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", "Whatcha Do to My Body", and "Sex with Love".

Early life

Aaron was born as Karen Lynn Greening in

Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its populat ...

, and began singing in school musicals at the age of five. She attended

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Brampton, Ontario Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it ...

. 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 called "Lee Aaron". She sang, played

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B t ...

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 ''The Lee Aaron Project'' is the first studio album by singer Lee Aaron, released in 1982 through Freedom Records. It was reissued on 18 May 1984 through Attic Records as ''Lee Aaron'' (not to be confused with her 1987 self-titled album).

'', in 1982 on Freedom Records; it was later reissued on Attic. The album featured well-known musicians of the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

music scene, including members of Moxy, Rif Raf3 (Q107 Homegrown Vol 4 / Lee Aaron Project band), Santers, and

Triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

Rik Emmett Richard Gordon Emmett (born July 10, 1953) is a vocalist, guitarist, and member of the Canadian rock band Triumph. Career Emmett left Triumph in 1988 to pursue a solo career. His first solo album, '' Absolutely'', was released in 1990 and bec ...

."Lee Aaron: Portrait Of A Survivor"
''FYI Music News'', Sep 29, 2016 by Kerry Doole Although the album was available in the UK only as an import, Aaron was invited to appear later that year at the

Reading Festival 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. The Reading Festiv ...

. In late 1982, Aaron flew to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

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 Queen'' is the second studio album by singer Lee Aaron, released on February 24, 1984 through Attic Records. It reached #69 on the ''RPM'' Canadian Albums Chart and held that position for two weeks.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 ten Juno nominations. Her 1985 album '' Call Of The Wild'' featured her well-known rock ballad "Barely Holdin On". Her most commercially successful album was '' Bodyrock'', 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 Reeves Gabrels (born June 4, 1956) is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. A member and guitarist of British band the Cure since 2012, Gabrels worked with David Bowie from 1987 to 1999, and was a member of the band Tin Machine. ...

(

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

Tin Machine Tin Machine were a British–American rock band formed in 1988, and fronted by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. The band consisted of Bowie on lead vocals, saxophone and guitar; Reeves Gabrels on guitar and vocals; Tony Fox Sales on ba ...

), and

Knox Chandler Knox Chandler is an American musician known primarily as a guitarist, though he also plays cello, keyboards and other instruments. He has worked extensively as a session musician. In the early to mid-1970s, Chandler attended the Hammonasset Scho ...

(

the Psychedelic Furs The Psychedelic Furs are a post-punk band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk scen ...

). 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.Nielsen Business Media, Inc
"Metal Queen Aaron takes Detour"
''Billboard''. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.; 24 June 2000.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...

&nbs
0006-2510
p. 97–. 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'', 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'', 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''. 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."Rockingham United Festival"
Review by Kimmo Toivonen, October 2016. 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.

Discography

Albums

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...''

Singles

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aaron, Lee 1962 births Attic Records (Canada) artists Canadian women heavy metal singers Canadian women jazz singers Canadian women rock singers Canadian women guitarists Canadian women songwriters Living people People from Belleville, Ontario Singers from Ontario 20th-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian women singers