>> Lee Aaron was born as Karen Lynn on July 21, in Belleville,ON Canada to parents Gerald and Dorothy
1964 -
>> The family moves to Winnipeg,MB suburb Transcona.
- "I made my big debut in Kindergarten in Winnipeg in the Christmas show singing "I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus" that's where my musical career started." (Metal Forces #1)
>> In Transcona they ended up living a couple of houses up from Blair Maclean from Canadian musical-comedy duo Maclean & Maclean.
- "Blair and Ann's son Kevin was a friend of my sister and myself.... Blair used to have these Sunday sing a longs with the neighbourhood kids. He came out on the lawn and play his guitar and us kids would come down and have cookies and popsicles and he would have a sing a long circle. So that was fairly influental on me as a kid." (Get to Know Her with Monica Graves podcast December 2021)
1971 -
>> Family moves back to Ontario and settles in Brampton just outside of Toronto.
- "There was a station in Toronto and it still exists called Q107. There was Q107 and CHUM. CHUM was the AM station. That was the station I listened to a lot when I was a kid from the age of 8 through 12. On my 11th birthday, I got a little yellow transistor radio with a telescoping antenna. I would climb to the very top of my slide in the backyard and listen to the AM radio *laughs*. And then of course, as I got a little bit older, I was craving things that a teenager wants to listen to, so I gravitated towards the FM station which is Q107. They were playing AOR rock. That was where I ended up hearing all of the bands that were influential to me."
"Another thing that happened is my father used to work at a local college called Humber College. In the mid 1970s, they just decided they were gonna get rid of their entire vinyl library and switch to the long lived format of 8-track *laughs*. Don’t ask me what they were thinking. My dad was walking down the hall and said, “Hey, what are you guys doing with all these records?” “We’re getting rid of them.” “Oh, I think my daughter would like those.” So he piled them in his trunk. I was 13 or 14 years old. He came home and said, “I got a surprise for you. Go look in the trunk of my car.” There, lo and behold, was Fleetwood Mac, Heart, The Runaways, David Bowie, Elton John, The Strawbs, Steely Dan, Genesis, Supertramp, Boston. That became my soundtrack. I think everybody thinks that the music of their teenage years is the best music of the century. You’re at a very impressionable age, so the music that you discover at that point in your life. For me it was Zeppelin and The Who and Hendrix and Bowie. You think it’s the best music ever." (defendersofthefaithmetal.com 2021)
1977
>> Karen makes her first big exposure on Canadian TV, singing "You're The Sunshine Of My Life" and a couple of other songs
on the "Big Al Show" (CKCO TV) Kitchener,ON.
>> The story of the 'Lee Aaron' band started in 1978 when highschool mates George Bernhardt (guitar) and Brian Wall (drums) decides to start a band. They were later joined by keyboardist Ray Van Doorn, bassist Graham Thompson and vocalist Gord Crown. They named the band Lee Aaron after Lee jeans and the director Aaron Spelling. "Original vocalist Gord was a great singer but didn't have the same motivation as the others", according to George Bernhardt. So they decide to let him go. At first they discussed the plan to have Geroge Bernhardt take over the lead vocal duties as he had been sharing vocals with Gord. But George was more interested in focusing on his guitar and wasn't interested in taking over lead vocals. Graham then suggested a girl (Karen) that he had seen singing in a musical production at his school; Peel Secondary School in Brampton, that he thought was really good. The other guys weren't interested in having a girl in their band but as they couldn't find a decent singer they said ok let's give her a try. So Graham asked Karen if she was interested in singing in their band. Karen's dad wasn't that keen on her hooking up with some unknown boys so he followed her to the first "audition" to keep an eye on his daughter and to check out who the boys were. On the first audition they played some Fleetwood Mac tunes and a Barbara Streisand song.
- "I had been singing in Theatre and Choirs etc. since I was a very small girl. That eventually led to me joining my first
Rockband at the age of 15."
- "When I was 15 in high school, a bass player from a local band saw me sing in a musical that he liked and he said,
"Why don't you come and audition for our band?" And at the time I went to audition, all the guys in the band were going,
"We don't want a chick in the band." But I auditioned anyway and they thought about it for a couple of days and then finally said, "Well, we can't find anyone else who sings as good as she can, so maybe we should let her join."
- "And actually at the time I had quite a sweet voice. I jused to model myself after Barbara Streisand when I was quite young."
- "It's just when I started singing in the band these guys were going, "Hey, listen to these Heavy Metal records." and I thought, "this is great, there's no girls out there that sing this kind of music, but I think I can." "And that's how it all started. I didn't really plan to get into this kind of music, it just happened." (KERRANG! #95)
>> The Lee Aaron band with Karen sharing lead vocals with George Bernhardt and playing keyboards aswell as saxophone, starts out playing local shows mostly at schools in the Toronto area doing covers of bands like Genesis, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Strawbs as well as a few original songs.
The Lee Aaron band live at Humber College September 10, 1979
>> After Karen graduates from high school in 1979, with top marks and a sholarship in Geography, the band went on the road full time and were eventually discovered by Toronto manager Robert Connolly in the summer of 1979.
- "He gave us the direction and hardened up our style, but we ended up packing it in after 3 months." (Bio sheet Metal Queen)
- "I came from musical theatre, that’s how I got discovered. But I was very shy and really intimidated by the audiences at first and I didn't have any idea what I was doing. My first manager took me to see the movie The Rose, and a lot of my original persona was stylized after Bette Midler's character in that movie. Then I realized the power of putting my foot on someone's table and I ran with it." (Is This Live by Christopher Ward)
>> After some of the band members immature shenanigans surrounding some shows in Thunder Bay in 1980 Robert Connolly decides to fire the whole band and sign Karen as a solo artist under the name of Lee Aaron. Lee together with George Bernhardt joins up with some local Thunder Bay musicians and the band starts gigging around the area. George packs it in after a while and after some member changes and continued touring the manager decides that the band should relocate back to Toronto. The guys in the band, except from the drummer, has no interest in leaving their hometown so they quit.
>> During the coming years the band tours extensively mostly in Ontario and Quebec under numerous different incarnations.
- "I gained so much experience between the age of 17 - 19 being on the road playing every night" (Bio sheet Metal Queen)
>> Tours around Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.
>> Lee also participates in one of the shows on the 'Lock Up Your Sons' tour. This was probably the first or one of the first hard rock tours only featuring female fronted bands.
'Lock Up Your Sons' Kitchener,ON June 20, 1982
>> Records her first album, with the help from many well known Canadian musicians: Rik Emmett (Triumph), Buzz Shearman (Moxy) and Rick Santers to name a few.
- "All the musicians in Toronto were all friends so we just asked if they'd like to come and play on the album and they said sure."
Bill Wade, Lee's drummer at the time asked his former Moxy collegues Earl Johnson and Buzz Shearman if they wanted to play on the album and they brought in a couple of Moxy tunes that hadn't been recorded ('Should Have Known' and 'Texas Outlaw'). Santers, who shared management with Lee, brought in a few unreleased Santers songs to re-work - 'Night Riders', 'Lonely For Your Love', 'Life In my Hands' and 'In Foreign Skies'. Lee wrote new lyrics to the last two and they became 'Took Your Heart Away' and 'The Princess' (The Princess was however left out of the record as it differed too much in style from the rest of the material)
Frank Soda, whose 1980 album was produced by Robert Connolly, played on the song he wrote for the album, 'I Like My Rock Hard', with his own band, The Imps.
Both 'Under Your Spell' and 'Runnin' From His Love' were written by members of Lee's touring band at the time. Rik Emmett from Triumph stepped in and played guitar on 'Under Your Spell' a song that he also co-produced.
The album was made for a total of 7000 Canadian dollars.
>> To promote the album before the release Lee lip-synched two songs - 'Took Your Heart Away' and 'The Princess' on CHCH TV out of Hamilton,ON
Took Your Heart Away
The Princess
>> Lee does her first western Canada tour when she plays dates in Calgary and Edmonton in September / October.
>> In October 1982, Lee also gets her first exposure outside of Canada when she is featured in british magazine Kerrang!
- "My first manager signed me when I was very young and he did some wonderful things and some not so wonderful things. One of the wonderful things he did zero in on was that he realised at that time if you could find just one writer who loved your music and would champion your act you had one foot in the door. So he found a guy called Paul Suter who wrote for Kerrang magazine and he sent Paul my stuff and Paul was just ‘gaga’ over it. He loved the pictures, he loved the music and so he got Paul to squeeze a feature into Kerrang Magazine ... – so we got the centrefold picture, the big article on us and a great review." (therockpit.net 2021)
>> The finished album was released on Robert Connelly's own label Freedom Records (distributed by RCA in Canada) on November 15, 1982. It was preceded by the single 'Under Your Spell'. The release party was held at Nags Head North in Markham (Toronto) on November 17.
Nightriders
Texas Outlaw
I Like My Rock Hard
Lonely For Your Love
1983
>> Extensive touring in Canada follows.
>> Lee participates in the Frank Soda Show at the Adelaide Court Theatre in Toronto on February 6. This was the first show with the new incarnation of the band, with a returning George Bernhardt in the folds. Drummer Mike Rizun remembers: -"Me, Jack, George and Frank all joined at the same time, we were already a newly formed band and our front man was Mark Fretz from Beau-Nasty a band that him and George were in after Lee Aaron. .... That's when Lee spoke with George, telling him she needed a band for the upcoming Adelaide gig. So we teamed up with her. If you watch those clips closely look at our faces we went from my basement right to that first gig with only four days to learn all of her material. We were all paranoid..lol. I'm amazed at how we pulled it off with so little rehearsal time. Those weren't my drums I had a black Gretsch kit... it was like walk in.. oh Mike by the way your playing Glens kit... wtf !! Not even a chance to get use to them basically just sat down and played."
Frank Soda Show
>> Lee tours the US for the first time in March/April when she does a month long east coast US tour. Including a benefit show for Canadian harpist Jim Zeller at Riker's Island Prison.
Jim Zeller benefit
>> Lee gets a nomination for 'Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year' at the 1983 JUNO Awards.
>> The Lee Aaron Project album sells very well on import in the UK. So Lee is invited to London for a showcase at the Marquee Club on May 4. Due to limited resources they couldn't afford to bring over the whole band so they hired Manchester based band Sam Thunder to back her up at the showcase. After only 12 hours of rehearsals they made a triumphant gig at the Marquee.
"... And he [Paul Suter Kerrang! Magazine] said we had to get over there to showcase, but this was the very beginning of my career – the first album that I did was done for $7000 on spec in a studio in Toronto until we were signed by Polydor and were able to pay them! So I think my parents lent me enough money to buy me an airplane ticket and I think they gave me another $200 to buy some stage clothes because I had next to nothing! I had been on the road at that point touring for about two years, but when I say ‘touring’ we didn’t have an album out at that time and we were still playing a lot of covers. Everyone in Canada cut their teeth on this horrible bar circuit – they were seedy little bars that were attached to tiny hotels in the most remote little backwards towns up north – we all did those bars and they were awful and the accommodations were awful! So I’d been playing venues lie that for a couple of years and getting my chops and learning my vocal technique. So I was getting a lot of experience playing live, I just hadn’t really done any good shows. So his idea was, at that point in time I couldn’t get arrested in Canada. In Canada the whole idea of being a woman and doing aggressive music was verboten – it was like “We don’t get this, we don’t respect this.” I was just too different – Canada was the land of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot! They didn’t understand me. So his idea was that we needed to get to Europe. He found Paul, got me in this magazine, we scraped together enough money for an airline flight and he said to Paul “You need to find a good bar band, give her album to them and get them to learn her material so she has a band when she gets there to play with.” So he did a little bit of travelling around and he stumbled on this band ‘Sam Thunder’ who I guess were doing the circuit at the time. He thought that they were competent enough to learn the record so he gave it to them they learned it and I flew over and we went into a rehearsal and I basically learned all of the songs on my debut album plus a few covers and we went and did the showcase at the Marquee." (therockpit.net 2021)
"At the Marquee the diminutive firebrand packed more energy into 60 minutes than most bands can manage in a week." (Paul Suter,KERRANG!)
Lonely For Your Love
>> In the middle of preporations to record the new album Lee gets an invitation back to the UK to play at the Reading Festival. On August 27 new guitarist John Albani makes his live debut with the band in front of 40 000 people playing some of the songs from the upcoming album Metal Queen live for the first time. They share the stage with Black Sabbath, Suzi Quatro, Anvil and Marillion among others.
- "That was literally the biggest stage that I had played on at the time. Our manager got us again over to Europe, again I don’t know where we borrowed the money from the get the band over because we were still broke. We all slept at Paul Suter’s little flat in London, literally in sleeping bags on the floor. But he got us there we played Reading Festival, we were an earlier act in the day, but I think the impact that made was fantastic. And he had it filmed. We got there and there was a film crew and he went up to them and said “Hey guys here’s $500 will you film us?” and as a result we got video footage out of it and that became a stepping stone to better things for me." (therockpit.net 2021)
Reading Festival 1983
>> Back home in Canada they return to the studio to finish the recording of the Metal Queen album.
>> Lee finishes of the year with some Ontario and Quebec dates, including opening for Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry in Montreal,QC on October 16. Lee also flies to Los Angeles for a showcase at the Troubadour.
1984
>> After signing with Attic Records in January of 1984 the Metal Queen album gets a release on February 24.
>> A showcase was held at Heaven in Toronto on the night before the release of the album.
Night Riders live clip from Heaven February 23,1984
City Limits interview from late February,1984
>> The video for the title track 'Metal Queen' gets an R rating by the BBC in England and is banned entirely in Australia.
Metal Queen
>> Even though Metal Queen was the first video from the album, was 'Steal Away Your Love' supposed to be the first single from the album. But because nobody would play the Metal Queen video, Robert Connolly quickly put together some tape that had been shot at the Reading Festival and released a live video for the song 'Shake It Up', which ended up being the first single. 'Steal Away Your Love' was put aside and never released as a single.
Steal Away Your Love studio clip
Shake It Up
>> On May 18 the Lee Aaron Project gets a re-release by Attic in a new packing and containing a bonustrack 'Under the Stars' recorded live at the El Mocambo in Toronto on March 31.
>> Second US east coast tour in May 1984. Including a gig at L'Amour in New York were Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris from Iron Maiden joins the band for the encores of Run To The Hills and ZZ Top's Tush.
Bruce Dickinson and Lee Aaron
>> Extensive touring in Canada during the rest of the year. Including gigs with Motley Crue, RATT, Helix, Kim Mitchell, April Wine.
>> Juno nomination in the 'Most Promissing Female Artist' category.
1985
>> Part ways with manager Robert Connolly.
>> Attic records signs a deal with Roadrunner records for the european market.
From Variety Magazine March 27, 1985
-"I was 22 years old when I worked with Bob Ezrin. I was a kid. How that came about was that we were actually in the studio with Paul Gross, who had produced Metal Queen and was one of the owners of Phase One Studios in Toronto. Paul had a bad racquetball accident and was blinded in one eye for a while, so he had to take a sabbatical in the middle of our recording.
Simultaneous to this, Bob Ezrin was next door in studio B recording some big compilation project. I think Lita Ford, Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe, and a bunch of the big, big 80s rock bands were involved. He kept popping his head over into our studio and listening in because he was fascinated by me and my voice. This kept happening throughout the course of our recording. Then Paul had his accident and was out of commission. We were like, “What are we gonna do?” When this happened, Bob went in for a meeting with my label and said, “Look, I’m right next door. As soon as I’m done with this project, I’ll continue recording Lee. I’d love to finish her record.” Again, it was the crazy era of excess. He brought Dick Wagner up. Dick Wagner was Alice Cooper’s guitar player and someone that Bob had worked with quite a bit. He brought him in to song doctor a couple of songs at that time with us.
It was a great experience. I learned a lot working with Bob. He’s actually one of the first people, besides Rudy Schenker, that showed me in detail how to do proper vocal warmups and exercises. He certainly stretched me vocally in the studio. Yeah, I definitely learned a lot working with Bob." (defendersofthefaithmetal.com 2021)
>> By the time of the recording of her third album, Call Of The Wild, Lee had become very popular in Europe.
Due to the enormous intrested from the European market a tour was set up in the spring of 1985. Her european label actually wanted the album completed and released before the tour, but insted of rushing it they finished 3 tracks and released the 'Rock Me All Over' 12" single to have some new material to coincide with the tour.
"The day after I sang my last vocal chords for the album, we left for Europe" (Much Music July 85)
>> While on tour in europe the album was being mixed in Canada, so Lee wasn't involved in the final mixes.
Lee has later pointed out that she wasn't really satisfied with the end result. "Bob Ezrin was a piece of work to work with" Lee laughs, "but, looking back now, I have to say I do have a lot of respect for ... his talent. I just wasn't completely happy with the mixes."
"I felt a bit left out of my own artistic project." (LeeAaron.net)
>> This was a fairly extensive tour including both headline shows, as well as support slots with Bon Jovi and Hawkwind.
On stage in Mannheim,Germany May 10,1985
>> While in europe she also played at the Heavy Sound Festival in Poperinge, Belgium as third on the bill after UFO and Slayer.
Heavy Sound Festival
>> A headline show at the Camden Palace in London, was filmed for the British TV-show 'Live from London', and was later released as a home video.
Live From London
>> While in England she also appeared on the ECT show playing 3 songs live on british Tv.
ECT
>> Call Of The Wild was released on June 27.
>> About a month later she went back to Europe to appear on a festival in the Austrian alps called Rock On The Rocks. She also appears on a couple of German Tv-shows lip-synching to Barely Holdin On'.
Barely Holdin' On
>> One July 24 a release party for Call Of The Wild was held at the Diamond Club in Toronto.
>> Call Of The Wild quickly sells a truck load in Europe so Lee was soon back on european soil for a couple of festivals in late August / early September 1985.
>> Back home in Canada again she did a tour together with Kim Mitchell.
>> Juno nomination in the Female Vocalist of the Year category.
>> Lee and John Albani sings backing vocals on Kick Axe version of the old Joe Cocker classic 'With A Little Help From My Friends'.
>> In November of 1985 was Lee back in Europe for a month long headline tour, including a show at the Dominion Theater in London, which was filmed for a home video and recorded for a planned live album.
Live at the Dominion Theatre
>> A Canadian tour with Kick Axe was scrapped in the last minute as there was plans for Lee to continue the european tour into the new year.
1986
>> Signs with Steve Propas at PMC (Propas Management Corporation)
>> Attic signs her to 10 Records (a subsidary of Virgin Records) in Europe.
>> Two planned festival dates in Germany are cancelled.
>> Records the follow up to Call Of The Wild.
-"My label was really pressuring me to make a more commercially viable album to get radio play in Canada. We ended up singing with Virgin and working with Peter Coleman who had produced multiple Pat Benatar records. And I loved working with Peter. He was great. I learned the most about singing in tune from Peter. He was a stickler. He would make me punch a line in 50 times to get it perfectly in tune *laughs*. In a way it drove me crazy, but I don’t record that way anymore. I’ll sing the song five times, put a comp together, it better be good enough. Anyway, we did this album that shifted a little bit in a more melodic direction and I finally had my first Top 40 hit in Canada with “Only Human”. It was tame enough for Canadian radio." (defendersofthefaithmetal.com 2021)
>> A 28 date tour opening for Iron Maiden on their UK tour in October/November is cancelled as 10 Records is eager for her to finish her upcoming album.
1987
>> Releases her fourth album simply called Lee Aaron on February 17. The album is released on 10 Records in Europe.
>> Gets her first top 40 single in Canada with first single Only Human.
Only Human
>> The Heartbeat Of The World Tour starts in Ottawa,ON on April 2. In late April Lee heads over to Europe for a 30+ date headline tour of concert halls, theatres and large clubs. The show in Mannheim is recorded by famous German producer Dieter Dierks for a planned live album. The live album was however scrapped when 10 Records folds later that year and Lee was dropped from Virgin Records.
>> Sings backing vocals on 'Rhythm Of Love' on Scorpions album Savage Amusement (released in 1988)
"Virgin Records had hired [producer] Dieter Dierks to record one of my concerts in Manheim in 1987. At the time the SCORPS were recording 'Savage Amusement' and needed a high backup vocal on that particular tune. Don Dokken and Udo Dirkschnieder had both attempted it without success. I guess it had never occurred to anyone involved to have a female singer try it. When Dieter heard my voice he approached me backstage and asked me if I would extend my stay in Europe and join the boys in the studio to give the tune a try. I did, and the result is the song as you hear it today. My road manager (a lovely German lady) accompanied me on the trip. Rudy [Schenker] and Matthias [Jabs] took her next door to a local pub while I was recording and got her absolutely wasted on a drink they had invented called Tequila Bang. When the session was over I had to babysit her and get her back to hotel safely, which was quite funny because it's normally supposed to be the other way around — road manager babysitting rock star." (fullinbloommusic.com 2005)
>> Lee also helped her friends in German band Talon out by singing backing vocals on their rendition of the Uriah Heep classic 'Lady In Black'. The song was supposed to be released as a single, but was canned in the last minute due to management and record company issues.
>> Appears on the CBC show It's Only Rock and Roll doing Powerline and Only Human.
Powerline
Only Human
>> On August 29 is Lee back at the Reading Festival, this time sharing the stage with Status Quo, Magnum, Georgia Satellites and Quireboys to name a few. The show is recorded by BBC and later broadcasted on radio.
Lady Of The Darkest Night (live from Reading)
>> Back home in Canada, she goes out on a 25 date tour. Now with Jim Gilmour and Steve Negus from Saga in the band.
Live from Detroit September 26,1987
>> By this time the album had gone gold in Canada.
>> Lee wins the 'Best Female Vocalist' award at the first Toronto Music Awards held at Massey Hall on September 18.
>> Juno nomination in the 'Female Vocalist of the Year' category.
>> When 10 Records folds, Attic signs her to Metronome Records in Germany.
1988
Writes her upcoming album.
1989
>> 'Whatcha Do To My Body' the first single from the upcoming album Bodyrock was released on August 16, 1989 and went into heavy rotation on Much Music and various rock radio stations around Canada.
Whatcha Do To My Body
>> On September 13, 1989 Lee releases Bodyrock, her most succesful album to this date. The album spawned the hit singles 'Whatcha Do To My Body', 'Hands On' and 'Sweet Talk'.
>> On this album they really concentrated on Canada and it payed off, five weeks after it's release it had sold gold and seven weeks later it turned platinum and have by now sold almost triple platinum, and garned her five Juno nominations (a record number at the time).
Bodyrock EPK
>> The Bodyrock tour started in Nova Scotia in August 1989 and after a few Ontario dates Lee went to Scandinavia for a quick promo tour where she visited Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki.
Lee in Stockholm
Lee in Copenhagen
>> On September 8 and 9 a release party for Bodyrock was held at Rock N Roll Heaven in Toronto.
Live at Rock N Roll Heaven September 8,1989
>> The second leg of the Bodyrock tour brought Lee back to Europe for a co-headline tour with Nazareth, including a couple of headline shows and ending at The Marquee in London.
On stage in Stuttgart,Germany on October 11,1989
Live in Tilburg November 3,1989
>> On November 9, second single Hands On was released.
Hands On
>> Back home in Canada she did a sold out show at the 1000 capacity Entex in Mississauga,ON. 400 more had to be turned down at the door.
"Live" at Entex in Mississauga November 10,1989
>> Lee nominated in the 'Best Female Vocalist of the Year' category at the Toronto Music Awards.
>> Lee ends the year by playing a show at Rock N Roll Heaven in Toronto on December 31.
1990
>> The Bodyrock tour continues with extensive touring in Canada, an apperance at the 'San Remo Festival' in Italy,
and a show at the 'Kat Club' in New York was also squeezed in. The tour ended with a couple of shows in Japan in October.
>> Sweet Talk the third single from Bodyrock was released on February 26, 1990. Around this time Bodyrock was still selling up to 8000 copies a week in Camada.
Sweet Talk (original version)
Sweet Talk (alternative version)
>> Juno nominations for 'Female Vocalist of the Year' and 'Best Video'.
>> The video for 'Whatcha Do To My Body' wins 'Best Metal Video' on the Much Music Awards.
Much Music Train in Halifax
1991
>> The Bodyrock tour continues with a few local Ontario shows and ends in London,ON on March 24.
>> Juno nominations for 'Best Album of the Year' (Bodyrock), *Best Hard Rock/Metal Album' (Bodyrock)) and 'Female Vocalist of the Year'.
>> On September 23, 1991 Lee released her sixth album 'Some Girls Do'. The album included the hit singles 'Sex With Love' and 'Some Girls Do'. In Canada the album went gold in 37 days and platinum shortly afterwards and gained her 3 Juno nominations.
Sex With Love
Some Girls Do
>> The video for the single 'Sex With Love' was banned by YTV in Canada.
>> On September 27, 1991 a release party was held at Rock N Roll Heaven in Toronto.
>> The 'Some Girls Do Tour' started in the summer of 1991 and lasted for 11 months and included a European tour with Manfred Manns Earth Band !!!! [a slightly strange combination in my opinion].
>> In early October she went out on tour with Darby Mills (Headpins) as very special guest and Big House as the opening act on a 3 week tour that took them from Ontario to British Columbia. Lee then continued the tour out east with Big House as the opener for another 3 weeks.
>> The European tour as special guest to Manfred Mann's Earth Band lasted for 3 weeks and only included Germany this time.
Crazy In Love live in Ludwigshafen,Germany December 22,1991
>> Lee ends the year by playing a show at Rock N Roll Heaven in Toronto on December 31.
1992
>> The 'Some Girls Do Tour' continues in January and ends in August.
Hands On & Wild at Heart live in Montreal February 14,1992
>> Juno nominations for 'Best Hard Rock Album' and 'Female Vocalist of the Year'.
>> On July 1,1992 Lee plays the Great Canadian Party in St. Johns,NL. Over 100 000 people assembled in Vancouver,BC, Barrie,ON, Ottawa,ON and St. Johns,NL to see their favorite bands play the celebration of Canada's 125th birthday. The show was broadcasted live on national radio and Tv.
Live from Quidi Vidi Park in St. Johns,NL July 1,1992
>> Parts company with Attic Records by releasing an best of album called 'Powerline The Best of Lee Aaron' on November 17.
>> Peace On Earth, the video from this album features Lee's dad in the role of the priest.
Peace On Earth
>> Records the duet 'Look Me Straight In The Heart' with Brian Vollmer for the upcoming Helix album 'It's A Business Doing Pleasure' released in 1993.
Look Me Straight In The Heart
1993
>> Records the song In The Dark at The Rivoli in Toronto for the upcoming El Seven Nite Club cd.
In The Dark
>> Does a short Ontario tour to promote the 'Powerline' album.
>> From late April to early June Lee tours across Canada. During this tour she performs 'Baby Go Round' and 'Shakin Down The Odds Of Love', from the upcoming 1994 album, live for the first time.
Shakin' Down The Odds Of Love live at Hot Rocks in Brampton,ON May 28,1993
>> Performs at the release party for the El Seven Nite Club cd held at The Rivoli in Toronto on August 29.
>> Guests with The Lost Dakotas at the first Kumbaya Festival in Toronto.
The Lost Dakotas with Lee Aaron - Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other (live)
>> Performs at the El Seven Nite Club christmas party at The Rivoli in Toronto on December 12.
1994
>> On August 3, 1994 Lee releases her eight album Emotional Rain. It's released on her own label Hipchic Music Inc. (distributed by A&M in Canada).
This album featured some well known musicians like Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie's Tin Machine), Knox Chandler (The Psychedelic Furs), aswell as
Don Short and Don Binns (Sons of Freedom).
"During the pre-production of the album, I kept saying we need players like this and then I heard that Sons of Freedom had actually split up, so I called them up and asked if they wanted to play on the album. They were quite shocked first, but they liked
the direction I was going with this album". She says on how joining up with Binns/Short. (Q107 TORONTO)
Much Music interview
Baby Go Round
>> The Emotional Rain tour started at the Rock Sans Frontière festival in Montreal,QC on August 25,1994.
>> On September 4 Lee plays on the second Kumbaya Festival.
>> Knox Chandler played on the first part of the tour, but as he had other commitments was he replaced with former Sons of Freedom guitarist Don Harrison.
Fire In Your Flame
>>The second part of the tour takes Lee out west for three weeks with The Headstones as special guest. The third part starts with some Ontario dates with Blu Bones on selected dates and then heads out east with Junkyard in tow.
Live in Prince George,BC October 7,1994
Hands On live at RPM in Toronto,ON October 29,1994
Waterfall
1995
>> Emotional Rain gets a European release in February 1995 on No Bull Records/KOCH Int. containing 2 new tracks 'Concrete & Ice' and 'Strange Alice'. The European record label wanted some new material on the album, as the original Canadian release had sold quite well on import in Europe already.
>> A European tour followed in April together with Thunder and China.
>> By the time of this tour, her longtime guitarist and songwriting partner John Albani had left the band and were temporary replaced with Mike Borkosky (Allanah Myles).
Whatcha Do To My Body live Berlin,Germany April 12,1995
Live at Nathan Philips Square Toronto,ON August 3,1995
>> Lee moves to Vancouver,BC
1996
>> After doing a few live dates in March/April Lee joins up with Don Binns, Don Short and Don Harrison from Sons of Freedom to start a new band under the name of 2Preciious.
>> Their first independent album 2Preciious was released on July 29th in Canada and a couple of months later in Europe under the name Lee Aaron & 2Preciious.
(When I had the opportunity to meet the band after a couple of shows in Germany in April of 1995. They were already talking about releasing the next album under a band name in Canada to get get a fresh start and get away from the Lee Aaron "Metal Queen" tag. But possibly release it as an Lee Aaron album in Europe, where she was still quite popular.)
Mascara
Much Music interview
>> On this album they only did a few Canadian dates.
1997
>> 2Preciious plays a show at The Gate in Vancouver on January 30 and then decides to take a "short" break.
>> During fall and winter 1997 Lee performs Jazz/Lounge shows in Vancouver with Pianist Dennis Michael Ziebert.
Live at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver December 5,1997
1998
>> Lee continues to play jazz shows mostly in the Vancouver area.
>> Records a jazz show for CBC radio as a trio with Dennis Michael Ziebart on piano and Mark Rogers on bass.
>> Plays the de Maurier International Jazz Festival in Vaancouver and the Whistler Jazz & Blues Festival.
In The Dark + interview
>> Makes a "comeback" as a rock artist when she does a cross Canada 'Powerline - Greatest Hits' tour during October - December.
Rock The Hard Way live at Legends in Victoria,BC December 8,1998
>> Writes new rock songs with plans to release a new rock album during 1999.
1999
>> Lee continues playing local jazz shows aswell as doing a couple of shorter rock tours across Canada. Including gigs at the 'Classic Rock Festival' in Minnedosa,MB, 'Rock Fest '99' in Shediac,NB and at the PNE in Vancouver,BC sharing stages with ZZ Top, Styx, Kansas, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Joan Jett and Nazareth to mention a few.
>> Records her jazz cd to be released in early 2000.
>> Lee is nominated for Best Female Singer at the West Coast Music Award.
2000
>> Jazz dates in British Columbia including the Vancouver Jazz Festival
>> Releases her Jazz cd Slick Chick on May 15,2000.
I'd Love To
Why Don't You Do Right
>> The release party for Slick Chick is held at Babalu's in Vancouver,BC on May 31.
Do Something live at Babalu's
>> Appears in Billboard Magazine.
>> Rock dates in selected Canadian cities, including a tour with Nick Gilder & Sweeney Todd and Jerry Doucette in March, festival apperances at 'Classic Rock Festival' in Minnedosa,MB and 'Rockfest 2000' in Vanderhoof,BC sharing stages with Blue Oyster Cult, Steppenwolf, Headpins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Allanah Myles, Helix, Glass Tiger and Firehouse to mention a few + a tour with Darby Mills and Holly Woods in September/October.
Classic Rock Festival in Minnedosa,MB 2000
2001
>> Lee starts off the year by doing a tour with Helix and Headpins where they hit selected cities in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
>> Makes her first cross Canada Jazz tour when she tours with Ralph in April/May.
Interview + live clips Montreal April 25,2001
>> During the summer of 2001 Lee plays the major jazz festivals in Canada when she appears at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, the Saskatoon Jazz Festival, the Ottawa Jazz Festival and the JVC Jazz Festival in Toronto.
Doodlin' live at Ottawa Jazz Festival
>> On August 24-25 2001 two shows in Whistler,BC is recorded for the upcoming 'The Bearfoot Sessions' cd. (To this date the cd has still not seen a release)
>> She also plays the Rock'n The Valley Festival in Craven,SK in July where she shares the stage with Loverboy, Nickelback, The Tea Party, Collective Soul, The Tubes, April Wine and Danko Jones to mention a few.
>> Guests on German band Demon Drive's Cd Rock n Roll Star. Singing on their version of the old Suzi Quatro song 'She's In Love With You'.
Demon Drive feat. Lee Aaron - She's In Love With You
>> Does a short tour with Helix in december and then decides to scrap her rock career to concentrate on her jazz career.
>> Appears in the opera '120 songs for Marquis de Sade'.
>> Jazz shows across Canada.
>> Slick Chick gets a european release in June 2002 through the Music Avenue label.
>> Lee does her first European jazz tour when she tours as a member of Johnny Ferreira & The Swing Machine, doing a couple of her own songs mid set.
Johnny Ferreira & The Swing Machine featuring Lee Aaron live at the Romerike Blues & Roots Festival in Norway June 21,2002
>> Does her first european solo jazz show at the Summertime Blues Festival in Weinheim, Germany and goes down a storm.
Live in Weinheim,Germany July 12,2002
>> Juno nomination for 'Best Jazz Album'.
>> Performs at the Women's Blues Revue in Toronto.
Live at the Women's Blues Revue November 23,2002
>> Hosts the premiere show of the renewed PowerHour on Much More Music.
>> Lee's back-catalogue Lee Aaron Project, Metal Queen, Call Of The Wild, Lee Aaron, Bodyrock, Some Girls Do and Powerline is reissued (remastered with new booklets) in Canada by Unidisc.
>> Starts recording the follow up to Slick Chick in December.
2003
>> Lee writes and records the follow up to Slick Chick
>> Jazz shows across Canada including apperances at the Jazz festivals in Winnipeg, Calgary, Medicine Hat and Edmonton aswell as the Peterborough Festival of Lights and the Roots & Blues Festival in Salmon Arm.
>> Releases her second non rock album Beautiful Things on March 16, followed by a Canadian tour.
Live in North Bay,ON April 20,2004
>> Lee becomes a mother for the first time when she gives birth to daughter Angella on June 7.
>> Emotional Rain is reissued (in new packaging and with new liner notes from Lee) in Canada on September 28 by Solid Gold Records
2005
>> A few Canadian dates including two nights at the Thundering Women Festival in Thunder Bay,ON and a return to Toronto to play at the 19th Women's Blues Revue.
2006
>> Lee becomes a mother for the second time. When she gives birth to son Jett on January 7.
>> Lee makes a surprise return to the rock stage on June 16, when she plays the Rock The Fort Festival in Thunder Bay,ON together with Heart, playing a "greatest hits" set including selected songs from Bodyrock, Some Girls Do, Emotional Rain, Slick Chick and Beautiful Things and showcasing a new song 'Bad Boyfriend' as encore.
Hands On live at Rock The Fort, Thunder Bay,ON June 16,2006
>> It was followed by a similar show at the Voyageur Days in Mattawa,ON on July 29.
2007
>> Releases the DVD Museum: Videos,Clips and More
1997-2005.
>> Lee is featured on MTV Cribs.
MTV Cribs
2008
>> The 'Greatest Hits' tour continues with dates at casinos and clubs aswell as sharing stages with Sammy Hagar, Joan Jett, Loverboy, Lou Gramm, Skid Row and Honeymoon Suite at festivals like Rock The Park, Voyageur Days and Rockin' The Fields.
Live at Rock N Roll Heaven, Toronto,ON July 25,2008
>> Lee also performed a series of jazz dates in Whistler,BC
2009
>> Releases the 3 DVD set 'Rarities, Studio & Live: 1981-2008' a retrospective of her career so far.
>> The 'Greatest Hits' tour continues with mainly club and casino dates. A few jazz gig are performed in Vancouver,BC and Whistler,BC.
2010
>> A series of jazz dates are performed in Whistler,BC
>> The 'Greatest Hits' tour continues with dates at clubs, casinos and festivals.
Live in Port Moody,BC July 4,2010
2011
>> Plays her first european rock show in 16 years, when she plays at the Sweden Rock Festival. Sharing the stage with Saxon, Accept, Joan Jett and Thin Lizzy at the festival headlined by Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest and Whitesnake. The show is filmed for a DVD. Lee does a signing session after her show and draws most people of all of the bands signing at the festival.
Performing Barely Holdin On live for the first time in over ten years.
>> Back home in Canada she plays the Sturgis North Festival with Eric Burdon and Prism and Weir Rockin' with Sass Jordan, Honeymoon Suite and Headpins.
2012
>> The Live In Sweden dvd is released.
>> A few Canadian casino and festival dates together with Headpins, Harlequin, Prism and Vince Neil (Motley Crue).
2013
>> A few Canadian casino and festival dates together with Headpins, Loverboy and Coney Hatch.
Live at Rockpile in Toronto on Aug 16,2013.
2014
>> Canadian club, casino and festival dates together with Kick Axe, Harlequin, Prism, Sweet, Dr Hook and Slash.
>> Performes at the Metal On Ice release show at the Opera House in Toronto together with Brian Vollmer, Darby Mills, Carl Dixon, Nick Walsh, Russ Dwarf and Sean Kelly.
2015
>> Canadian club, casino, fairs and festival dates together with Helix, Headpins, Honeymoon Suite, Platinum Blonde, Prism and Streetheart.
>> Releases her first album in twelve years, when Fire and Gasoline is released worldwide on March 25.
- "I wasn’t done making Rock. I always knew that. When we started writing for “Fire and Gasoline” in 2015 I just said to the guys in my band and my own psyche: “No, I’m not putting any features on my ideas, I’m just gonna write whatever I feel like writing. If it comes out Jazz, if it comes out Blues, if it comes out Rock, if it comes out Pop… I’m just gonna let it happen”. And “Fire and Gasoline” was the result. It’s a Rock record with a lot of different colors on it, you know. Yeah, so that was the result. I mean, in the end I think it turned into a Rock record but it’s got a lot of nuances, they take you to a few different places but it still sounds like Lee Aaron." (www.queensofsteel.com 2021)
Recording of Fire and Gasoline
Tom Boy
Fire and Gasoline
Bad Boyfriend
Popular
>> Canadian club, casino and festival dates together with Honeymoon Suite, Doucette, Harlequin, Streetheart, Headpins, Helix and Prism.
>> Lee is inducted in the Brampton Arts Walk Of Fame on September 24.
>> Plays in europe for the first time since 2011, when she plays the Rockingham festival in Nottingham, England on October 21.
Rock Candy live at Rockingham Festival Oct 21, 2016
2017
>> Canadian club, theatre, casinos and festival dates together with Honeymoon Suite, Prism, Helix, Big Sugar, Wide Mouth Mason, Big Wreck, Sass Jordan, Trooper and Lita Ford.
>> Plays two special electric blues shows at the Montreal Jazzfest on July 8.
Full show from Montreal July 8, 2017
>> Two days later on July 10 she kicks of the European tour in Cologne, Germany. The tour takes her to selected cities in Germany and England over the course of a week. The upcoming live album/dvd is recorded at the Hirsch club in Nuremberg on July 13 with additional recordings done at the Bang Your Head festival in Balingen on the following day. The tour ends with two british shows.
Mistreated live at the Hirsch on July 13, 2017
Metal Queen live at the Bang Your Head festival on July 14, 2017
>> Joins Lita Ford on stage for the Runaways classic Cherry Bomb when she plays together with Lita in Winnipeg,MB on October 21.
Guesting Lita Ford on stage
2018
>> April 27 sees the release of Diamond Baby Blues to critical acclaim.
Diamond Baby
American High
I'm A Woman
>> On July 28 Lee plays the Heavy Montreal festival in Montreal,QC where she shares the stage with Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Jinjer, Baroness and Witchcraft to name a few.
>> Lee reurns to europe for two festival apperances - August 3 at the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany and on the day after at Skogsröjet in Sweden.
Full show from Wacken
Full show from Skogsröjet
>> Back home in Canada again she plays the Kitchener Blues Festival, Rock Ambleside Park and Rock The River festivals. Wher she shares the stage with Chris Robertson Brotherhood, Rik Emmett, Loverboy, Kim Mitchell, Sass Jordan, Sweet, Nazareth and Walter Trout to name a few.
2019
>> Canadian club, theatre, casinos and festival dates together with Honeymoon Suite, Prism, Helix, April Wine, Sass Jordan, Loverboy, Glass Tiger and others.
>> September 20 sees the release of Lee's first live album; Power, Soul, Rock N' Roll - Live in Germany.
2020
>> Two live shows are performed before everything is put to a halt due to Covid-19.
>> During the lockdown the band does a few Rockin' From Home performances.
Rockin' From Home - Diamond Baby
>> November 20 sees the relase of the Christmas album; Almost Christmas. The album was written,recorded and released within a two month period. Due to everything happening so fast there was no time to secure a record deal, so the album was released as an exclusive fan pack via her website. The album was however re-released a year later via Metalville Records featuring two bonus tracks.
Rockin' From Home - It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas
2021
>> Between January and September Lee ran a series of popular Instagram Q&A sessions called Ask Lee. They are all available on Youtube.
Ask Lee part 1-3
>> July 23 sees the release of Radio On!
- "My idea behind this album is something very magical happens when the band and I get in a room together, we just have this energy, and we work very well of each other. Everybody in my band has slightly different influences – my drummer John (Cody) he doesn’t like any Metal or Hair Metal music at all, he loves Folk Music – we were listening to some Richard Thompson and Fairpoint Convention last night. He likes stuff like that but also loves Zappa, some weird Prog and the Beach Boys! And because he loves all this different stuff he’s always able to point us in the direction of a reference, so we’ll be working and he’ll say something like “That reminds me of an old Mott the Hoople tune, you should listen to this part in this song” so then we’re able to pull a reference from that. Dave Reimer my bass player loves power pop like Cheap Trick and stuff like that. I tend to like a lot of 70’s Rock like The Who, Zeppelin, old Fleetwood Mac and I love some old Jazz and Blues like Nina Simone’s old edgier stuff. And then Sean (Kelly) he loves his 80’s hair Metal. So it’s a very eclectic mix when we get together to create music, but I think it just comes together as this magic melting pot of chemistry when we do. So ‘Diamond Baby’ and ‘Fire and Gasoline’ were created by sending a lot of files back and forth because we are a bi-coastal band, but this time I knew we had to get together. So we flew Sean out from Toronto and because we’re all family people and have busy lives he said “I have a weekend.” So I said “OK everyone bring your four best song ideas and I’ll bring mine.” And we just got in a room and Sean started out with the opening riff to ’Vampin’ then I pick up my songbook because I’m constantly writing song ideas and chorus ideas and passages in my song-writing book. And it just all came together." (therockpit.net 2021)
C´mon
Twenty One
Vampin'
>> Two live shows are performed. A private event in Newfoundland and a show in Winnipeg.
Live in Winnipeg Nov 19, 2021
>> Almost Christmas gets a re-release via Metalville Records featuring two bonus tracks.
2022
>> Lee teamed up with Writers & Rockers Coffee Company to launch her own BodyRock coffee blend.
>> Lee returns to Sweden for the Sweden Rock Festival on June 9.
>> Radio On! sees a re-release on blue vinyl on June 17.
>> Lee plays the legendary Toronto venue the El Mocambo for the first time since the early 80's. The show is recorded for an upcoming live album.
Nasty Boyz live at El Mocambo July 22,2022
>> A few festival and Casino dates all over Canada follows.
>> Lee returns to Germany to headline the Indoor Summer 2022 festival at the Markthalle in Hamburg on September 4.
Vampin'/Hands On live at Indoor Summer 2022
Live at Indoor Summer 2022
>> Lee returns to France for the first time since 1987 to headline the Festival de Vouziers on October 29.
Full show from Vouziers
>> Elevate Lee's 15th studio album sees its release worldwide on November 25, North America on December 9.
Rock Bottom Revolution
Trouble Maker
>> Radio On! sees a third release on November 25. This time on yellow vinyl.
>> Around the same time Bodyrock sees a re-release on purple vinyl with gold sprinkles.
![Slick Chick [European version]](euroslickchick.jpg)
