Jim Lea

born on 14/6/1949 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom

Jim Lea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jim Lea
Birth name James Whild Lea
Also known as Jimmy Lea
Born June 14 1949
Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England
Genres Rock
Occupations Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer
Instruments Bass guitar, keyboards, violin, guitar, vocals
Years active 1966present
Associated acts Slade
Website JimLeaMusic.com
Notable instruments
Gibson EB-3,
John Birch custom made guitar

James Whild Lea (born 14 June 1949, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire) is an English musician, most notable for playing bass guitar, keyboards, violin, guitar, and singing backing vocals in the English rock band, Slade.

Career

Lea was the nearest thing Slade had to a trained musician. Influenced by French jazz-violinist Stéphane Grappelli, Lea's first musical love was the violin. He attended Codsall Comprehensive School - now Codsall Community High School. He played in the Staffordshire Youth Orchestra, and gained first class honours in a London music-school practical exam, before moving on to piano, guitar and finally bass guitar.

He first played guitar, and then bass, in the schoolboy group 'Nick and The Axemen', then went for auditions for a local band, 'The N'Betweens'. Drummer Don Powell, guitarist Dave Hill and vocalist Johnny Howells were already members, and when Noddy Holder joined soon after, the foundations for Slade had been laid. Howells later left the band.

Lea was Slade's principal songwriter, along with Holder. In most cases Lea wrote the melodies, and Holder concentrated on the lyrics.

On stage he was a wickedly athletic performer and amazed audiences particularly with his frantic violin solo at such events as the Reading Festival 1980. It all helped with a powerful stage presence Slade always had. His Bass work is much admirred.

In the 1980s Lea also produced all of Slade's recording sessions (except for some of the singles), and became an increasingly dominant creative force within the band. It was not uncommon for him to handle Holder's, some say Hill's, guitar parts on record. Lea also produced an album for singer / actor Gary Holton and he played all instruments (except drums, played by Geoff Seopardi) on Holton's cover version of "Catch a Falling Star", which was released as a single.

Lea left Slade after Holder's departure from the band in 1991, being of the opinion that Slade was all four of them or nothing. He studied psychotherapy, but has not taken it up as a full-time career.

Since Slade stopped touring in early 1984, Lea has performed live only twice; once for a local protest against a motorway development in his home area, and once again for a charity event at the Robin 2 venue in Bilston, near Slade's old local pub, The Trumpet. A download-only CD from this gig can be bought at his website.

Lea is still creating music and has released singles under odd pseudonyms such as 'China Dolls', 'JimJam', 'The Greenfields Of Tong' and 'Whild', all via the Trojan group of labels, which are owned by Slade's management. The most noticeable release of the time was The Dummies album A Day in the Life of The Dummies, which gathered together all the demos, and single tracks, that he recorded with his brother, Frank Lea, and wife Louise.

In 2007 he released his first solo album, Therapy, which was available from his website.[1]

Musical equipment

Basses

Lea used a cherry Gibson EB-3 from the late sixties until it was stolen in the mid seventies. It was refinished in white when Lea had it in to get some minor things done to it. It is unclear if this was Lea's first bass but it is seen in Slade's (probably) first TV-performance in 1969. After that bass was stolen in 1976, Lea's main bass was a very similarly-styled custom-made sunburst John Birch bass. He also carried a John Birch JB2 bass as a backup bass on some tours. Other notable basses that Lea owned include a Jaydee bass (which, uncommonly for a bass guitar, has a tremolo arm), A pre-1981 Gibson Flying-V bass (which was used a lot in the studio in the seventies). Lea has also been seen using a lot of different basses on mimed TV-performances, most notably Fender Precision Bass, Fender Jazz bass and a Rickenbacker type of bass. However it is unclear if Lea has owned any of them since Slade often used hired/borrowed instruments in mimed performances.[2]

Guitars

In the early sixties Lea used a Höfner Colorama before turning to bass. Since the late eighties he has been seen using a black Fender Stratocaster. He has also said that he used to compose a lot of songs on his wifes old Spanish guitar.

Synthesisers

Lea owned a ARP 2600 synthesiser. However it was sold on eBay in 2003.

Discography

Albums

  • 1991 The Dummies - A Day In The Life Of The Dummies
  • 2007 James Whild Lea - Therapy
  • 2007 Jim Lea - Replugged/Official Bootleg Of Jim Jam Live At The Robin 2 16th Nov 2002+

Singles

  • 1979 The Dummies - "When The Lights Are Out"
  • 1980 The Dummies - "Didn't You Use To Use To Be You"
  • 1981 The Dummies - "Maybe Tonight"
  • 1982 China Dolls - "Ain't Love Ain't Bad"
  • 1985 Jimmy Lea - "Citizen Kane"
  • 1990 The Clout - "We'll Bring The House Down"
  • 1994 Gangs Of Angels - "Hello Goodbye"
  • 1995 Greenfields Of Tong - "Poland"
  • 1996 Jimbo feat Bull - "Coz I Luv You"
  • 1999 Whild - "I'll Be John, You Be Yoko"

References

This page was last modified 28.02.2011 00:36:13

This article uses material from the article Jim Lea from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.