Laura Lee (born Laura Lee Newton; 9 March 1945 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

) is an American

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, most successful in the 1960s and 1970s and influential for her

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

which discussed and celebrated women's experience.

Career

Lee was born in Chicago, but as a child moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

with her mother, Helen Bethel. The founder of a leading gospel group, Ernestine Rundless of The Meditation Singers was a trusted mentor. Featuring

Della Reese Delloreese Patricia Early (July 6, 1931 – November 19, 2017), known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades. She began her long career as a s ...

, they were the first Detroit gospel group to perform with

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

backing. The group recorded on the Specialty

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

in the mid-1950s, appeared on the LP ''Della Reese Presents The Meditation Singers'' in 1958, and in the early 1960s recorded for

Checker Records Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded ...

. As Laura Lee Rundless, she replaced Reese in The Meditation Singers in 1956, and over the next few years toured widely around the country. In 1965, as Laura Lee, she launched her secular

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

career as an R&B singer in

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

in Detroit, although she also continued to record occasionally with The Meditation Singers. She first recorded solo for

Ric-Tic Records Ric-Tic Records was a record label set up in the 1960s in Detroit, Michigan, United States by Joanne Bratton and Eddie Wingate. Twinned with the Golden World label, Ric-Tic featured many soul music artists and was seen as an early competitor for ...

in 1966, with "To Win Your Heart". Around this time, she recorded an interesting uptempo adaption of an unreleased Little Richard song, "You'd Better Stop", titled "Stop Giving Your Man Away". A typically "mature " philosophical side by Laura. The following year, she signed with

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

and, after initially recording in-house with the label's producers in Chicago, it was decided to send her to Rick Hall's

FAME Studios FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios is a recording studio located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, an area of northern Alabama known as the Shoals. Though small and distant from the main recording locations of the ...

Muscle Shoals Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the populati ...

to record "Dirty Man". This became her first hit, reaching #13 R&B and #68 pop. She stayed with Chess until 1969, also recording "Up Tight Good Man" (#16 R&B) and " As Long As I Got You" (#31 R&B). A short spell with Atlantic subsidiary, Cotillion resulted in two singles and then in 1970, Lee moved to former Motown producers, Holland, Dozier and Holland's newly established Hot Wax label in Detroit. One of her first recordings for Hot Wax, "Women's Love Rights", became one of her biggest

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

, reaching #11 on the R&B chart in 1971 and #36 pop. In 1972, "Rip Off" became her biggest R&B hit at #3 but only climbed to #68 on the Billboard Hot 100. She also recorded an album, ''Two Sides of Laura Lee'', while in a relationship with singer

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...

. Most of her material on Hot Wax was produced by

William Weatherspoon William Henry Weatherspoon (February 11, 1936 – July 17, 2005) was an American songwriter and record producer, best known for his work for Motown Records in the 1960s. He co-wrote "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted", an international hit for ...

, formerly with Motown. Lee left Invictus / Hot Wax in 1975 and signed with

Ariola Records Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomerat ...

, but became seriously ill shortly afterward and retired from the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

for several years. She returned in 1983 with a gospel album, ''Jesus Is The Light Of My Life'', on which she worked with Al Green. By 1990 she was recovered from her illness and had been ordained as a minister. She has continued recording music, mostly gospel. A Swedish garage rock band did an unexpected homage to Lee by baptizing themselves as

Division of Laura Lee Division of Laura Lee is a band of Swedish musicians/skateboarders originally from Vänersborg, Sweden heavily influenced by post-punk bands, britpop and the DC music scene (Dischord Records). The name comes from Laura Lee, a soul singer, and t ...

. She made an appearance in the 1973

blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...

film ''

Detroit 9000 ''Detroit 9000'' is a 1973 American action film directed by Arthur Marks from a screenplay by Orville H. Hampton. Originally marketed as a blaxploitation film, it had a resurgence on video 25 years later. Plot Street-smart white detective Danny ...

'', as a singer in the opening scenes.

Discography

Albums

Chart singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Laura American soul singers American gospel singers 1945 births Living people Singers from Chicago Ric-Tic Records artists Singers from Detroit Chess Records artists 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women singers