Sara Lee is an English-American

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low b ...

and singer-songwriter, who came to prominence replacing Dave Allen on bass guitar in

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...

band

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...

, which she was a member of from 1982 to 1984. She was also a member of

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a sessio ...

's short-lived band

The League of Gentlemen ''The League of Gentlemen'' is a surreal British comedy horror sitcom that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England, originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the live ...

and is also notable for work with

B-52s B5, B05, B-5 may refer to: Biology * ATC code B05 (''Blood substitutes and perfusion solutions''), a therapeutic subgroup of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System * Cytochrome ''b''5, ubiquitous electron transport hemoprotein ...

Ani DiFranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) 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 influe ...

and

Indigo Girls 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 o ...

. As of October 2021, Lee rejoined

with founding members Hugo Burnham and

Jon King Jonathan Michael King (born 8 June 1955) is an English musician, songwriter, and Grammy nominated Art Director in the post-punk band Gang of Four. Biography King attended Sevenoaks School, where he was a member of the 'Art Room' that prod ...

as well as

David Pajo David Pajo (born June 25, 1968) is an American alternative rock musician. He has played a wide variety of music, loosely fitting into several other genres such as hardcore punk, math rock, post-rock, electronica, folk rock and indie pop. Tho ...

, to tour in 2022.

Biography

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 Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

and double bass in school and local orchestras as a teenager, until the day she discovered the electric bass guitar. 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

, who was encouraged to stay at a show to see "a girl who works in the office." Fripp invited her to join his band,

. Lee went on to work with Robyn Hitchcock on his album ''

Groovy Decay ''Groovy Decay'' was the second solo album by Robyn Hitchcock, released in 1982. His backing band for the record featured Sara Lee of Gang of Four on bass and Anthony Thistlethwaite of the Waterboys on saxophone. Hitchcock refuted claims that ...

'' and recorded two albums with famed political, post punk band

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 The B-52's, also styled as The B-52s, are an American new wave band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, keyboards, synth bass), Cindy Wilson (vocals, ...

during the recording of their ''

Cosmic Thing ''Cosmic Thing'' is the fifth studio album by American new wave band the B-52's, released in 1989. It contains the singles "Love Shack" and " Roam". The success of the album served as a comeback after the death of guitarist Ricky Wilson in 1985 ...

'' album, and can be seen in the "

Love Shack "Love Shack" is a song by American new wave band the B-52's from their fifth studio album, '' Cosmic Thing'' (1989). It was released on June 20, 1989, and was produced by Don Was. The song was a comeback for the band following their decline in ...

" and the "

Roam Real-time optimally adapting mesh (ROAM) is a continuous level of detail algorithm that optimizes terrain meshes. On modern computers, sometimes it is more effective to send a small amount of unneeded polygons to the GPU, rather than burden the C ...

" videos. Following a stint on the Cosmic tour, Sara formed ''The Raging Hormones'' with B-52 session drummer Charley Drayton. She then started a seven-year run with the

, contributing "sterling performances". In 1996 and 1997 she accompanied singer-songwriter

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 Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards an ...

, and is a close friend of former

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

bassist Gail Ann Dorsey. 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. Lee recorded instrumental tracks, which were sent to musicians with whom she had previously worked to provide lyrics, including

, Emily Saliers of the

Pal Shazar Pal Shazar is an American singer/songwriter. She was a founding member of the 1980s new wave pop group Slow Children, and married one of the band's producers, Jules Shear, in the late 1980s. Career Slow Children released two albums on the RC ...

, Barbara Gogan of The Passions and Kristen Hall. She replaced Rachel Haden for the final dates of

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

's 2009 ''

Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...

'' tour. Lee was also a judge for the fifth annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

References

External links

Rundgren Radio online audio interview with Sara Lee from 11/18/09

on Archive.org (requires Flash) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Sara English rock bass guitarists Righteous Babe Records artists Living people American lesbian musicians LGBT songwriters LGBT singers from the United States Year of birth missing (living people) American rock bass guitarists Women bass guitarists Indigo Girls members Gang of Four (band) members Place of birth missing (living people) The B-52's 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people Women in punk