Will Lee (bassist)
Encyclopedia
Will Lee aka William Franklin Lee IV (born September 8, 1952) is an American
musician and bassist
, best known for his work on the CBS
television program The Late Show with David Letterman as part of the CBS Orchestra
.
Born in San Antonio, Texas
, Lee has recorded and/or toured with many artists including Bette Midler
, The Brecker Brothers, Barry Manilow
, Tatsuro Yamashita
, Mariah Carey
, Carly Simon
, George Benson
, Bob Mintzer
, Steely Dan
, Donald Fagen
, B.B. King, Cat Stevens
, Michael Bolton
, Ringo Starr
, Gloria Estefan
& the Miami Sound Machine, Cyndi Lauper
, James Brown
, Cher
, Al Green
, Billy Joel
, Liza Minnelli
, Frank Sinatra
, Carl Perkins
, Kiss
's Ace Frehley
, Barbra Streisand
, Diana Ross
, David Sanborn
, Spyro Gyra
, Ricky Martin
, Natalie Cole
, Roy Buchanan
and others. Lee was also present on the Mark & Clark Bands hit record Worn Down Piano
. Lee also performs with his Beatles
tribute band, The Fab Faux
, and has even had the opportunity to share the stage with three Beatles.
played piano
, trumpet
and the bass violin
professionally. Dean of the University of Miami's music school from 1964-1982, the elder Lee died on Oct. 23, 2011. Lee's mother sang with big bands. Lee then took up drums
after seeing the Beatles
on the Ed Sullivan Show, and by the time he was 12 had formed his first band in Miami. The band members each earned $9 a night playing the popular surfing tunes characteristic of the 60's. But with the great numbers of drummers in Miami, Lee shifted to bass, an instrument that offered more opportunities. Quickly becoming a successful bass player, Lee was part of a succession of bands including top 40 bands with names like "Chances R" "The Loving Kind", and "Green Cloud."
Lee had a formal musical education at the University of Miami
. He studied French horn for a year and then switched to a bass major. After classes, he worked on bass fundamentals listening to not only the Beatles, but also Stevie Wonder
, Jimi Hendrix
, Steve Miller
, The Rascals
, Motown, Sly & the Family Stone
, among others. He would put it all into practice six sets a night gigging with various local bands, including an innovative horn band called "Goldrush."
and trumpeter Randy Brecker
called Lee out of class one day and invited him to audition for Dreams. In New York, Lee's career soared. He toured with B.J. Thomas, Horace Silver
, Bette Midler
, Barry Manilow
, The Brecker Brothers, and Herbie Mann
. Gaining experience in the commercial field, Lee found himself in high demand. As a bassist and singer, he's recorded with an extensive array of top performers including David Sanborn
, Boz Scaggs
, Diane Schuur
, Tom Scott
, Neil Sedaka
, Carly Simon
, Frank Sinatra
, Phoebe Snow, Ronnie Spector
, The Spinners, Spyro Gyra
, Ringo Starr
, Steely Dan
, Cat Stevens
and Barbra Streisand
.
Lee also played in the New York "24th Street Band" which had great success in Japan
, giving him a solo artist career that yielded him a top 5 single. Most recently, his solo CD entitled OH! reached the #1 position on the "Jazz Beyond" chart there. More recently he played alongside Steve Conte
, Clint de Ganon, Oz Noy. Chewtaro Moritake, Sizzle Ohtaka, and Philippe Saisse
in the songs "Seven Rings In Hand
" and "Worth A Chance" for the video game Sonic and the Secret Rings
.
. He holds the distinction of playing with Paul Shaffer
, on both Late Night and the Late Show, longer than any other member of the CBS Orchestra. Before the Late Show begins taping, he often tosses out guitar pick
s to the audience as souvenirs.
and has now become a production model within the line of Sadowsky basses.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musician and 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...
, best known for his work on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television program The Late Show with David Letterman as part of the CBS Orchestra
CBS Orchestra
The CBS Orchestra is the house band, led by Paul Shaffer, that plays for David Letterman's CBS late-night talk show, Late Show with David Letterman...
.
Born in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, Lee has recorded and/or toured with many artists including Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
, The Brecker Brothers, Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
, Tatsuro Yamashita
Tatsuro Yamashita
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and record producer. He has been known by his musical style deeply influenced from 1960s American pop and rock music....
, Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
, Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, Bob Mintzer
Bob Mintzer
Bob Mintzer is a jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader based in Los Angeles, California. Mintzer is a member of the jazz rock band the Yellowjackets.-With The Yellowjackets:*Greenhouse, 1991;*Live Wires, 1992;...
, Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
, Donald Fagen
Donald Fagen
Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the rock band Steely Dan ....
, B.B. King, Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
, Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, both on his early solo albums and those recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack...
, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan
Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those...
& the Miami Sound Machine, Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
, James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
, Al Green
Al Green
Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...
, Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
, Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
, Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
's Ace Frehley
Ace Frehley
Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Kiss. He took on the persona of the "Spaceman" or "Space Ace" when the band adopted costumes and theatrics...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
, David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
, Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was originally formed in the mid-1970s in Buffalo, New York, USA. With over 25 albums released and 10 million copies sold, they are among the most prolific as well as commercially successful groups of the genre...
, Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin
Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...
, Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
, Roy Buchanan
Roy Buchanan
Roy Buchanan was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan was a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career, and two later solo albums that made it on to the Billboard chart. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still...
and others. Lee was also present on the Mark & Clark Bands hit record Worn Down Piano
Worn Down Piano
"Worn Down Piano" is a song by the North-American Mark & Clark Band, from their album Double Take.The song is written in 1977 by Clark and Mark Seymour, twin brothers. It was released as a single.The length of the song is 8:10....
. Lee also performs with his Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
tribute band, The Fab Faux
The Fab Faux
The Fab Faux is a musical tribute band performing the works of The Beatles. The group was founded by Will Lee, bassist for Late Show with David Letterman, and features Jimmy Vivino, bandleader for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Other members include Rich Pagano, Frank Agnello, and Jack Petruzzelli...
, and has even had the opportunity to share the stage with three Beatles.
Beginnings in music
Lee was greatly influenced to pursue music because of his parents. His father, William Franklin Lee IIIWilliam Franklin Lee III
William Franklin Lee III, aka Bill Lee was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, author, and music educator who was renowned for pioneering comprehensive music education, including jazz, at the collegiate level of a full liberal arts university...
played piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
and the bass violin
Bass violin
Bass violin is the generic modern term used to denote various 16th- and 17th-century forms of bass instruments of the violin family. They were the direct ancestor of the modern cello. Bass violins were usually somewhat larger than the modern cello, but tuned the same or sometimes just one step...
professionally. Dean of the University of Miami's music school from 1964-1982, the elder Lee died on Oct. 23, 2011. Lee's mother sang with big bands. Lee then took up drums
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
after seeing the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
on the Ed Sullivan Show, and by the time he was 12 had formed his first band in Miami. The band members each earned $9 a night playing the popular surfing tunes characteristic of the 60's. But with the great numbers of drummers in Miami, Lee shifted to bass, an instrument that offered more opportunities. Quickly becoming a successful bass player, Lee was part of a succession of bands including top 40 bands with names like "Chances R" "The Loving Kind", and "Green Cloud."
Lee had a formal musical education at the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
. He studied French horn for a year and then switched to a bass major. After classes, he worked on bass fundamentals listening to not only the Beatles, but also Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Steve Miller
Steve Miller (musician)
Steven H. "Steve" Miller is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more popular-oriented sound which, from the mid 1970s through the early 1980s, resulted in a series of successful singles and albums.-Early years:Born in Milwaukee,...
, The Rascals
The Rascals
The Rascals were an American blue-eyed soul group initially active during the years 1965–72. The band released numerous top ten singles in North America during the mid- and late-1960s, including the U.S. #1 hits "Good Lovin'" , "Groovin'" , and "People Got to Be Free"...
, Motown, Sly & the Family Stone
Sly & the Family Stone
Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...
, among others. He would put it all into practice six sets a night gigging with various local bands, including an innovative horn band called "Goldrush."
Professional music career
Lee then went to New York CityNew 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...
and trumpeter Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
called Lee out of class one day and invited him to audition for Dreams. In New York, Lee's career soared. He toured with B.J. Thomas, Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
, Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
, Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
, The Brecker Brothers, and Herbie Mann
Herbie Mann
Herbert Jay Solomon , better known as Herbie Mann, was a Jewish American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music...
. Gaining experience in the commercial field, Lee found himself in high demand. As a bassist and singer, he's recorded with an extensive array of top performers including David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
, Boz Scaggs
Boz Scaggs
William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...
, Diane Schuur
Diane Schuur
Diane Schuur is an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Deedles", she has won two Grammy Awards, headlined many of the world's most prestigious music venues, including Carnegie Hall and The White House and has toured the world performing with such greats as Quincy Jones, Stan Getz, B. B...
, Tom Scott
Tom Scott (musician)
Tom Scott is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, conductor and bandleader of the west coast jazz/jazz fusion ensemble The L.A. Express.-Biography:Scott was born in Los Angeles, California...
, Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
, Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Phoebe Snow, Ronnie Spector
Ronnie Spector
Veronica Yvette "Ronnie" Spector is an American rock and roll and popular music vocalist, and was the lead singer of the 1960s hit-making girl group, The Ronettes, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. She is known as the "original bad girl of rock and roll."-Personal...
, The Spinners, Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra
Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was originally formed in the mid-1970s in Buffalo, New York, USA. With over 25 albums released and 10 million copies sold, they are among the most prolific as well as commercially successful groups of the genre...
, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
, Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
and Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
.
Lee also played in the New York "24th Street Band" which had great success in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, giving him a solo artist career that yielded him a top 5 single. Most recently, his solo CD entitled OH! reached the #1 position on the "Jazz Beyond" chart there. More recently he played alongside Steve Conte
Steve Conte
Steve Conte is an American singer and rock musician and lead singer of the band The Contes, along with his brother John Conte, both formerly members of the band Crown Jewels. He is perhaps more popularly known for his collaborations with composer Yoko Kanno, as well as being former lead guitarist...
, Clint de Ganon, Oz Noy. Chewtaro Moritake, Sizzle Ohtaka, and Philippe Saisse
Philippe Saisse
Philippe Saisse is a French Grammy Award-nominated Smooth Jazz and New Age music keyboardist, producer and arranger.He was born in Marseille and raised in Paris. After studying at the Conservatoire de Paris he won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. He became the protege of Gary Burton...
in the songs "Seven Rings In Hand
Seven Rings in Hand
, is the two disc Original Soundtrack of Sonic and the Secret Rings. It was exclusively released in SEGA Direct stores, which are only located in Japan.The soundtrack is split into two discs, Adventure and Treasure...
" and "Worth A Chance" for the video game Sonic and the Secret Rings
Sonic and the Secret Rings
is a video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was released exclusively for the Wii on February 20, 2007 in North America; March 2 in Europe; and March 15 in Japan. It is the first Sonic game for the console, released in place of an...
.
The CBS Orchestra
In 1982, Lee became one of the original members of The World's Most Dangerous Band, the house band on NBCs Late Night with David LettermanLate Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
. He holds the distinction of playing with Paul Shaffer
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...
, on both Late Night and the Late Show, longer than any other member of the CBS Orchestra. Before the Late Show begins taping, he often tosses out guitar pick
Guitar pick
A guitar pick is a plectrum used for guitars. A pick is generally made of one uniform material; examples include plastic, nylon, rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, and stone...
s to the audience as souvenirs.
Basses
Lee currently uses the Sadowsky Will Lee model, a 4 string jazz bass with a narrower nut width of 1.45" instead of the usual 1.5", 22 frets and a Hipshot D-tuner. The bass was built for him by Roger SadowskySadowsky
Sadowsky Guitars Limited is a Queens, New York based high-end guitar, bass guitar, and preamp manufacturer. The company took its name from the company founder, Roger Sadowsky. Sadowsky is an alumnus of SUNY Geneseo, and built the business from the ground up, in 1979, after 7 years of guitar...
and has now become a production model within the line of Sadowsky basses.