Jon Lee
Encyclopedia
Jon Lee was the original drummer for the successful British rock
band Feeder
. He died by suicide in 2002.
, Monmouthshire
, Wales
, where he also grew up. He took to athletics at a young age, representing his county as a sprinter, but was forced out of the sport by a leg injury that was to change his direction in life. Already inspired to play the drums, having acquired a drum kit in his teens, he teamed up in the early 1990s with Grant Nicholas
to form a band called "Temper Temper". Without much in the way of success, the two took to London to set up a new band called "Hum", but the true turning point came when a Japanese bassist called Taka Hirose
answered an ad in "Loot
" magazine to form a new band called "Reel" and a record contract with the Echo Label followed in November 1994 when their name was "Real". From here the band changed their name to Feeder
named after Grant's goldfish.
Lee worked hard with the band, touring heavily, which included an exhausting 125 venue tour of the United States. There he met his wife to be, Tatiana Englehart, who also became the mother to his child, Cameron. Jon and Tatiana married in Miami in 2000, where the couple lived together.
Lee worked with Feeder throughout their major rise in success, including the band's first major hit album Echo Park
, and had recorded demos for most of the following record Comfort in Sound
.
His first taste of mainstream success was on the 2001 breakthrough hit single "Buck Rogers", which is still played on UK rock music TV and radio stations, and still makes the all-time lists of many rock magazines and alternative radio stations today. An appearance on TV's Never Mind The Buzzcocks
followed. He would later win an award with the band when Feeder picked up "Best British Live Act" at the 2001 Kerrang!
awards.
He already gained a lot of critical success with the band, when Feeder's debut album Polythene
released in 1997, was "Album of The Year" in Metal Hammer magazine.
by hanging
himself with a metal dog chain
in 2002 at his Miami home. Four notes were found.
Feeder decided to continue, with Grant Nicholas
saying, "Jon would have wanted us to carry on." Former Skunk Anansie
, B.l.o.w.
and Little Angels
drummer Mark Richardson
helped the band out on drum duties for 4th studio album "Comfort In Sound
" before being made a permanent member for follow-up album "Pushing The Senses
" in 2005. Richardson later returned to a reformed Skunk Anansie in 2009, before Karl Brazil took over the drum stool. Nicholas later claimed that the chemistry he feels between himself and Brazil, is very much the same way that he felt with Jon.
With an increasingly successful music career, a supermodel wife and a young son, Lee's death was a surprise to the public and sparked a massive reaction in tributes to the drummer.
Lee's funeral took place at St. Mary's Church, Newport, on 18 January 2002, where thousands of fans showed up alongside family and friends to pay their own respects. Matt Page, Feeder's manager, read Do not stand at my grave and weep
, as requested by Jon Lee's father, Norman.
Feeder's 1997 single "High" was also played during the ceremony which heard Grant Nicholas say this about his much missed friend:
Jon had such a taste for life, which makes this whole thing such a mystery to us all. He could be the life and soul of any party. Yet, quiet, sensitive and understanding to anyone that needed a friendly ear. I always felt there was a raging fire in his soul which he channelled into his drumming; showing no fear to anything he put his hand to....
Hope you are at peace now, Jon boy. Forever young. Your friend always.
, which saw Grant dedicate "Quick Fade" to "absent friends". The band were invited by Melvin Benn, the owner of the festival to headline the first day of the main stage, before turning down the offer as they did not want to play such a high-placed slot so soon after Jon's death, so requested to play a much more low-key slot headlining the second stage. In 2003, frontman Grant Nicholas
dedicated the band's win for "Best British Band" at the Kerrang! awards to him, calling it the award he always wanted the band to win. In 2006 the band released a singles album, entitled The Singles
in which Jon features on many of the album's tracks. The album quickly became a platinum seller.
In 2006, an unreleased and incomplete 1998 recording named "Uptight" was released as a b-side on "Lost and Found", after Grant Nicholas laid down the vocals eight years later after the demo was locked in the vaults. It features Jon Lee on the drums.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Feeder
Feeder
-Technology:* Feeder , any of several devices used in apiculture to supplement or replace natural food sources* Feeder , another name for a riser, a reservoir built into a metal casting mold to prevent cavities due to shrinkage...
. He died by suicide in 2002.
Biography
Lee was born to Patricia and Norman Lee in NewportNewport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
, Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire (historic)
Monmouthshire , also known as the County of Monmouth , is one of thirteen ancient counties of Wales and a former administrative county....
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, where he also grew up. He took to athletics at a young age, representing his county as a sprinter, but was forced out of the sport by a leg injury that was to change his direction in life. Already inspired to play the drums, having acquired a drum kit in his teens, he teamed up in the early 1990s with Grant Nicholas
Grant Nicholas
Grant Nicholas is a Welsh musician, best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist of the rock band Feeder, along with bassist Taka Hirose and drummer Karl Brazil.-Early years:...
to form a band called "Temper Temper". Without much in the way of success, the two took to London to set up a new band called "Hum", but the true turning point came when a Japanese bassist called Taka Hirose
Taka Hirose
Takashi "Taka" Hirose is a Japanese musician who is the current bass guitarist for the rock band, Feeder.-Biography:...
answered an ad in "Loot
Daily Mail and General Trust
Daily Mail and General Trust plc is a British media conglomerate, one of the largest in Europe. In the UK, it has interests in national and regional newspapers, television and radio. The company has extensive activities based outside the UK, through Northcliffe Media, DMG Radio Australia, DMG World...
" magazine to form a new band called "Reel" and a record contract with the Echo Label followed in November 1994 when their name was "Real". From here the band changed their name to Feeder
Feeder
-Technology:* Feeder , any of several devices used in apiculture to supplement or replace natural food sources* Feeder , another name for a riser, a reservoir built into a metal casting mold to prevent cavities due to shrinkage...
named after Grant's goldfish.
Lee worked hard with the band, touring heavily, which included an exhausting 125 venue tour of the United States. There he met his wife to be, Tatiana Englehart, who also became the mother to his child, Cameron. Jon and Tatiana married in Miami in 2000, where the couple lived together.
Lee worked with Feeder throughout their major rise in success, including the band's first major hit album Echo Park
Echo Park (album)
-Personnel:*Taka Hirose – bass*Bob Ludwig – mastering*Grant Nicholas – guitar, keyboards, vocals, producer*Jon Lee – drums-Accolade:...
, and had recorded demos for most of the following record Comfort in Sound
Comfort in Sound
Comfort in Sound is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Feeder, released on October 21, 2002 and also the first to be released by the band after the suicide of drummer Jon Lee earlier in the year...
.
His first taste of mainstream success was on the 2001 breakthrough hit single "Buck Rogers", which is still played on UK rock music TV and radio stations, and still makes the all-time lists of many rock magazines and alternative radio stations today. An appearance on TV's Never Mind The Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game television show with a pop music theme, currently without a permanent presenter. It stars Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding as team captains. The show is produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC, and is usually aired on BBC Two...
followed. He would later win an award with the band when Feeder picked up "Best British Live Act" at the 2001 Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
awards.
He already gained a lot of critical success with the band, when Feeder's debut album Polythene
Polythene (album)
Polythene was the first full-length album by the Welsh rock band Feeder and was released 18 May 1997 on the Echo Label, and then re-issued on 28 October in the same year in an Enhanced CD version, featuring their UK top 40 breakthrough single "High" and its video...
released in 1997, was "Album of The Year" in Metal Hammer magazine.
Death
Lee committed suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
himself with a metal dog chain
Leash
A leash is a rope or similar material attached to the neck or head of an animal for restraint or control...
in 2002 at his Miami home. Four notes were found.
Feeder decided to continue, with Grant Nicholas
Grant Nicholas
Grant Nicholas is a Welsh musician, best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist of the rock band Feeder, along with bassist Taka Hirose and drummer Karl Brazil.-Early years:...
saying, "Jon would have wanted us to carry on." Former Skunk Anansie
Skunk Anansie
Skunk Anansie is an English rock band whose members include Skin , Cass , Ace and Mark Richardson .Skunk Anansie formed in March 1994, disbanded in 2001 and reformed in 2009...
, B.l.o.w.
B.l.o.w.
b.l.o.w. were a short-lived English blues rock band from the mid nineties. The band released one full album, Pigs , a "mini-album" called Man And Goat Alike and a collection of singles and live recordings.- Lineup :...
and Little Angels
Little Angels
Little Angels were a hard rock band of the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s.-History and members:Little Angels formed in Scarborough, England in 1984, under the name Mr Thrud. The founding members were Toby Jepson , Mark Plunkett , Dave Hopper and the brothers Bruce John and Jimmy Dickinson...
drummer Mark Richardson
Mark Richardson (musician)
Mark Richardson is an English drummer, of the UK rock band Skunk Anansie and formerly of Little Angels and Feeder.-Personal life:...
helped the band out on drum duties for 4th studio album "Comfort In Sound
Comfort in Sound
Comfort in Sound is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Feeder, released on October 21, 2002 and also the first to be released by the band after the suicide of drummer Jon Lee earlier in the year...
" before being made a permanent member for follow-up album "Pushing The Senses
Pushing the Senses
Pushing the Senses is the fifth album by the British rock band Feeder. It was released on Echo, Liberation Music and PIAS on 31 January 2005 in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, while being released on Pony Canyon in Japan on 10 February 2005...
" in 2005. Richardson later returned to a reformed Skunk Anansie in 2009, before Karl Brazil took over the drum stool. Nicholas later claimed that the chemistry he feels between himself and Brazil, is very much the same way that he felt with Jon.
With an increasingly successful music career, a supermodel wife and a young son, Lee's death was a surprise to the public and sparked a massive reaction in tributes to the drummer.
Lee's funeral took place at St. Mary's Church, Newport, on 18 January 2002, where thousands of fans showed up alongside family and friends to pay their own respects. Matt Page, Feeder's manager, read Do not stand at my grave and weep
Do not stand at my grave and weep
Do not stand at my grave and weep is a poem written in 1932 by Mary Elizabeth Frye. Although the origin of the poem was disputed until later in her life, Mary Frye's authorship was confirmed in 1998 after research by Abigail Van Buren, a newspaper columnist....
, as requested by Jon Lee's father, Norman.
Feeder's 1997 single "High" was also played during the ceremony which heard Grant Nicholas say this about his much missed friend:
Jon had such a taste for life, which makes this whole thing such a mystery to us all. He could be the life and soul of any party. Yet, quiet, sensitive and understanding to anyone that needed a friendly ear. I always felt there was a raging fire in his soul which he channelled into his drumming; showing no fear to anything he put his hand to....
Hope you are at peace now, Jon boy. Forever young. Your friend always.
Aftermath
The band's first official live appearances after Lee's death was at the Reading/Leeds FestivalsReading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
, which saw Grant dedicate "Quick Fade" to "absent friends". The band were invited by Melvin Benn, the owner of the festival to headline the first day of the main stage, before turning down the offer as they did not want to play such a high-placed slot so soon after Jon's death, so requested to play a much more low-key slot headlining the second stage. In 2003, frontman Grant Nicholas
Grant Nicholas
Grant Nicholas is a Welsh musician, best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist of the rock band Feeder, along with bassist Taka Hirose and drummer Karl Brazil.-Early years:...
dedicated the band's win for "Best British Band" at the Kerrang! awards to him, calling it the award he always wanted the band to win. In 2006 the band released a singles album, entitled The Singles
Feeder The Singles
The Singles is Feeder's second UK compilation album, following the limited release b-sides album Picture of Perfect Youth.The album has 18 of their UK top 40 hit single tracks , with the exception of "Day In Day Out" and "Find The Colour", and includes the limited edition Arena Tour single "Comfort...
in which Jon features on many of the album's tracks. The album quickly became a platinum seller.
In 2006, an unreleased and incomplete 1998 recording named "Uptight" was released as a b-side on "Lost and Found", after Grant Nicholas laid down the vocals eight years later after the demo was locked in the vaults. It features Jon Lee on the drums.