Leee John
Encyclopedia
Leee John of St Lucian
descent, is a British
musician
and actor
. He was educated in New York
, later studying drama
at the Anna Scher Theatre School
.
when he met Ashley Ingram (born 27 November 1960 (age 51), Northampton
, England
) a guitarist
/bassist
. They formed a songwriting
partnership, working in a short-lived band called Fizzz. Together with Ingram and Errol Kennedy (born 9 June 1953 (age 58), Montego Bay
, Jamaica
) they formed Imagination
, a three piece soul music
band from the United Kingdom
in the early 1980s.
Produced by Jolley & Swain
their hit
"Body Talk" reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart
in May 1981. Their biggest hit, "Just an Illusion", peaked at number two in March 1982. The trio
frequently appeared on Top of the Pops
and other pop music programmes.
Despite not being an actor
, Leee John made a guest appearance on Doctor Who
in the story "Enlightenment
" in 1983, playing the character 'Mansell'; he replaced actor David Rhule, who had dropped out at short notice due to an industral strike at the BBC after the rehearsals had begun. The group in the UK waned but they continued to perform, tour and record until the early 1990s. John went back to acting, but in 2003 resurfaced in the reality television
show
, Reborn in the USA
, alongside other singers such as Elkie Brooks
and Tony Hadley
.
He appeared on The Adam and Joe Show
, in the series four segmant 'The 1980s House', a spoof of the popular reality series putting families into homes with period features, with Leee playing the house designer.
He released a number of dance
singles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including the UK Garage
tracks "Your Mind, Your Body, Your Soul" and "U Turn Me" with Ten City
vocalist Byron Stingily
(2000). Under the artist name Johnny X, he also co-wrote and performed vocals on "Call on Me" which was released on Higher State
.
In 2005 John released a jazz
album
, Feel My Soul on Candid Records
featuring a mixture of jazz standards, and original compositions. Since the album's release John has been touring the UK
and Europe
with his jazz quartet, as well as performing with Imagination. In 2007, he submitted the track "Trust My Heart" for Ian Levine
's album Northern Soul 2007
.
Leee is an Ambassador for SOS Children's Villages, an international orphan charity providing homes and mothers for orphaned and abandoned children. He currently supports the charity's annual World Orphan Week campaign which takes place each February.
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 620 km2 and has an...
descent, is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He was educated in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, later studying drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
at the Anna Scher Theatre School
Anna Scher Theatre
The Anna Scher Theatre is a community-based theatre school based in Islington, North London. The school turns out some of London's best child and adult actors.-Anna Scher:...
.
Career
He was working as a backing singerBacking vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
when he met Ashley Ingram (born 27 November 1960 (age 51), Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) a 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...
/bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
. They formed a songwriting
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...
partnership, working in a short-lived band called Fizzz. Together with Ingram and Errol Kennedy (born 9 June 1953 (age 58), Montego Bay
Montego Bay
Montego Bay is the capital of St. James Parish and the second largest city in Jamaica by area and the fourth by population .It is a tourist destination with duty free shopping, cruise line terminal and the beaches...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
) they formed Imagination
Imagination (band)
Imagination were a three piece British soul and funk band, who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They had chart hits in 28 countries, earning four platinum discs, nine gold discs and more than a dozen silver discs around the world between 1981 and 1983....
, a three piece soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
band from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the early 1980s.
Produced by Jolley & Swain
Jolley & Swain
Steve Jolley and Tony Swain were a successful pop musician, songwriting and record production duo in the United Kingdom in the early to mid-1980s, producing some of the top artists and songs of the era....
their hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
"Body Talk" reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in May 1981. Their biggest hit, "Just an Illusion", peaked at number two in March 1982. The trio
Trio (music)
Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...
frequently appeared on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
and other pop music programmes.
Despite not being an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, Leee John made a guest appearance on Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
in the story "Enlightenment
Enlightenment (Doctor Who)
Enlightenment is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from March 1 to March 9, 1983...
" in 1983, playing the character 'Mansell'; he replaced actor David Rhule, who had dropped out at short notice due to an industral strike at the BBC after the rehearsals had begun. The group in the UK waned but they continued to perform, tour and record until the early 1990s. John went back to acting, but in 2003 resurfaced in the reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, Reborn in the USA
Reborn in the USA
Reborn in the USA was a 2003 ITV reality TV show, in which ten former British pop acts were transported to the USA, where they were supposedly not known , in the...
, alongside other singers such as Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks is an English singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Elkie has been nominated twice for Brit Awards' top female singer. She is known for her powerful husky voice...
and Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley is an English pop singer-songwriter, occasional stage actor and radio presenter who gained celebrity as the lead vocalist for the 1980s band Spandau Ballet.-Early life:...
.
He appeared on The Adam and Joe Show
The Adam and Joe Show
The Adam and Joe Show was a British television comedy show, written and presented by Adam and Joe, that is, Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish, which ran for four series on Channel 4 between 1996 and 2001...
, in the series four segmant 'The 1980s House', a spoof of the popular reality series putting families into homes with period features, with Leee playing the house designer.
He released a number of dance
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
singles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including the UK Garage
UK garage
UK garage is a genre of electronic dance music originating from the United Kingdom in the early-1990s. UK garage is a descendant of house music which originated in Chicago and New York, United States. UK garage usually features a distinctive syncopated 4/4 percussive rhythm with 'shuffling'...
tracks "Your Mind, Your Body, Your Soul" and "U Turn Me" with Ten City
Ten City
Ten City was a Chicago, Illinois-based R&B and house-music act that enjoyed a number of club hits and Urban radio hits in the late Eighties and early Nineties and was one of the first exponents of deep house...
vocalist Byron Stingily
Byron Stingily
Byron Stingily is an African American R&B and house-music singer born in Chicago, Illinois, known for his falsetto voice. He is now a principal at a school in Chicago.-Career:...
(2000). Under the artist name Johnny X, he also co-wrote and performed vocals on "Call on Me" which was released on Higher State
Higher State
Higher State is a dance record company and music publishing company founded in 1992 by House music producers and DJs Dillon & Dickins which incorporates the three record labels Higher State, 99 North and 99 Degrees.- History :...
.
In 2005 John released a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Feel My Soul on Candid Records
Candid Records
Candid Records was founded as a subsidiary of Archie Bleyer's Cadence label in New York City in 1960. The jazz writer and civil rights activist, Nat Hentoff, worked as the label's A&R director, aiming to create a representative catalog of the jazz of the day...
featuring a mixture of jazz standards, and original compositions. Since the album's release John has been touring the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
with his jazz quartet, as well as performing with Imagination. In 2007, he submitted the track "Trust My Heart" for Ian Levine
Ian Levine
Ian Levine is an English songwriter, producer, and DJ. He is also a well-known fan of the long-running television show Doctor Who.Levine attended Arnold School in Blackpool from 1963 to 1970...
's album Northern Soul 2007
Northern Soul 2007
Northern Soul 2007 is a compilation, released September 2007, consisting of 24 new tracks as a tribute to the 1960s–1970s Northern Soul era, produced by Ian Levine and Clive Scott...
.
Leee is an Ambassador for SOS Children's Villages, an international orphan charity providing homes and mothers for orphaned and abandoned children. He currently supports the charity's annual World Orphan Week campaign which takes place each February.