Lee Mallory
Encyclopedia
Lee Mallory was a singer, songwriter
and guitarist
who was part of such projects as The Millennium
and Sagittarius. His most successful single was a cover of the Phil Ochs
/Bob Gibson
song "That's The Way It's Going To Be". The song, produced by Curt Boettcher
, reached #86 on the charts and was a surprise hit in Seattle. A CD
by the same name was released in 2002, with many songs and demos Mallory had recorded during the 60s. Lee Mallory helped start it all: the California Sound of the 1960s.
, Cafe Wha?
and the Four Winds. He later became a regular at the Troubadour
in Los Angeles, where he was part of the experiment called The Men, some of whose members later formed The Association
. As a performing musician in LA., Lee shared the bill with performers such as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
.
Mallory's first recording session was as a background vocalist on Tommy Roe
's "Hooray For Hazel". He became a session guitar player on some of The Association
's biggest hits and co-wrote two songs they recorded--"Better Times" and "Just About the Same"--both of which appear on "Just the Right Sound: The Association Anthology."
Mallory's 1966 single on Valiant Records
, "That's The Way It's Gonna Be" by Phil Ochs
and Bob Gibson reached #1 in Amsterdam
and #2 in Seattle. It was recently re-released on the Rhino Records compilation, "Hallucinations." "Take My Hand," his second single is included in Rhino's compilation, "Come To The Sunshine." He recorded first with Valiant, then Columbia Records
. His early works have been re-released on Sonic Past Music
. He published with Opryland
, Acuff-Rose and finally Sony
/ATV before becoming an independent artist/songwriter/guitarist. Publishing of Lee's newer works is assigned to Redwood River Music.
The sunshine pop supergroup known as The Millennium
formed from members of Lee's backup band (Jerry Scheff, Ben Benay & Toxie French). According to Lee, Jerry coined the name to signify "a thousand years of peace and prosperity." When Curt Boettcher
joined, he became producer as well as a member.
Mallory performed as lead guitarist and a member of the "Tribe" for the first road company of the stage production of HAIR
. He is the only person known to have served both in the tribe and in the band. The HAIR Archives houses some photographs and journal entries from Lee.
In the early seventies (according to the liner notes of the cd Many Are The Times), Lee Mallory formed a supergroup called Hollywood with the Songwriter Bill Martin (friend of Harry Nilsson) and the former member of the Association Russ Giguere. There is apparently recordings of this group although it has yet to see the light of the day.
During some lean years, as Lee recovered from his time in "the majors", Lee worked as a San Francisco bike messenger (1984 to 1995). The oldest bike messenger, he was elected to serve as president (PREZ) of HANX, which he termed the "bike messengers' disorganization."
Mallory was a regular performer at The Cannery for many years, singing selections from a vast repertoire. During the last seven years of his life, Lee performed and recorded with friends in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Jeseppi Trade Wildfeather, originator of a documentary style form of music improvisation called the Naked Underground. He and Wildfeather opened "The Picnic", a day long musical festival at San Francisco's Crissy Field in August 2002.
For forty years, earnings from his publishing and recorded albums were debited against production and publishing advances. The original Millennium album boasting 16-track songs created on three tape recorders mickey-moused together by union engineers, cost $100,000 to produce and the label did not commit grand resources to promote it. That and the fact that The Millennium was not a touring band limited their exposure at the time. Down the road, in spite of poor health resulting from the occupational hazard of drugs and alcohol, Lee retained his dignity and identity as a musician. Lee appreciated the recognition he finally received as the work of The Millennium was revived in the late 1990s. San Francisco State University
's Lee Mallory Scholarship supports Music and Recording Industry (MRI) learning the business side of music.
Shy, and humbled by his condition, Lee was sometimes seen at open mics standing quietly by himself. A bit older than most of the crowd, and unbeknown to them, Lee had survived a coma in 1995. This made him sometimes hesitant to start speaking, but conversations with him, his sly humor and writings in his journals demonstrated that he understood exactly was going on. Lee, ever the professional, was always ready to perform one of the scores of songs from his catalog. During this period, as his health began failing, he exhibited tireless support and accompaniment for others. Young musicians of the open mike scene in San Francisco assumed that Lee was of a bygone musical era. But, eventually their respect grew with his continuous performing and when he would speak of the artists he had worked with. Eventually it became clear that Lee's sound was his original trademark and statement which echoed through the Association and the Mamas and the Papas and may have influenced a whole generation of people known as "Flower Children". He attended the Monterey Pop Festival
in the company of Mama Cass, a close friend from Hollywood recording sessions and Laurel Canyon
living.
Mallory was present at the creation of sixties music and its ethos. Ultimately, Lee Mallory became highly esteemed in San Francisco. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors
proclaimed January 10, 2005 as the first Lee Mallory Day honoring Lee and all singer-songwriters.
On Friday, March 18, 2005, Lee completed a small set of mixes for his final album, produced by Alex James Muscat at Last Stop Records. This was his first studio work in decades, and the first in which he had complete creative control after 40 years of recording and playing with first-call studio musicians on approximately 35 albums. The album's release is currently on hold.
"Many Are The Times," a comprehensive review of Lee's work over time, was re-released by Sonic Past Music in 2006. This includes expanded liner notes and archival photographs.
Finally, Lee Mallory became active raising awareness of Hepatitis C
. He had hoped to receive a liver transplant but ultimately succumbed to liver cancer. Lee asked that his life story serve as a "cautionary tale" to young musicians to take care of their bodies. Lee Mallory died at the University of California, San Francisco
Emergency Department on March 21, 2005.
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
who was part of such projects as The Millennium
The Millennium
The Millennium was an American super group based in California, who were conceived by Curt Boettcher. The group consisted of psychedelic rock musicians, and they incorporated sunshine pop harmonies....
and Sagittarius. His most successful single was a cover of the Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs
Philip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
/Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson
Robert "Bob" Gibson is a retired American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Hoot" and "Gibby", he was a right-handed pitcher who played his entire 17-year Major League Baseball career with St. Louis Cardinals...
song "That's The Way It's Going To Be". The song, produced by Curt Boettcher
Curt Boettcher
Curt Boettcher was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer from Wisconsin. His career spanned 1964 to 1983...
, reached #86 on the charts and was a surprise hit in Seattle. A CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
by the same name was released in 2002, with many songs and demos Mallory had recorded during the 60s. Lee Mallory helped start it all: the California Sound of the 1960s.
Biography
Lee Mallory was born William George Mallory in Berkeley California on January 10, 1945. At fifteen, Lee received his first guitar. At sixteen, Lee ran away from home to become a musician.The 60s
Mallory began performing for live audiences in San Francisco's North Beach cafes, such as the Coffee Gallery and Coffee and Confusion. In 1963 he undertook a "self imposed" tour to New York and played in West Village folk clubs, including the Cafe Bizarre, the Night OwlNight Owl
Night Owl can refer to:* An owl*Night owl refers to a person who is most active or creative during the night.*Night Owl , a 1993 film.*"Night Owl", a Bangkok Post newspaper column by Bernard Trink....
, Cafe Wha?
Cafe Wha?
Cafe Wha? is a club in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, New York City that has been home to various musicians and comedians. Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, The Velvet Underground, Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, Kool and the Gang, Peter, Paul & Mary, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Joan...
and the Four Winds. He later became a regular at the Troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
in Los Angeles, where he was part of the experiment called The Men, some of whose members later formed The Association
The Association
The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival...
. As a performing musician in LA., Lee shared the bill with performers such as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded...
.
Mallory's first recording session was as a background vocalist on Tommy Roe
Tommy Roe
Tommy Roe is an American pop music singer-songwriter.Best-remembered for his hits "Sheila" and "Dizzy" , critic Bill Dahl wrote that Roe was "widely perceived as one of the archetypal bubblegum artists of the late 1960s, but Roe cut some pretty decent rockers along the way, especially early in his...
's "Hooray For Hazel". He became a session guitar player on some of The Association
The Association
The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival...
's biggest hits and co-wrote two songs they recorded--"Better Times" and "Just About the Same"--both of which appear on "Just the Right Sound: The Association Anthology."
Mallory's 1966 single on Valiant Records
Valiant Records
Valiant Records was an independent record company co-owned by Four Star Television which was sold in 1967 to Warner Bros. Records.Valiant Records was never fully independent, for most of its existence, its distributor was ABC Records before Warners took it over distribution in 1965 and then...
, "That's The Way It's Gonna Be" by Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs
Philip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
and Bob Gibson reached #1 in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and #2 in Seattle. It was recently re-released on the Rhino Records compilation, "Hallucinations." "Take My Hand," his second single is included in Rhino's compilation, "Come To The Sunshine." He recorded first with Valiant, then Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. His early works have been re-released on Sonic Past Music
Sonic past music
Sonic Past Music is a record label in Southern California that specializes in releasing previously unpublished music from main-stream artists. Most of the music from the label is from artists from the 1960s and 1970s Sunshine Pop, Psychedelic Pop era....
. He published with Opryland
Opryland
Opryland may refer to:* Opryland USA - defunct theme park located in Nashville, Tennessee* Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center - formerly known as "Opryland Hotel", located in Nashville, Tennessee...
, Acuff-Rose and finally Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
/ATV before becoming an independent artist/songwriter/guitarist. Publishing of Lee's newer works is assigned to Redwood River Music.
The sunshine pop supergroup known as The Millennium
The Millennium
The Millennium was an American super group based in California, who were conceived by Curt Boettcher. The group consisted of psychedelic rock musicians, and they incorporated sunshine pop harmonies....
formed from members of Lee's backup band (Jerry Scheff, Ben Benay & Toxie French). According to Lee, Jerry coined the name to signify "a thousand years of peace and prosperity." When Curt Boettcher
Curt Boettcher
Curt Boettcher was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer from Wisconsin. His career spanned 1964 to 1983...
joined, he became producer as well as a member.
Mallory performed as lead guitarist and a member of the "Tribe" for the first road company of the stage production of HAIR
Hair
Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....
. He is the only person known to have served both in the tribe and in the band. The HAIR Archives houses some photographs and journal entries from Lee.
In the early seventies (according to the liner notes of the cd Many Are The Times), Lee Mallory formed a supergroup called Hollywood with the Songwriter Bill Martin (friend of Harry Nilsson) and the former member of the Association Russ Giguere. There is apparently recordings of this group although it has yet to see the light of the day.
The 90s
In the 1990s, Mallory developed a distinctive and subtle 12-string guitar style. In 2000, Lee toured Japan with his long-time friend and co-writer from The Millennium, Joey Stec of Sonic Past Music. In Japan, Lee was awarded a Master Musician sash.During some lean years, as Lee recovered from his time in "the majors", Lee worked as a San Francisco bike messenger (1984 to 1995). The oldest bike messenger, he was elected to serve as president (PREZ) of HANX, which he termed the "bike messengers' disorganization."
Mallory was a regular performer at The Cannery for many years, singing selections from a vast repertoire. During the last seven years of his life, Lee performed and recorded with friends in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Jeseppi Trade Wildfeather, originator of a documentary style form of music improvisation called the Naked Underground. He and Wildfeather opened "The Picnic", a day long musical festival at San Francisco's Crissy Field in August 2002.
For forty years, earnings from his publishing and recorded albums were debited against production and publishing advances. The original Millennium album boasting 16-track songs created on three tape recorders mickey-moused together by union engineers, cost $100,000 to produce and the label did not commit grand resources to promote it. That and the fact that The Millennium was not a touring band limited their exposure at the time. Down the road, in spite of poor health resulting from the occupational hazard of drugs and alcohol, Lee retained his dignity and identity as a musician. Lee appreciated the recognition he finally received as the work of The Millennium was revived in the late 1990s. San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
's Lee Mallory Scholarship supports Music and Recording Industry (MRI) learning the business side of music.
Shy, and humbled by his condition, Lee was sometimes seen at open mics standing quietly by himself. A bit older than most of the crowd, and unbeknown to them, Lee had survived a coma in 1995. This made him sometimes hesitant to start speaking, but conversations with him, his sly humor and writings in his journals demonstrated that he understood exactly was going on. Lee, ever the professional, was always ready to perform one of the scores of songs from his catalog. During this period, as his health began failing, he exhibited tireless support and accompaniment for others. Young musicians of the open mike scene in San Francisco assumed that Lee was of a bygone musical era. But, eventually their respect grew with his continuous performing and when he would speak of the artists he had worked with. Eventually it became clear that Lee's sound was his original trademark and statement which echoed through the Association and the Mamas and the Papas and may have influenced a whole generation of people known as "Flower Children". He attended the Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
in the company of Mama Cass, a close friend from Hollywood recording sessions and Laurel Canyon
Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California
Laurel Canyon is a canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was first developed in the 1910s, and became a part of the city of Los Angeles in 1923 ....
living.
Mallory was present at the creation of sixties music and its ethos. Ultimately, Lee Mallory became highly esteemed in San Francisco. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco, California, United States.-Government and politics:...
proclaimed January 10, 2005 as the first Lee Mallory Day honoring Lee and all singer-songwriters.
On Friday, March 18, 2005, Lee completed a small set of mixes for his final album, produced by Alex James Muscat at Last Stop Records. This was his first studio work in decades, and the first in which he had complete creative control after 40 years of recording and playing with first-call studio musicians on approximately 35 albums. The album's release is currently on hold.
"Many Are The Times," a comprehensive review of Lee's work over time, was re-released by Sonic Past Music in 2006. This includes expanded liner notes and archival photographs.
Finally, Lee Mallory became active raising awareness of Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease primarily affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus . The infection is often asymptomatic, but chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver and ultimately to cirrhosis, which is generally apparent after many years...
. He had hoped to receive a liver transplant but ultimately succumbed to liver cancer. Lee asked that his life story serve as a "cautionary tale" to young musicians to take care of their bodies. Lee Mallory died at the University of California, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world...
Emergency Department on March 21, 2005.
External links
- http://www.redwoodrivermusic.com
- "Notes For a Bio" by Lee Mallory; personal interviews by Nina Jo Smith and documents in the Lee Mallory Archives.