Ann Dorsey. [7] Lee re-joined the B-52's as a touring member in 1999. On 12 September 2000, she released her debut solo album Make It Beautiful on Difranco's Righteous Babe records. [8] Lee recorded instrumental tracks, which were sent to musicians with whom she had previously worked to provide lyrics, including Ani DiFranco, Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, Pal Shazar, Barbara Gogan of The Passions and Kristen Hall. [9] She replaced Rachel Haden for the final dates of Todd Rundgren's 2009 Arena tour.
Lee was also a judge for the fifth annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers. [10]
Lee rejoined Gang of Four with founding members Hugo Burnham and Jon King as well as David Pajo, to tour in 2022. [1] [2] In January 2023, a US show was announced, where the band played at the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena, California, on May 20, 2023. [11]
Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influences from punk, funk, hip hop and jazz. She has released all her albums on her own record label, Righteous Babe.
Gang of Four are an English post-punk band, formed in 1976 in Leeds. The original members were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. There have been many different line-ups including, among other notable musicians, Sara Lee, Gail Ann Dorsey, and David Pajo. After a brief lull in the 1980s, different constellations of the band recorded two studio albums in the 1990s. Between 2004 and 2006 the original line-up was reunited; Gill toured using the name between 2012 and his death in 2020. In 2021, the band announced that King, Burnham, and Lee would be reuniting for a US tour in 2022 with David Pajo on guitar and Sara Lee returning to the band. They continue to perform live, including at the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena, CA; headlining Luna Fest in Coimbra, Portugal, a UK Tour in October '23, and will be in Australia and beyond in 2024.
Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. They started performing with the name Indigo Girls as students at Emory University, performing weekly at The Dugout, a bar in Emory Village.
Slint was an American rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1986. The band consisted of Brian McMahan, David Pajo (guitar), Britt Walford, Todd Brashear, and Ethan Buckler. Slint's first album, Tweez, was recorded by engineer Steve Albini in 1987 and released in obscurity on the Jennifer Hartman Records label in 1989. It was followed two years later by the critically acclaimed Spiderland, released on the independent label Touch and Go Records.
Not a Pretty Girl is the sixth studio album released by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco on her own record label, Righteous Babe Records. It was released July 18, 1995. The album extended the folk singer's early formula of acoustic guitar and drums. On subsequent records, DiFranco would add electric guitar, horns, band members and guest musicians, but on Not a Pretty Girl she was accompanied by Andy Stochansky's percussion alone.
Anthony Frederick Levin is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (1981–2021) and Peter Gabriel. He is also a member of Liquid Tension Experiment, Bruford Levin Upper Extremities (1998–2000) and HoBoLeMa (2008–2010). He has led his own band, Stick Men, since 2010.
Daryl Franklin Hohl, known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Hall & Oates, with guitarist and songwriter John Oates. Outside of his work in Hall & Oates, he has also released five solo albums, including the 1980 progressive rock collaboration with guitarist Robert Fripp titled Sacred Songs and the 1986 album Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine, which provided his best selling single, "Dreamtime", that peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. He has also collaborated on numerous works by other artists, such as Fripp's 1979 release Exposure, and Dusty Springfield's 1995 album A Very Fine Love, which produced a UK Top 40 hit with "Wherever Would I Be". Since late 2007, he has hosted the streaming television series Live from Daryl's House, in which he performs alongside other artists, doing a mix of songs from each's catalog. The show has been rebroadcast on a number of cable and satellite channels as well.
Ferron Foisy is a Canadian singer-songwriter and poet. In addition to gaining fame as one of Canada's most respected songwriters, Ferron, who is openly lesbian, became one of the earliest and most influential lyrical songwriters of the women's music circuit, and an important influence on later musicians such as Ani DiFranco, Mary Gauthier and the Indigo Girls. From the mid-eighties on, Ferron's songwriting talents have been recognized and appreciated by music critics and broader audiences, with comparisons being made to the writing talents of Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen.
Paz Lenchantin is an Argentine-American musician. She is best known as the former bass guitarist and backing vocalist of the alternative rock band Pixies. Lenchantin joined the band in 2014, following the departure of founding member Kim Deal, and recorded three studio albums before leaving in 2024.
The League of Gentlemen were a band active during March–December 1980 that featured King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.
Rites of Passage is the fourth studio album by American folk rock duo the Indigo Girls, released on May 12, 1992, by Epic Records.
Hugo Hamilton Mark Burnham is an English musician, and drummer for the rock group Gang of Four.
Trina Hamlin is an American folk-rock singer-songwriter from Minneapolis. She studied at the Berklee College of Music, majoring in professional music, after which she moved to New York City and began performing with the band Blue Leaves. She has performed with Nini Camps and Marilyn D'Amato as the Acoustic Girl Circle and as The Hamiltons, and also as a solo artist.
Rachel Haden is an American musician and one of the triplet daughters of jazz bassist Charlie Haden.
Gail Ann Dorsey is an American musician. With a long career as a session musician mainly on bass guitar, she performed regularly in David Bowie's band, from 1995 to Bowie's last tour in 2004.
Kasim Sulton is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States. As a solo artist, Sulton hit the Canadian top 40 in 1982 with "Don't Break My Heart".
Eva Catherine Gardner is an American bassist from Los Angeles. A founding member of The Mars Volta, she has been a studio and touring musician in bands for Cher, Gwen Stefani, P!NK, Veruca Salt and Tegan and Sara.
Jerome David Marotta is an American drummer who resides in Woodstock, New York. He is the younger brother of Rick Marotta; Rick is also a drummer and composer.
Binary is the 19th studio album by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, released on June 9, 2017. On this album she was supported by Todd Sickafoose, the upright bass player who has toured with her since 2004. Drummer Terence Higgins, who has been touring with DiFranco since 2012, also accompanied her on most of the tracks on the album. Jenny Scheinman and Ivan Neville join the band for more than half of the record. Other musicians showing up on the album include Maceo Parker, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, and Gail Ann Dorsey. The album was mixed by Tchad Blake.
Sara Lee bass.
...sterling guest performance by Sara Lee