Lee Aaron
Birth name
Karen Lynn Greening
Born
July 21, 1962 (1962-07-21) (age 45) in Belleville, Ontario, Canada
Genre(s)
Glam metal, Hard rock, Jazz
Occupation(s)
Vocalist, Songwriter, Musician
2004 LEE AARON BIO
"Beautiful Things features Lee Aaron producing music of rare beauty that not only captures the power, range and sensitivity of her invincible voice but successfully melds her rock, blues and jazz influences."Larry LeBlanc, Billboard
Lee Aaron is an award winning singer, songwriter and performer. Over the course of her career, she has been nominated for eight Juno Awards, won the CMPA Songwriters Award, a Much Music Video Award, three Toronto Music Awards, and an Ampex Golden Reel Award. In addition, she has graced the covers of an assortment of international magazines - TV Guide, Melody Maker and Sounds - to name three - and topped dozens of music-polls.
Lee started out as a youngster singing jazz and Broadway standards in local Toronto choir and community theatre. Ironically, the painfully shy girl who hung around in the music room after school to study and practice would go on to become a world-renowned rock diva.
Discovered singing in a musical production of Babes in Arms at the age of sixteen, Lee was asked to join a local rock band on keys and back-up vocals. Graduating a year later - with honors and two scholarships but no industry smarts - Lee met the man who would become her first manager. Fresh out of school and totally green, things moved quickly ... within a year he had replaced her entire band and proceeded to groom the naïve Aaron into a sultry pin-up girl. By nineteen she had written and recorded her first album as well as created quite an industry buzz. Two years later, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the image created for her, she walked out on her management deal. Aaron continued to write and record and soon afterward signed with Attic/A&M records, embarking on a new phase of her career that saw numerous album releases, radio hits, multi-platinum sales, world tours and many accolades over the next decade.
By the mid-nineties, frustrated at the residual perception that defined her as a one-dimensional "rock chick", Aaron decided to take a year long hiatus from the music business. She resurfaced in 1997 on the West Coast, performing cool jazz and blues material in intimate club settings. The metamorphosis surprised fans and industry insiders alike with its unpretentious charm - and in 2000 Lee released her tenth disc, Slick Chick to glowing reviews. Videos for "Why Don't You Do Right" and "I'd Love To" charted in the Top 10 on The Bravo Countdown. Slick Chick was subsequently released in Europe and South America followed by a nine country tour.
In 2002, on yet another musical adventure, Lee took on a role with Vancouver's Modern Baroque Opera in a VEC production which took home an Alcan Performing Arts Award.
Last year, Lee began writing and production on Beautiful Things. What initially started as another jazz effort, evolved into some of her most creative and personal work to date. "For the first time, I had no deadlines except my own so it was refreshing to finally write a record without censoring myself or trying to contrive radio hits - to just let it flow naturally," Lee says.
Industry insiders agree the new material is her most impressive work ever. Performed by some of the West Coast's finest musicians - including Michael Kaeshammer and True North Records newcomer Joel Kroeker - Beautiful Things seamlessly blends jazz, roots and pop into a brilliant and unique collection of originals and select covers.
Transcending an image that never did her talent justice, Lee Aaron has truly grown into an artist of grace and style....
"... Spectacular ... vocally her best album ... these 53 minutes are simply stunning. I don't care whether Lee returns to making hard rock ... as long as she goes her way this self-confident and honestly, she will stay one of the most interesting artists that I know. Rating: 10 out of 10"www.durp.com/reviews (Europe)
"Lee Aaron has pulled off one of the biggest musical transformations ... while it may be hard for some to believe that Aaron could tread so confidently in so many jazzy sub genres, the fact is, she did."Globe And Mail
"It doesn't get much better than this!" Jacques Emond, Director - Ottawa Jazz Festival, addressing the audience of 4,500 after Aaron's 2nd encore in 2001.
THE LEE AARON PROJECT (1983)
METAL QUEEN (1984)
CALL OF THE WILD (1985)
LEE AARON (1987)
BODY ROCK (1989)
SOME GIRLS DO (1991)
POWERLINE - THE BEST OF LEE AARON (1994)
EMOTIONAL RAIN (1994)
SLICK CHICK (2000)
