Lee Aaron

Biography

Lee Aaron (born Karen Lynn Greening; July 21, 1962) is a Canadian rock singer. She had several hits in the 1980s and early 1990s, such as "Metal Queen×Metal Queen1984 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Metal Queen5:032Lady of the Darkest Night4:533Head Above Water3:434Got to Be the One5:175Shake It Up3:116Deceiver3:277Steal Away Your Love4:228Hold Out3:419Breakdown3:3910We Will Be Rockin'3:28", "Whatcha Do to My Body", and "Sex with Love".

Early life

Aaron was born as Karen Lynn Greening in Belleville, Ontario, and began singing in school musicals at the age of five. She attended high school in Brampton, Ontario.
At age seventeen, Aaron was in a car accident. No surgery was required, but she did suffer a broken nose and badly bruised her face. However, years later Canadian Musician Magazine mistakenly embellished the incident into Aaron requiring complete facial reconstruction. The magazine printed a retraction in the following month's issue.

Career

After singing in a music production when she was fifteen years old, she was asked to join a local rock group, which the members including Karen would name "Lee Aaron". The members placed random names into a hat and drawn by the young musicians. She sang, played alto saxophone and keyboards in this first incarnation of the band, and took on the stage name of Lee Aaron.

1980s

Aaron recorded her debut album, The Lee Aaron Project, in 1982 on Freedom Records; it was later reissued on Attic. The album featured well-known musicians of the Toronto music scene, including members of Moxy, Rif Raf3 (Q107 Homegrown Vol 4 / Lee Aaron Project band), Santers, and Triumph's Rik Emmett. Although the album was available in the UK only as an import, Aaron was invited to appear later 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.
1984's recording of the album Metal Queen×Metal Queen1984 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Metal Queen5:032Lady of the Darkest Night4:533Head Above Water3:434Got to Be the One5:175Shake It Up3:116Deceiver3:277Steal Away Your Love4:228Hold Out3:419Breakdown3:3910We Will Be Rockin'3:28 resulted in a multi-album deal with Attic Records. During the recording of Metal Queen, guitarist John Albani (ex-Wrabit) joined the band and he and Aaron formed a solid songwriting partnership that lasted eleven years.
Between 1984 and 1992, Aaron toured extensively through Europe and made appearances in Japan and the United States. She released six albums on Attic Records in Canada and international releases in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux, Italy, Scandinavia, Australia and Japan. She won three Toronto Music Awards for Best Female Vocalist and was nominated for Juno awards sixteen times. She amassed zero wins. Her 1985 album Call Of The Wild×Call of the Wild27 June 1985 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1Rock Me All Over3:57A2Runnin' From the Fire3:00A3Champion4:17A4Barely Holdin' On4:42A5Burnin' Love3:42B1Line of Fire4:24B2Beat 'em Up3:04B3Paradise3:26B4Evil Game3:52B5Danger Zone3:11B6Hot to Be Rocked3:27 featured her well-known rock ballad "Barely Holdin On".
Her most commercially successful album was Bodyrock×Bodyrock1989 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Nasty Boyz4:062Yesterday4:513Gotta Thing for You4:064Rock Candy4:115Tough Girls Don't Cry4:406Sweet Talk6:027Rock the Hard Way3:478Shame4:519Whatcha Do to My Body4:4610Hands On4:1511Rebel Angel4:1912How Deep5:12, released in 1989. The album included 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 label, Hip Chic Music, and released two more albums. On 1994's Emotional Rain (distributed by A & M Canada), Aaron recorded with Don Short and Don Binns (Sons of Freedom), Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie's Tin Machine), and Knox Chandler (the Psychedelic Furs).
1995's 2preciious was a project record written with members of Sons of Freedom, in which she dropped the name "Lee Aaron" entirely and used her real name, Karen. Neither of these recordings was commercially successful, and shortly afterwards, the Sons broke up.
Aaron studied acting for a year before beginning to perform jazz and blues in Toronto with Dennis Ziebart.

2000s

In 2000, Aaron released a jazz album, Slick Chick×Slick Chick2000 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1He Ain't Got Rhythm3:252Evil Gal Blues3:343I'd Love To3:084Why Don't You Do Right3:585Chaser for the Blues5:066Doodlin'3:517Slick Chick3:018TV Is the Thing This Year3:029In the Dark4:4810Twisted2:5311Teach Me Tonight5:0612Small Day Tomorrow / Tell Him I Said Hello11:56, on her imprint, Barking Dog Music, with distribution by Fusion 3. She performed extensively in support of this release, showcasing at The Top of the Senator in Toronto and various 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.
Her eleventh album, Beautiful Things×Beautiful Things2004 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Museum4:162Joan of Arc3:593The Why Song3:274Boy Glory4:295Faith, Hope, Truth, Love4:356Private Billie Holiday4:387Heart Shaped Whole3:228Handcuffed to a Fence in Mississippi5:059Beautiful Things3:5810Lo & Behold3:1411Silent Serenade4:3212Do I Move You5:49, a pop-jazz hybrid, was released in 2004.
Aaron continued to play rock and selected jazz shows; in 2011 she made her first appearance in Sweden at the Sweden Rock Festival.
In March, 2016, Lee Aaron released her first all-rock album in 20 years. Self-financed and released on her own Big Sister Records, the new album was entitled Fire And Gasoline×Fire and Gasoline2016 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Tom Boy3:582Fire and Gasoline4:003Wanna Be3:054Bittersweet4:495Popular4:03650 Miles4:317Bad Boyfriend3:268Heart Fix5:399Nothing Says Everything3:3710If You Don’t Love Me Anymore4:2311Find the Love6:35. Later that year she was inducted into the Brampton Arts Walk Of Fame. She then went on to appear at the Rockingham 2016 melodic/hard rock festival in Nottingham, United Kingdom.
In 2017, Lee Aaron played a number of shows in Germany as well as an appearance at Bang Your Head Festivals and two separate gigs in London and Wolverhampton.

Compilations

1992: Powerline: The Best of Lee Aaron, Attic
2005: Museum: Videos, Clips and More 1997–2005
2008: Rarities, Studio & Live: 1981–2008
2012: Live in Sweden (DVD)
2012: Radio Hitz and More...