Ben Lee

In a music culture where bands dominate, Ben Lee is the youngest singer/songwriter to make an impression on Australian music. Even before his solo career, in his early teens Lee came to attention as a member of Sydney band Noise Addict. In 1993, on the strength of a self-produced and distributed four-track demo recorded in Lee's bedroom that the four Sydney school friends sent out, the head of independent Fallaheen Records Steve Pavlovic (as a promoter he brought Nirvana to Australia at the same time as Nevermind was reaching number one) went to watch the band make their debut performance in 1993 at a library book sale. He signed them to a record deal and Pavlovic's connections immediately won the band high-profile support spots and some famous fans. Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore became a champion for Noise Addict and released the group's demo tape as an EP entitled DEF in the U.S. on his Ecstatic Peace label. Things were happening quickly and kept happening quickly. At the time, Noise Addict's average age was 14. The first single was "I Wish I Was Him," a satirical tribute to the Lemonheads' Evan Dando. Dando himself heard it and recorded a cover version. The Beastie Boys' Mike Diamond heard it and asked to be allowed to issue the song as one of the first releases on the Beastie Boys' own label, Grand Royal, followed by the Young and Jaded EP, six acoustic songs again recorded in Lee's bedroom. Touring was limited because of the group's schooling commitments. Instead, Lee followed interest in his music by recording his first solo album, Grandpaw Would, in Sydney and Chicago with producer Brad Wood and toured the U.S. on his own with an American backing band. Lee was now 16. When school was finally out, Noise Addict recorded and released an album and packed their bags for a U.S. tour at last. They broke up soon after and Lee, now 18, went back to his acoustic guitar for his next solo album, Something to Remember Me By, again produced by Wood. His "boy genius" reputation was starting to affect him. Rightly or wrongly, he thought that America celebrated his youthfulness, while it was held against him in Australia. Lee was in the unusual situation of selling more records in America than at his home, in numbers and per capita. That changed with the release of 1998's Breathing Tornadoes, dreamed up in his Los Angeles apartment and polished in the studio using mostly synthesized sounds. The single "Cigarettes Will Kill You" almost became a national hit in Australia when it was finally released on single after months of airplay as an album track. Lee was also finding himself achieving celebrity status by osmosis, thanks to his relationship with actress Claire Danes. Hey You. Yes You. was released on the Modular label in 2002, and Awake Is the New Sleep followed in 2005. Directly after that album was completed, Lee started work on his next album, spending nearly three years perfecting it and whittling 80 songs down to 12 in a big-time studio. In September 2007 he chalked up 15 years in the music business by unveiling his newest creation, Ripe.