Lee Eugene Michaels (born Michael Lee Olson, November 24, 1945) is an American rock musician who sings and accompanies himself on

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, or

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

. He is best known for his 1971 Top 10 US

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

, " Do You Know What I Mean". In 1988 he founded the

Marina del Rey, California Marina del Rey ( Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The eponymous harbor is a major boating and water recreation destination of the Greater Los Angeles ar ...

-based restaurant chain Killer Shrimp which he and his family continue to operate to this day.

Career

Music

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States, Michaels began his career with The Sentinals, a

San Luis Obispo, California ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

-based surf group that included drummer Johny Barbata (later of

The Turtles The Turtles are an America, American Band (rock and pop), rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby (song), ...

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...

and

Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight RIAA certification, gold or Music rec ...

). Michaels joined Barbata in the Joel Scott Hill Trio, a group led by guitarist Joel Scott Hill. Michaels later moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where he joined an early version of The Family Tree, a band led by Bob Segarini. In 1967, he signed a contract with

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

, releasing his debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''Carnival of Life,'' later that year with David Potter on drums. As a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

, he played with

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

, among others. Michaels' choice of the

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

as his primary instrument was unusual for the time, as was his bare-bones stage and

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

accompaniment: usually with just a single

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

most often a musician known as "Frosty," (real name Bartholomew Smith-Frost), who was a member of Sweathog, and whose barehanded technique was an inspiration for John Bonham,Bartholomew Eugene Smith-Frost is based in Texas, where he continues to perform as Barry Smith or B.E. "Frosty" Smith
Experience Summary
; Soulhat.net

Frostysmith.tripod.com. or with Joel Larson of The Grass Roots. This unorthodox approach attracted a following in San Francisco, and some critical notice. ('' Sounds Magazine,'' for one, reported of Michaels that he had been called "the ultimate power organist.") But Michaels did not achieve real commercial success until the release of his fifth album. That album, titled '' 5th'' and released in 1971, produced a surprise US Top 10 hit (No. 6 in late 1971), "Do You Know What I Mean." It was an autobiographical homage to the loss of a girlfriend. ''Billboard'' ranked "Do You Know What I Mean" as the No. 19 song for 1971. Michaels's Top 40 follow-up, a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

standard, "

Can I Get a Witness "Can I Get a Witness" is a song composed by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland and produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier as a non-album single for American recording vocalist Marvin Gaye, who issued the record on Motown's T ...

," peaked at No. 39 on Christmas Day 1971, eight years to the week after Marvin Gaye's version peaked at No. 22. Michaels recorded two more albums for A&M before signing a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

in 1973. With his Columbia recordings failing to generate much interest, Michaels went into semi-retirement from the

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

by the end of the decade. In 1991, Michaels obtained full rights to all of his A&M recordings in a settlement of disputes that had arisen from A&M granting licenses to Delicious Vinyl for the use of Michaels's recordings by means of digital sampling on several

Young MC Marvin Young (born May 10, 1967), better known by his stage name Young M.C., is an American rapper, singer and actor. He is best known for his 1989 hit " Bust a Move". His debut album '' Stone Cold Rhymin found international acclaim. Young h ...

recordings. Once he had regained full ownership rights, Michaels granted licenses to

Rhino Records A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

and

Shout Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

to release several "best of" albums over the years. Starting in November 2015,

Manifesto Records Manifesto Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California that has released records by Dead Kennedys, Tim Buckley, Cinerama (band), Cinerama, Concrete Blonde, Cranes (band), Cranes, The Czars, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Lilys, ...

has been re-releasing his entire catalog of A&M and Columbia recordings on compact disc and vinyl through to February 2016.

Restaurateur

Lee opened his family-owned restauran
Killer Shrimp
which he founded in 1988 in

. He still operates the restaurant today. It has since expanded to Killer Sushi, Killer Cafe, and Killer Yacht Club.

Discography

Studio albums + live album

Singles

Compilation CDs

* ''The Lee Michaels Collection'' (Rhino, 1992) * ''The Best of Lee Michaels'' (One Way, 1997) * ''Hello: The Very Best of Lee Michaels'' (Shout Factory, 2004) * ''Heighty Hi: The Best of Lee Michaels'' (Manifesto, 2015) * ''The Complete A&M Albums Collection'' -CD set(Manifesto, 2015)

References

External links

Lee Michaels Biography on allmusic.com Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

Lee Michaels MySpace tribute page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaels, Lee 1945 births Living people American rock singers A&M Records artists Columbia Records artists ABC Records artists American rock keyboardists American male organists American rock pianists American male pianists American rock guitarists American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American organists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 20th-century American keyboardists American male singer-songwriters