Ben Lee

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Biography

Benjamin Michael "Ben" Lee (born 11 September 1978 in Sydney) is an ARIA Award winning musician and actor. Lee began his career as a musician at the age of 14 with the Sydney band Noise Addict , but focused on his solo career when the band broke up in 1995. He appeared as the protagonist in the Australian film The Rage in Placid Lake ( 2003 in film|2003 ). Lee has released eight solo studio albums.

Career

Noise Addict

Lee's musical career began in 1993 with the band Noise Addict , who were signed to Steve Pavlovic 's independent label Fellaheen Records, on the strength of a self-produced and distributed four-track demo recorded in Lee's bedroom. Pavlovic's connections brought the band to the attention of Sonic Youth 's Thurston Moore and Beastie Boys ' Mike D (musician)|Mike D , both of whom released the band's material in the US. The group put out several releases on the Beasties' Grand Royal Records . These including the acoustic Young and Jaded EP in 1994, which contained Lee's Evan Dando tribute, "I Wish I Was Him." In 1995, Grand Royal released the band's only full length, the Brad Wood produced Meet the Real You . Noise Addict made a music video for the song "16", toured with Sebadoh , but then broke up. Lee was also briefly a member of the alternative act Gerling . In 2009 Lee recorded a new Noise Addict album, "It was Never about the Audience," with a new lineup; Lou Barlow and Lara Meyerratken .

Solo career

Lee's solo career started at the age of 16, while he was still in Noise Addict. He began recording his first solo album, Grandpaw Would , in both Sydney and Chicago with producer Brad Wood . This was followed by the 1997 album, Something to Remember Me By , also produced by Wood. Lee was then featured on the '' There's Something About Mary '' soundtrack, with the song "How to Survive a Broken Heart". 1998's Breathing Tornados , released on Pavlovic's new label Modular Recordings|Modular , marked a new direction for Lee as he introduced synthesisers and increased instrumentation into his sound. The album was a success in Australia, earning Lee ARIA Music Awards|ARIA Award nominations for Best Male Artist and Album of the Year. The album's first single, " Cigarettes Will Kill You ", was also nominated for Single of the Year and finished second in that year's Triple J Hottest 100, 1998|Triple J Hottest 100 . In 2001 Lee contributed a track ("Sweet Is the Night") to a Jeff Lynne tribute album Lynne Me Your Ears .

Lee's fourth album, hey you. yes you. , was released in 2002. The first single from the album, "Something Borrowed, Something Blue", reached number 67 on the ARIA Charts and number 22 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2002|2002's Triple J Hottest 100 . The second single, "Running with Scissors", peaked at number 82 on the ARIA charts.

In late 2004, Lee left Steve Pavlovic's Modular Recordings and started up his own record label, Ten Fingers. The first release on the label was the single, " Gamble Everything for Love ", followed by the album, Awake Is the New Sleep in February 2005, which went double platinum in Australia. A defining release in his career, the album showcased a much brighter, positive side of Lee's personality, in contrast to his previous darker musings. Awake Is the New Sleep received several nominations for the 2005 Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) awards, and Lee won Best Male Artist, Best Independent Release, and Single of the Year for " Catch My Disease ", which Lee wrote with Mcgowan Southworth. "Catch My Disease" also went to #2 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2005|2005 Triple J Hottest 100 . In addition, the song was featured on the soundtracks to the 2005 films Just Friends and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo , as well as the soundtracks to the television series, '' Grey's Anatomy , Hidden Palms and Scrubs (TV series)|Scrubs ''. In 2006 it was used in a television commercial for Dell Computers. On 26 March 2006 Lee performed "We're All in This Together" from Awake Is the New Sleep at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games . The single for "We're All in This Together" was released on 8 April 2006. The CD includes cover versions of the song by Pony Up, Holidays on Ice and Gelbison. "We're All in This Together" is being used in commercials for Kohl's (2008), Coca Cola ( Remix ed Australian Summer Series Ads in 2007), the South Australian Government (2006), the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal (2007) and Telus Mobility's "My Faves" (2007).

Ben Lee released his sixth album, Ripe (album)|Ripe , on 18 September 2007 with Benji Madden and Mandy Moore making appearances. Mandy Moore sung a light-hearted, '50s style duet with Lee called "Birds and Bees". "Mandy was very sweet and did her best Olivia Newton-John for me. I'm really psyched about this recording," Lee says. Madden helped out with some backing vocals, along with US band Rooney (band)|Rooney and Sara Watkins from the band Nickel Creek . Benmont Tench, keyboardist from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers also contributed. The song "American Television" from the album was used in a VH1 advertisement for Flavor of Love 3 and the song "Ripe" appeared in an episode of One Tree Hill (Season 5, episode 2).

In 2007, Ben Lee did a cover of Crosby, Stills & Nash 's " Our House (CSNY song)|Our House " for Landmarks on The DL .

On 6 February 2009, Lee released his seventh studio album, The Rebirth of Venus , which received mixed reviews. http://www.metacritic.com/music/the-rebirth-of-venus |accessdate = 2011-02-20

In August 2011, it was announced that Lee's eight studio album, Deeper Into Dream , will be released on 11 October. http://skopemag.com/2011/08/11/ben-lee-to-release-deeper-into-dream-october-11th

Personal life

Lee was raised in a Jewish household but does not consider himself religious. He was educated at Moriah College in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Lee dated Claire Danes for several years; their relationship ended in 2003. Lee married actress Ione Skye on 28 December 2008, in a Hindu wedding ceremony in India . Their first child, Goldie Priya Lee, was born on 24 September 2009.The Sydney Sun Herald, "The many layers of Mr. Lee", 2 September 2007 People.com, 11 January 2009

Lee was nominated as PETA 's World's Sexiest Vegetarian in 2008. However, as Lee himself admits, he eats fish and therefore is not a vegetarian.

Discography

Albums

Grandpaw Would (1995)

Something to Remember Me By (1997)

Breathing Tornados (1998) #13 Australia

hey you. yes you. (2002) #45 Australia

Awake Is the New Sleep (22 February 2005) #5 Australia (2x Platinum)

Ben Lee Sings Against Me& #33; New Wave (2007)

Ripe (album)|Ripe (18 September 2007) #11 Australia

The Rebirth of Venus (6 February 2009 Australia and 10 February 2009 US) #21 Australia

Deeper Into Dream (October 2011)

EPs and singles

Pop Queen (1994)

Away with the Pixies (1995)

From Breathing Tornados :

*" Cigarettes Will Kill You " (1998) #46 Australia

*"Ship My Body Home" (1998)

*"Nothing Much Happens" (1999)

*"Tornados" (1999)

*"Freediving" (2000)

From Dando Lee Petersson Schwartzman :

*"Dead or Anything" (2002)

From hey you. yes you. :

* The Dirty Little Secret EP (2002)

*"Something Borrowed, Something Blue" (2002) #67 Australia

*"Running with Scissors" (2003) #82 Australia

From Awake Is the New Sleep :

*" Gamble Everything for Love " (2004) #39 Australia

*" Catch My Disease " (2005) #27 Australia

* Into the Dark EP (2005) #97 Australia

*"We're All in This Together" (2006) #59 Australia

From '' This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul :

*" In My Life " (2005)

From Ripe (album)|Ripe

*" Love Me Like the World Is Ending " (2007) #18 Australia

*"Numb" (2007) #54 Australia

*"American Television" (April 2008 – radio promo)

From The Rebirth of Venus

*"I Love Pop Music" (2009) #86 Australia

*"Rise Up" (2009)

*"Song for the Divine Mother of the Universe" (2010)

Awards and nominations

Awards

ARIA Music Awards of 2005|2005 ARIA Music Awards , Single Of The Year – " Catch My Disease "

2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for Awake Is the New Sleep

2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Independent Release for Awake Is the New Sleep

2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Cover Art for Awake Is the New Sleep

APRA Awards of 2006|2006 APRA Music Awards , Song of the Year – " Catch My Disease "

2006 APRA Music Awards, Most Performed Australian Work – " Catch My Disease "

Nominations

2008 ARIA Music Awards, Best Independent Release for Ripe (album)|Ripe

2006 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for '' Awake Is the New Sleep|We're All In This Together

2006 ARIA Music Awards, Best Pop Release for Into the Dark

2006 ARIA Music Awards, Best Independent Release for '' Awake Is the New Sleep|We're All In This Together

2005 ARIA Music Awards, Album Of The Year for Awake Is the New Sleep

2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Pop Release for Awake Is the New Sleep

2005 Australian Music Prize , for Awake Is the New Sleep

2003 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for hey you. yes you.

1999 ARIA Music Awards, Album Of The Year for Breathing Tornados

1999 ARIA Music Awards, Single Of The Year for Cigarettes Will Kill You

1999 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for Breathing Tornados

Apple influence

The album Awake Is the New Sleep and a selection of other tracks are a feature of the iTunes Music Store Essentials with many singles featuring as a part of the AppleCare Technical support|Technical Support music on hold .

Copyright Citations

This article is licensed under the GNU License
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