Ben Lee (born 14 September 1980) is a British electric violinist, composer and producer. He is one half of the electric violin band FUSE with Linzi Stoppard. In 2010, Lee set a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for "world's fastest violinist" by playing "

Flight of the Bumblebee "Flight of the Bumblebee" () is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) for his opera '' The Tale of Tsar Saltan'', composed in 1899–1900. This perpetuum mobile is intended to musically evoke the seemingl ...

" in 64.21 seconds,

Hilary Hahn Hilary Hahn (born November 27, 1979) is an American violinist. A three-time Grammy Award winner, she has performed throughout the world as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors, and as a recitalist. She is an avid supporter of contemp ...

Ling Ling Workouts: * * and later set the record for "fastest electric violinist" in 2013. He had also previously held the Guinness World Record as the world's fastest violin player for four years.

Early life

Lee was born on 14 September 1980 in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. When Lee was 11, he won a competition on the television show "The Children's Channel" on

BskyB Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers ...

. Lee was awarded the "

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

Young Jazz Composer of the Year" at 16.

Career

Before FUSE

Lee attended the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

from 1999 to 2003, studying violin and film music composition. While studying, Lee found work as a session musician, recording for many artists, including

The Beta Band The Beta Band are a Scottish musical group formed in 1996. Their style is described as being a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, post-rock and trip hop, often involving stylistic experimentation and occasional humour. They were praised ...

Razorlight Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Dalem ...

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. They comprise lead singer Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley. The co-founder and original bassist Andy Nicholson ...

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

Emmy the Great Emma-Lee Moss (born 4 November 1983), known by her stage name Emmy the Great, is an English singer-songwriter. She has released four studio albums, '' First Love'', ''Virtue'', ''Second Love'' and ''April / 月音''. She sings in English and ...

Goldfrapp Goldfrapp were an English electronic music duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consisted of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesiser) and Will Gregory (synthesiser). Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, thei ...

Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), commonly known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sporty Spice. W ...

Lightspeed Champion Devonté Hynes (born David Joseph Michael Hynes, 23 December 1985), also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, composer and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, ...

, White Lies, Qemists, and

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, record producer, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album '' Back to Black'' (2006), as well as two for Record ...

. He has also led the

Heritage Orchestra ] The Heritage Orchestra is a British orchestra founded in 2004 under the artistic direction of Christopher Wheeler, Chris Wheeler. The orchestra perform a mix of styles and genres and are known as the premiere non-classical orchestra in the UK ...

. In 2005, Lee formed electric string quartet Eclipse which supported

McFly McFly are a British pop rock band formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the ''Back to the Future (franchise), Back to the Future'' character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Da ...

on the "Wonderland" tour of the same year.

FUSE

At the end of 2007 Ben joined Linzi Stoppard to form the electric violin duo known as ''FUSE''. In 2009, FUSE signed a record deal with

Edel AG Edel SE & Co. KGaA is a German independent media company based in Hamburg. As a label and publishing group, it also operates marketing and sales for artists and smaller music labels. The repertoire of the Edel labels includes dance, rock and p ...

Records, releasing their debut album "FUSE" the following year. In the summer of 2009, Lee was involved in a traffic accident in which he was run over by a truck whilst cycling. He suffered damage to his right hand and wrist. His bandmate Stoppard inspired his rehabilitation by challenging him to set the Guinness World Record for "Fastest Violinist". Lee appeared on

The Alan Titchmarsh Show ''The Alan Titchmarsh Show'' is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 until 14 November 2014 and aired on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" th ...

on UK TV to make the attempt. He broke the record a week later setting a time of 64.21 seconds. In December 2010, Lee again broke the record set by

David Garrett David Garrett Christian Bongartz (born 4 September 1980), known by his stage name David Garrett, is a German classical and crossover violinist and recording artist. Early life When Garrett was four years old his father purchased a violin f ...

, with the time of 58.515 seconds. FUSE have performed at many events and concerts around the world, including C Music TV's European launch event at the 2008

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

Television festival, the 2009

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society () is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with 1 ...

International Fundraising Committee Gala Bal. ''Fashion for the Brave'' in London for

Help for Heroes Help for Heroes is a British charity which supports members of the British Armed Forces community with their physical and mental health, as well as their financial, social and welfare needs. The charity was founded in 2007 by Bryn and Emma Parry ...

, the Household Cavalry Operational Casualties Fund, and ''ABF – The Soldiers Charity''. In December 2010, Lee headlined at the Istanbul "Classical Crossover" festival with FUSE. In 2012, Lee appeared on The Discovery Channel's show, "Superhuman Showdown" and was named "Ultimate Superhuman". Lee was examined by a panel of sports scientists and neuroscientists including H. A. Berlin.

Music for screen

Lee has also contributed original music to film, television commercials and fashion shows, notably

Sam Taylor Wood Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson ( Taylor-Wood; born 1967) is a British filmmaker. Her directorial feature film debut was 2009's ''Nowhere Boy'', a film based on the childhood experiences of the Beatles' singer and songwriter John Lennon. She is ...

's "Nowhere Boy" feature film,

Katie Grand Katie Grand (born April 1971) is a British stylist, creative director and fashion journalist. She founded the fashion magazine ''LOVE'' in 2009, followed by fashion bible and creative agency ''Perfect'' in 2020. Early life and education Katie ...

's "A Kind of Blue" for

Armani Giorgio Armani S.p.A. (), commonly known as Armani, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in Milan by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, accessories, and ...

starring

Kelly Brook Kelly Brook (born Kelly Anne Parsons, 23 November 1979) is an English model, actress, and media personality. She began her career modelling for a range of advertising campaigns, which led to her discovery by the editorial team of the '' Daily ...

and fashion shows for

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen (brand), Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His ac ...

References

External links

FUSE official website

Ben Lee website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Ben English violinists British male violinists Living people 1980 births 21st-century British violinists 21st-century British male musicians