David Lee

Pianist, orchestra leader, arranger, songwriter and film composer, David Lee was born in Newington, London on 12 August 1926 (not 1929 or 1930 as some references give). His father Joseph was a professional photographer, and during the war was transferred to the North East to work on camouflaging military equipment. The family re-located to Whitley Bay, and it was here that David started to perform in local groups. His big break came in 1942 when he won the Melody Maker poll for best new jazz pianist. Moving to South Africa in 1947 he worked as resident musician for night clubs in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg, then studied at the Johannesburg Conservatory of Music gaining a Mus.Bac. In 1954 David Lee invited Johnny Dankworth to perform in South Africa, and it was Dankworth who persuaded him to return to England as pianist/arranger for the Johnny Dankworth band. David also performed with Terry and McGhee, the Buddy Tate Quartet and Jack Parnell. He also arranged for many big show business names, including Norman Wisdom, Benny Hill and Judy Garland. From 1959 he led the Dave Lee Trio who recorded a number of successful albums. David Lee's composing career began in the 1950s writing jingles for television ads, some 700 in all, after which he teamed up with lyricist Herbert Kretzmer. Their hit songs included Bangers and Mash (1961, sung by Peter Sellers), Goodness Gracious Me (1960, for Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren) and Kinky Boots (1990, for Honor Blackman and Patrick Macnee). They also wrote the West End stage musical Our Man Crichton in 1964. David worked on BBC satirical shows such as That Was the Week That Was (1962) and I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again (1964). His film music career began in 1960 with low budget features, but gradually he progressed to fine orchestral scores for important movies, his most notable being Masque of the Red Death (1964) for Roger Corman. In 1983 David was elected BBC Jazz Society Musician of the Year, and in 1990 was one of the founders of jazz-only radio station Jazz FM. Still busy in his 80th year, his novel Promised Lands about a fictional jazz pianist is due for publication in 2006.