Lee Ving
Encyclopedia
Lee VingLee Ving (born Lee James Capellaro; April 10, 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an American musician, most famous for his role as lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Los Angeles-based punk rock
band Fear
, and actor. In the late 1960s Ving joined Sweet Stavin Chain Blues Band in Philadelphia, playing with Michael Brecker and Eugene Busnar; they played shows with B.B. King, Buddy Guy
and Cream
among others. Later, Ving moved to New York and formed the band Daybreak. In the mid 70's, Ving moved to Los Angeles and in 1977 formed the punk band FEAR.
Ving has also sung for the band MD.45
, which also featured Dave Mustaine
of Megadeth
and Jimmy DeGrasso
of Suicidal Tendencies
. The 2004 re-release/remastered record replaced Lee Ving's with Dave Mustaine's vocals. Ving has also sung country music
in the outlaw country
genre with the band Range War. Prior to Fear, Ving played in a six piece blues act named Easy Love.
, in which they were introduced by guest host Donald Pleasence
. Fear was booked only because former cast member John Belushi
had insisted upon their booking as a condition of his return to appear in two skits in cameo parts. The band played two songs, during which hardcore members of the audience, many of whom traveled to NYC from Washington, DC, slam danced
and stage dived
damaging the set. As the band began a third song, SNL producer Dick Ebersol
ordered the live feed stopped, and a taped rehearsal performance played after a brief black-out delay.
' cult classic 1987 Dudes. As part of Fear he was featured in Spheeris' 1980 documentary on punk The Decline of Western Civilization
. Furthermore, he played the strip club owner in Flashdance
(1983), Mr. Boddy in Clue
(1985), and a small role in Streets of Fire
(1984), among other roles in films and television shows. In 1983 he self-deprecatingly played an over-the-top punk singer in the rock and roll comedy Get Crazy
. In the Who's the Boss episode titled "Walk on the Mild Side," Lee played "Jake Maguire." Ving also appeared in an episode of the short-lived Three's Company
spin-off, Three's a Crowd
as a criminal in a police line-up.
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Fear
Fear (band)
Fear is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1977. The band is credited for helping to shape the sound and style of American hardcore punk, the group started out as part of the early California punk rock scene, and gained national prominence after an infamous 1981...
, and actor. In the late 1960s Ving joined Sweet Stavin Chain Blues Band in Philadelphia, playing with Michael Brecker and Eugene Busnar; they played shows with B.B. King, Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...
and Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
among others. Later, Ving moved to New York and formed the band Daybreak. In the mid 70's, Ving moved to Los Angeles and in 1977 formed the punk band FEAR.
Ving has also sung for the band MD.45
MD.45
MD.45 was a side project of Megadeth guitarist/frontman Dave Mustaine, Fear guitarist/vocalist Lee Ving on singing duties, Electric Love Hogs and future Goldfinger bassist Kelly LeMieux and former Suicidal Tendencies member Jimmy DeGrasso on drums...
, which also featured Dave Mustaine
Dave Mustaine
David Scott "Dave" Mustaine is the founder, main songwriter, guitarist, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Megadeth. Prior to Megadeth, Mustaine was the first lead guitarist and a co-songwriter of the heavy metal band Metallica until he was fired from the band in 1983. In 2009, he...
of Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
and Jimmy DeGrasso
Jimmy DeGrasso
Jimmy DeGrasso is an American heavy metal drummer. He is currently the drummer for F5.DeGrasso was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and graduated from Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1981....
of Suicidal Tendencies
Suicidal Tendencies
Suicidal Tendencies is a U.S. crossover thrash band founded in 1981 in Venice, Los Angeles, California by Mike Muir, its leader and only permanent member. The band is sometimes credited as one of "the fathers of crossover thrash"...
. The 2004 re-release/remastered record replaced Lee Ving's with Dave Mustaine's vocals. Ving has also sung country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
in the outlaw country
Outlaw country
Outlaw country is a subgenre of country music, most popular during the late 1960s and the 1970s , sometimes referred to as the outlaw movement or simply outlaw music...
genre with the band Range War. Prior to Fear, Ving played in a six piece blues act named Easy Love.
Saturday Night Live appearance
Fear reached national notoriety after the Halloween, 1981 episode of Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, in which they were introduced by guest host Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
. Fear was booked only because former cast member John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
had insisted upon their booking as a condition of his return to appear in two skits in cameo parts. The band played two songs, during which hardcore members of the audience, many of whom traveled to NYC from Washington, DC, slam danced
Moshing
Moshing is a dance in which participants push or slam into each other. They also flail their limbs to breakdowns of hardcore punk and its sub-genres. It is most associated with aggressive music genres, such as hardcore punk and heavy metal...
and stage dived
Stage diving
Stage diving is the act of leaping from a concert stage onto the crowd below. It is often the precursor to crowd surfing.Initially seen as confrontational and extreme, stage diving has become common at hardcore punk and thrash metal performances. Many musicians have made stage diving a part of...
damaging the set. As the band began a third song, SNL producer Dick Ebersol
Dick Ebersol
Duncan "Dick" Ebersol is an American television executive and a senior adviser for . He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large scale television events such as the Olympic Games and National Football League broadcasts....
ordered the live feed stopped, and a taped rehearsal performance played after a brief black-out delay.
Acting career
Ving played the opposing lead role, Missoula, in Penelope SpheerisPenelope Spheeris
Penelope Spheeris is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She is best known as a documentary film director whose works include the trilogy titled The Decline of Western Civilization...
' cult classic 1987 Dudes. As part of Fear he was featured in Spheeris' 1980 documentary on punk The Decline of Western Civilization
The Decline of Western Civilization
The soundtrack was released in December 1980 by Slash Records on LP. In the late 1990s it was released on CD as well. It is currently out of print. Germs singer Darby Crash appears on the soundtrack album cover. He died shortly before the film was released, though the promotional images for the...
. Furthermore, he played the strip club owner in Flashdance
Flashdance
Another song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...
(1983), Mr. Boddy in Clue
Clue (film)
Clue is a 1985 comedy mystery film based on the board game of the same name . The film is a murder mystery set in a Gothic Revival mansion, and is styled after Murder by Death and other various murder/dinner parties of mystery...
(1985), and a small role in Streets of Fire
Streets of Fire
Streets of Fire is a 1984 film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It was described in previews, trailers, and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable." It is an unusual mix of musical, action, drama, and comedy with elements both of retro-1950s and 1980s...
(1984), among other roles in films and television shows. In 1983 he self-deprecatingly played an over-the-top punk singer in the rock and roll comedy Get Crazy
Get Crazy
Get Crazy is a 1983 film directed by Allan Arkush and starring Malcolm McDowell, Allen Garfield, Daniel Stern, Gail Edwards, and Ed Begley, Jr.-Premise:...
. In the Who's the Boss episode titled "Walk on the Mild Side," Lee played "Jake Maguire." Ving also appeared in an episode of the short-lived Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
spin-off, Three's a Crowd
Three's a Crowd
Three's a Crowd is an American television sitcom spinoff of Three's Company...
as a criminal in a police line-up.
Fear
- The RecordThe Record (album)The Record is the debut album by Los Angeles hardcore punk band Fear, released in 1982"We Got to Get Out of This Place" is a cover of the song made famous by The Animals.-Track listing:All songs by Lee Ving, except where noted....
(LP, 1982, Slash, reissued on CD in 1992 on Slash/Warner Bros. and in 2001 on Slash/Rhino)- The CD reissues include Fear's 1982 single "Fuck Christmas" as a bonus track.
- More BeerMore BeerMore Beer is the second album by Fear, released in 1985 . Frontman Lee Ving spent over a year producing the album.-Track listing:All songs by Lee Ving, except where noted....
(LP, 1985, Fear Records/Restless) - Live...For the RecordLive...For the RecordLive...For the Record is, to date, the only official live release by American punk band Fear, released in 1991.-Track listing:#Null Detector - 1:17#I Love Livin' in the City - 1:58#New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones- 1:59#Beef Bologna - 2:31...
(LP, 1991, Fear Records/Restless) - Have Another Beer With FEARHave Another Beer with FEARHave Another Beer With FEAR is the third studio album by Fear, released in 1995. Although Lee Ving was the only remaining original member at the time of recording, the album contains a number of tracks written by previous original members...
(LP, 1995, Fear Records/Sector 2 Records)- All three of the releases issued under the Fear Records logo were reissued by Hall Of Records in 2001.
- American BeerAmerican Beer (album)American Beer is the fourth studio album by Fear, released in 2000. Many of the album's tracks were written and recorded during Fear's earlier years, but have not appeared on any prior studio albums.-Track listing:...
(LP, 2000, Hall of Records)
Filmography
- Endless Bummer (2009)
- Pulse PoundersPulse PoundersPulse Pounders is a 1988 film directed by Charles Band. The film is an anthology film consisting of sequels to two Empire features, including The Dungeonmaster, Trancers, and an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation of The Evil Clergyman...
(2002) - Fast Sofa (2001)
- The Taking of Beverly HillsThe Taking of Beverly HillsThe Taking of Beverly Hills is a 1991 American action film, directed by Sidney J. Furie. An action film in the vein of Die Hard, the film stars Ken Wahl, fresh off the success of the television series Wiseguy, as football hero Boomer Hayes, with Matt Frewer stepping up to the plate as his sidekick,...
(1991) - Masters of MenaceMasters of Menace-Plot:The Masters of Menace are a motorcycle club. When one of their own dies while testing his top fuel Harley, they decide to cross the country to go bury him...
(1990) - DudesDudes (film)-Plot:Two punks from the big city , traveling across the country in a Volkswagen bug, embrace the western ethos when they must take revenge against a group of rednecks for killing their friend in this lighthearted road movie...
(1987) - Black Moon RisingBlack Moon RisingBlack Moon Rising is an action motion picture made in 1986 directed by Harley Cokeliss, written by John Carpenter and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton and Robert Vaughn...
(1986) - ClueClue (film)Clue is a 1985 comedy mystery film based on the board game of the same name . The film is a murder mystery set in a Gothic Revival mansion, and is styled after Murder by Death and other various murder/dinner parties of mystery...
(1985) - Scenes from the Goldmine
- Streets of FireStreets of FireStreets of Fire is a 1984 film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It was described in previews, trailers, and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable." It is an unusual mix of musical, action, drama, and comedy with elements both of retro-1950s and 1980s...
(1984) - The Wild LifeThe Wild Life (film)The Wild Life is a 1984 comedy-drama film, written by Cameron Crowe and directed by Art Linson.The movie was an indirect sequel to the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The film is only available on VHS and Laserdisc in pan and scan with stereo analog tracks. No DVD version has been released due...
(1984) - FlashdanceFlashdanceAnother song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...
(1983) - Get CrazyGet CrazyGet Crazy is a 1983 film directed by Allan Arkush and starring Malcolm McDowell, Allen Garfield, Daniel Stern, Gail Edwards, and Ed Begley, Jr.-Premise:...
(1983) - Grave SecretsGrave Secrets-Plot:Guatemala, in the searing heat.The bones of a child no more than two years old are uncovered when mass graves are excavated.Twenty-three women and children are said to lie where forensic anthropologist Dr...
- NightmaresNightmares (1983 film)Nightmares is a 1983 film with four tales of horror, starring Emilio Estevez, Lance Henriksen, Cristina Raines, Veronica Cartwright and Richard Masur. The film is directed by T.V. veteran Joseph Sargent and began as a television project of four horror stories. The results were deemed too strong for...
(1983) - The Decline of Western CivilizationThe Decline of Western CivilizationThe soundtrack was released in December 1980 by Slash Records on LP. In the late 1990s it was released on CD as well. It is currently out of print. Germs singer Darby Crash appears on the soundtrack album cover. He died shortly before the film was released, though the promotional images for the...
(1981)
Television appearances
- The New Alfred Hitchcock PresentsThe New Alfred Hitchcock PresentsThe New Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1985 to 1986, and on the USA Network from 1987 to 1989...
- Crime StoryCrime Story (TV series)Crime Story is an NBC TV drama created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. The executive producer was Michael Mann, who had left Miami Vice to oversee Crime Story and direct the film Manhunter. The show premiered with a two hour pilot — a movie which had been exhibited theatrically —...
- FameFame (1982 TV series)Fame is an American television series originally produced between 1982 and 1987. The show was based on the 1980 motion picture of the same name. Using a mixture of drama and music, it followed the lives of the students and faculty at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. Although...
- Fast TimesFast TimesFast Times is a seven-episode 1986 television sequel to the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High that was produced by Amy Heckerling, who directed the original film. Cameron Crowe, who penned the original Fast Times novel and film screenplay, served as creative consultant. Moon Unit Zappa...
- Legmen
- Malomars
- Oceans of Fire
- Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
(1981) - Streethawk
- Thicke of the NightThicke of the NightThicke of the Night is an American late night talk show produced by MGM Television, distributed in syndication by Metromedia and broadcast in first-run syndication during the 1983-1984 TV season....
- Three's a CrowdThree's a CrowdThree's a Crowd is an American television sitcom spinoff of Three's Company...
- Who's the Boss?Who's the Boss?Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992...
(1987)
External links
- Lee Ving blog page
- Lee Ving of FEAR, interview April 2009, Jaimeville.com
- Lee Ving interview on formation of Fear Riverfront TimesRiverfront TimesThe Riverfront Times is a weekly newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri that consists of local politics, music, arts and dining news in the print edition and daily updates to blogs and photo galleries on its website...
- SWINDLE Magazine interview with Lee Ving