Lee Aaron
Lee Aaron (born Karen Lynn Greening on July 21, 1962, in Belleville, Ontario) is a Canadian rock and jazz singer. She had several hits in the 1980s and early 1990s such as "Metal Queen", "Whatcha Do to My Body", and "Sex with Love".Lee Aaron began singing in school musicals at the age of five. She was discovered singing in a music production when she was fifteen years old, and was asked to join a local rock group called "Lee Aaron" while still in high school in Brampton, Ontario. Aaron sang, played alto saxophone and keyboards in this first incarnation of the band.
At age seventeen, Aaron's face was badly bruised and her nose broken in a car accident. No surgery was required, but years later, in a profile on Aaron, Canadian Musician Magazine mistakenly embellished the incident into Aaron requiring complete facial reconstruction. The magazine printed a retraction in the following month's issue.
That same year, she signed with her first manager, Bob Connolly. Aaron was removed from playing any instruments and pulled centre stage to front the band.
Lee Aaron
Lee Aaron
Lee Aaron
Lee Aaron
1980s
Aaron's debut 1982 album The Lee Aaron Project on Freedom Records (later reissued on Attic) featured a who's who of the Toronto music scene, with members of Moxy, Riff Raff, Santers, and Triumph's Rik Emmett.[1] The album, available in England only as an import, created a groundswell of interest that resulted in Aaron's appearance that year at the Reading Festival.
In late 1982, Aaron flew to New York and posed topless for the men's magazine OUI. The magazine's March 1983 issue featured Aaron on the cover and in an interview. Aaron later concluded that posing for the magazine damaged her musical credibility; she regretted the decision and assigned blame for it to pressure from her manager.[6]
1984's recording of the album Metal Queen resulted in a multi-album deal with Attic Records. During the recording of Metal Queen, guitarist John Albani joined the band and he and Aaron formed a solid songwriting partnership that would last eleven years. Aaron walked out on her management deal with Connolly the following year.
Between 1984 and 1992, Aaron toured almost non-stop, including over twenty European tours and appearances in Japan and the US. She released six albums on Attic Records in Canada, as well as international releases in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Benelux, Italy, Scandinavia, Australia and Japan. She has won three Toronto Music Awards for Best Female Vocalist, ten Juno nominations,[7] and topped dozens of European music polls[citation needed].
Her greatest commercial success came with the release of Bodyrock in 1989. The album spawned several hit songs, including "Whatcha Do to My Body", and was certified double platinum in Canada.
1990s
In 1992, Aaron left Attic Records to start her own label, Hip Chic Music,[1] and released two more albums. On 1994's Emotional Rain (distributed by A & M Canada) Aaron worked with Don Short and Don Binns (Sons of Freedom), Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie's Tin Machine), and Knox Chandler (The Psychedelic Furs).[1]
1995's 2preciious was a project record written with members of Sons of Freedom. It was critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful,[1] as she tried to drop the name "Lee Aaron" entirely and use her real name, Karen.
In 1997, she began exploring jazz and blues.[1]
2000s
In 2000, she released Slick Chick, again on her own imprint, Barking Dog Music (with distribution by Fusion 3). Aaron played extensively for this release, showcasing at The Top of the Senator in Toronto and numerous jazz festivals across Canada and Europe.
In 2002, Aaron was approached to audition with the Modern Baroque Opera Company. She was cast and appeared that year in an ALCAN Performing Arts Award-winning production called 101 Songs for the Marquis De Sade.[1]
Her eleventh album, Beautiful Things, a pop-jazz hybrid, was released in 2004. Aaron and husband John Cody have two children: Angella,[9] born June 7, 2004 and Jett,[9] born January 7, 2006.
Lee Aaron continues to play both rock and selected jazz shows.
Discography
The Lee Aaron Project (1982) Freedom
Metal Queen (1984) Attic
Call of the Wild (1985) Attic
Lee Aaron (1987) Attic
Bodyrock (1989) Attic
Some Girls Do (1991) Attic
Powerline – The Best Of Lee Aaron (1992) Attic
Emotional Rain (1994) Hip Chic
2preciious (1996) Spastic Plastic
Slick Chick (2000) Barking Dog
Beautiful Things (2004) Faithful Productions
