Jim Lea
Encyclopedia
Jim Lea is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 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....

, most notable for playing bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, and singing backing vocals
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

 in Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...

.

Career

Lea was the nearest thing Slade had to a trained 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....

. Influenced by French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 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...

-violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....

, Lea's first musical love was the violin. He attended Codsall Comprehensive School - now Codsall Community High School. He played in the Staffordshire Youth Orchestra, and gained first class honours in a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 music-school practical exam, before moving on to piano, guitar and finally bass guitar.

He first played guitar, and then bass, in the schoolboy group 'Nick and The Axemen', then went for auditions for a local band, 'The 'N Betweens'. Drummer Don Powell
Don Powell
Don Powell is a drummer who founded the English glam rock group, Slade.- Biography :As a child Powell joined the Boy Scouts where he became interested in the drums after being asked to join the band on a Sunday morning parade. After Etheridge Secondary Modern School he studied Metallurgy at...

, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist Dave Hill
Dave Hill
Dave Hill is an English musician, who is the lead guitarist and backing vocalist in the English glam rock group, Slade. The music journalist, Stuart Maconie, commented "he usually wore a jumpsuit made of the foil that you baste your turkeys in and platforms of oil-rig-derrick height...

 and vocalist Johnny Howells were already members, and when Noddy Holder
Noddy Holder
Neville John "Noddy" Holder MBE is an English musician and actor. He was the lead vocalist and guitarist with the rock band Slade....

 joined soon after, the foundations for Slade had been laid. Howells later left the band.

Lea was Slade's principal songwriter, along with Holder. In most cases Lea wrote the melodies
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

, and Holder concentrated on the lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...

.

On stage he was a wickedly athletic performer and amazed audiences particularly with his frantic violin solo at such events as the Reading Festival 1980. It all helped with a powerful stage presence Slade always had. His Bass work is much admirred.

Slade's lack of success during the late 70s, led Lea to wonder if their material would be better received if recorded by another band. In late 1979, Lea formed 'The Dummies' as a side project, with his brother Frank and wife Louise. The group released three singles, "When The Lights Are Out", "Didn't You Use To Use To Be You" and "Maybe Tonight". The first single was a cover, originally appearing on Slade's 1974 album Old New Borrowed and Blue. All three singles received plenty of radio airplay but sales suffered from distribution problems. "Didn't You Use To Use To Be You" was listed in BBC Radio One's 'A' playlist, meaning the song was expected to become a top ten hit. The cover featured Lea's daughter, Bonny. "Maybe Tonight" featured Roy Wood
Roy Wood
Roy Adrian Wood is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.-Career:Wood...

 on vocals with Holder, who sang a total of four lines. Later in 1992, an album "A Day in the Life of the Dummies" was released. It included all the material recorded by the band.

In the 1980s Lea also produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 all of Slade's recording sessions (except for some of the singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

), and became an increasingly dominant creative force within the band. It was not uncommon for him to handle Holder's, some say Hill's, guitar parts on record. In 1982, Lea was also busy working on solo projects. Under the name China Dolls he released the track "One Hit Wonder", backed by the b-side "Ain't Love Ain't Bad". "One Hit Wonder" was the same song as "Didn't You Use To Use To Be You", originally released in 1980 under the name "The Dummies", whilst the b-side was a cover of the Slade track "It Ain't Love But It Ain't Bad", from the 1977 album "Whatever Happened To Slade". The same year, Lea released another single, "Poland", under the name Greenfields of Tong, with the b-side carrying an instrumental version. "Poland" was a reworking of the 1979 Slade track "Lemme Love Into Ya".

In late 1983, Lea's band mate Noddy Holder
Noddy Holder
Neville John "Noddy" Holder MBE is an English musician and actor. He was the lead vocalist and guitarist with the rock band Slade....

 joined him in record production. Together they produced Girlschool
Girlschool
Girlschool are a British heavy metal band originating out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene in 1978 and frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead. They are the longest running all-female rock band, still active after more than 30 years...

's cover of the T-Rex song "20th Century Boy
20th Century Boy
"20th Century Boy" is a song by T. Rex, written by Marc Bolan. It was released as a single in 1973 and reached #3 in the UK Singles Chart. The song did not feature on an original studio album but was included as a bonus track on a reissue of 1973 album Tanx.It later returned to the UK Top 20 in...

" and the album "Play Dirty
Play Dirty (album)
Play Dirty is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band, Girlschool, released on Bronze Records in 1983 and produced by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea from the hard rock band Slade....

" which featured two Slade tracks "Burning in the Heat of Love" and "High and Dry". The "High and Dry" track was originally written for Girlschool but still appeared on Slade's album that same year. Lea also produced the Holder/Lea penned "Simple Love" for the actress and model Sue Scadding. Released by Speed records and with Lea's brother, Frank on drums, the single failed to achieve any commercial success. Initially the song was intended for Slade but no version by the band is known to exist. The b-side was another Holder and Lea composition, "Poland", which Lea released as a single himself the year before under the name Greenfields of Tong. In 1984 Lea also produced an 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...

 for singer / 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...

 Gary Holton
Gary Holton
Gary Frederick Holton was an English singer-songwriter, musician and actor from London. He was the frontman of the band Heavy Metal Kids, for whom he played lead vocals, guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards and harmonica, and played the part of Wayne in the UK television comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet...

. Lea also played all the instruments (except drums, played by Geoff Seopardi) on two singles from the album; Holton's cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of "Catch a Falling Star
Catch a Falling Star
Catch a Falling Star, written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss, is a song made famous by Perry Como's hit version, released in 1957. It was Como's last #1 hit, reaching #1 in the Billboard "Most Played By Jockeys" chart but not in the overall top-100, where it reached #2. It was the first single to...

" and "That's How the Story Goes". Neither achieved any success. In 1985, Lea released his only solo single under his own name entitled "Citizen Kane". Written by both Holder and Lea, it featured Noddy on backing vocals.

In 1986, Lea produced and performed all the instruments except drums, played by Lea's brother, on two singles by Annabella Lwin
Annabella Lwin
Annabella Lwin is an Anglo-Burmese singer, songwriter and record producer best known as the lead singer of Bow Wow Wow.-Biography:Lwin was born to a Burmese father and an English mother in Rangoon, Burma .Medina, Maximillian Mark; ChopBlock.com Her birth name in Burmese translates to "High,...

. The first single was a cover of the Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...

 hit "School's Out
School's Out (song)
Female pop duo Daphne & Celeste, released a cover of the song in 2000. The chorus is based on Alice Cooper's hit of the same name, and some other elements of that song have been retained, although much of the song is "original", in a pop-rap style...

" whilst the other single, "Fever", was written by Eddie Cooley and John Davenport. Both singles failed to have any impact. Lea also produced two covers by the rock band, The Redbeards From Texas; a 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...

 track, "I Saw Her Standing There
I Saw Her Standing There
"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and is the opening track on The Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone on 22 March 1963....

", and Slade's own 1972 hit Gudbuy T'Jane. Neither was successful. In 1988, Lea produced "Shooting Me Down" for the English hard rock band Chrome Molly. Written by Holder and Lea, the single was unsuccessful. The band held their third official fan club convention at Drummonds Convention, King's Cross, London.

Lea left Slade after Holder's departure from the band in 1991, being of the opinion that Slade was all four of them or nothing. He went on to study psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...

 although he did not take it up as a career,and released a number of singles in the 90s: "Hello Goodbye", under the name Gang of Angels, "I'll Be John, You Be Yoko" under the name Whild
and his reworking of "Coz I Luv You
Coz I Luv You
"Coz I Luv You" is a song by Slade, written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea and produced by Chas Chandler. It was the band's second hit single in the UK and the first of six number one singles. It was released on 30/10/1971 and was last seen on the charts on 05/02/1972 at #44...

" twice; under the names "The X Specials" and "Jimbo feat Bull". The song was produced and arranged by Jimbo with Lea playing all the instruments.

Since Slade stopped touring in early 1984, Lea has performed live only twice; once for a local protest against a motorway development in his home area, and once again for a charity event at the Robin 2 venue in Bilston
Bilston
Bilston is a town in the English county of West Midlands, situated in the southeastern corner of the City of Wolverhampton. Three wards of Wolverhampton City Council cover the town: Bilston East and Bilston North, which almost entirely comprise parts of the historic Borough of Bilston, and...

, near Slade's old local pub, The Trumpet. A download-only CD from this gig can be bought at his website.

Lea is still creating music and has released singles under odd pseudonyms such as 'China Dolls', 'JimJam', 'The Greenfields Of Tong' and 'Whild', all via the Trojan
Trojan Records
Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name Trojan comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used as Duke Reid's sound system in Jamaica...

  group of labels
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

, which are owned by Slade's management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...

. The most noticeable release of the time was The Dummies 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...

 A Day in the Life of The Dummies, which gathered together all the demos, and single tracks, that he recorded with his brother, Frank Lea, and wife Louise.

In 2007 he released his first solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 album, Therapy, which was available from his website. It received positive reception upon its release and features Lea's own version of Slade's last single "Universe
Universe (Slade song)
"Universe" is a single from rock band Slade which appeared on the compilation album Wall of Hits. Like the previous single "Radio Wall of Sound", it was written solely by bassist Jim Lea. The B-side for the single was written by guitarist Dave Hill with Wizzard's ex-keyboardist Bill Hunt. The...

".

Basses

Lea used a cherry Gibson EB-3
Gibson EB-3
The Gibson EB-3 is an electric bass guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.Introduced in 1961, the EB-3 was one of the bass guitar equivalents of the popular Gibson SG...

 from the late sixties until it was stolen in the mid seventies. It is unclear if this was Lea's first bass but it is seen in Slade's (probably) first TV-performance in 1969. It was refinished in white when Lea had it in with John Birch
John Birch
John Birch may refer to:* John Birch , soldier in the English Civil War and MP for Leominster* John Birch , nephew of Col...

 to get some minor circuit work done to it. After that bass was stolen in 1976 from the John Birch
John Birch
John Birch may refer to:* John Birch , soldier in the English Civil War and MP for Leominster* John Birch , nephew of Col...

 workshop, Lea's main bass was a very similarly-styled custom-made sunburst John Birch
John Birch
John Birch may refer to:* John Birch , soldier in the English Civil War and MP for Leominster* John Birch , nephew of Col...

 bass, given as a replacement. He also carried a John Birch JB2 bass as a backup bass on some tours. Other notable basses that Lea owned include a Jaydee
Jaydee
Jaydee is a Dutch/Italian house music producer and DJ duo. The original name was Jei D, which Robin Albers changed to JayDee, after teaming up with Joseph D. a DJ and dance music producer from Rome Italy...

 bass (which, uncommonly for a bass guitar, has a tremolo arm), a pre-1981 Gibson Flying-V bass (which was used a lot in the studio in the seventies). Lea has also been seen using a lot of different basses on mimed TV-performances, most notably Fender Precision Bass
Fender Precision Bass
The Fender Precision Bass is an electric bass.Designed by Leo Fender as a prototype in 1950 and brought to market in 1951, the Precision was the first electric bass to earn widespread attention and use. A revolutionary instrument for the time, the Precision Bass has made an immeasurable impact on...

, Fender Jazz bass
Fender Jazz Bass
The Jazz Bass was the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. The bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and treble with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic...

 and a Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...

 type of bass. However it is unclear if Lea has owned all of them since Slade often used hired/borrowed instruments in mimed performances.

Guitars

In the early sixties Lea used a Höfner
Höfner
Karl Höfner GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, with one division that manufactures guitars and basses, and another that manufactures other string instruments....

 Colorama before turning to bass. Since the late eighties he has been seen using a black Fender Stratocaster
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...

. He has also said that he used to compose a lot of songs on his wife’s old Spanish guitar.

Albums

  • 1991 The Dummies - A Day In The Life Of The Dummies
  • 2007 James Whild Lea - Therapy
    Therapy (James Whild Lea album)
    Therapy is the debut album from English musician Jim Lea, best known as songwriter, producer, bassist and multi-instrumentalist for the rock group Slade.- Background :...

  • 2007 Jim Lea - Replugged/Official Bootleg Of Jim Jam Live At The Robin 2 16th Nov 2002+

Singles

  • 1979 The Dummies - "When The Lights Are Out"
  • 1980 The Dummies - "Didn't You Use To Use To Be You"
  • 1981 The Dummies - "Maybe Tonight"
  • 1982 China Dolls - "Ain't Love Ain't Bad"
  • 1985 Jimmy Lea - "Citizen Kane"
  • 1990 The Clout - "We'll Bring The House Down
    We'll Bring the House Down (song)
    "We'll Bring The House Down" is a single from rock band Slade from their 1981 album We'll Bring the House Down. It was written by lead singer Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea...

    "
  • 1994 Gang Of Angels - "Hello Goodbye"
  • 1995 Greenfields Of Tong - "Poland"
  • 1996 Jimbo feat Bull - "Coz I Luv You
    Coz I Luv You
    "Coz I Luv You" is a song by Slade, written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea and produced by Chas Chandler. It was the band's second hit single in the UK and the first of six number one singles. It was released on 30/10/1971 and was last seen on the charts on 05/02/1972 at #44...

    "
  • 1999 Whild - "I'll Be John, You Be Yoko"

External links

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