Leon Drucker (born August 3, 1961), professionally known as Lee Rocker is an American musician. He is a member of the

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

band Stray Cats. He is the son of the classical clarinetists Stanley Drucker, the late former principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and Naomi Drucker. As a child, he played the

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and later learned

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

Biography

Personal life

Lee Rocker was born Leon Drucker in Massapequa,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York, to a Jewish family in 1961. He is the son of classical clarinetists Stanley and Naomi Drucker. Stanley Drucker was the principal clarinetist for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and played with

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...

and Aaron Copland. His sister Roseanne is a country music singer-songwriter. At age 12, Rocker picked up the

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

but quickly developed a preference for playing the

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

as his instrument of choice. He credits records by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

and

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

for his new inclination "The slap bass on those records blew me away!" Rocker's favorite bass player is

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

. He married his wife Deborah in 1989. She is the daughter of

Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...

watchmaking pioneer, Severin Wunderman. In the fall of 2013, she launched her own eponymous fashion line. They reside in Laguna Beach, California with their two children. Rocker is a fan of the Lakers and the Angels.

Career

Drucker's school friends included James McDonnell and Brian Setzer. The three of them played together regularly and widened their musical interests to include the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

. Drucker also learned to play the double bass to incorporate the sounds of blues and rockabilly on the acoustic instrument. The three of them formed the group Stray Cats in 1979. McDonnell took on the stage name of " Slim Jim Phantom", and Drucker devised his own stage name to "Lee Rocker". Rocker evolved his own style of slap-bass playing with the group. Rocker and Stray Cats sold nearly 10 million albums and garnered twenty three

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and platinum certified records worldwide, and made them a mainstay on MTV. In addition to Stray Cats, Lee Rocker, and Phantom, Rocker & Slick albums, Rocker has recorded or performed with

, George Harrison,

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

, Leon Russell, Keith Richards, John Fogerty, and Scotty Moore. Rocker was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

in 1982, as was his father, they are the second father-son duo to be nominated for a Grammy in the same year. He is considered to be an influential upright bassist in

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

Accompanied by Slim Jim Phantom and guitarist Earl Slick, Rocker formed the band Phantom, Rocker & Slick and recorded two albums for EMI Records titled ''Phantom, Rocker & Slick'' and ''Cover Girl''. The song "Men Without Shame" landing Rocker back on MTV and in the charts. For Black Top Records, Rocker released the albums ''Big Blue'' (1994) and ''Atomic Boogie Hour'' (1995). He has also recorded for Alligator Records. He released the album, ''Bulletproof,'' in 2003. His other albums included ''Black Cat Bone'', released in August 2007, which featured Brophy Dale on guitar and Jimmy Sage on drums. Buzz Campbell (Hot Rod Lincoln and Sha Na Na) joined the band three years prior and gave them a Gretsch guitar sound. In 2011, Lee released an EP called ''The Cover Sessions'' which features cover versions of songs such as the

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

song " Come Together",

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

's " Honky Cat", and the Allman Brothers song " Ramblin' Man". In addition to recording and touring, Rocker has hosted a radio show on KXFM, ''Rumble and Twang with Lee Rocker''. Lee Rocker joined the cast of the Broadway hit '' Million Dollar Quartet'' as bassist Clayton Perkins, the brother of Sun Records recording artist

in a twelve-show run from January 21 through 31, 2011. He topped off the show with a special encore performance with the cast and an appearance on ''New York Today''. Lee Rocker's latest band consists of Buzz Campbell (

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

), Larry Mitchel (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

), and Phil Parlapiano (

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 ...

, accordion,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

''The Low Road'' (2018–2019)

Lee's latest album ''The Low Road'' was recorded live with his four-piece band at Daryl's House in Pawling, NY (a listening room venue owned by Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates). Initially, it was released via physical prints of CD/ DVDs &

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

in December 2018. It was released via digital streaming on August 9, 2019

''40'' & reunion tour with Stray Cats (2018–2019)

After a ten-year hiatus from Stray Cats, Rocker reunited on stage with Setzer and Phantom in 2018 at the Viva Las Vegas Festival and a 2019 summer world tour was announced. The Stray Cats released their tenth studio album '' 40'' in May 2019.

"Dog House Shuffle" (2019)

On October 29, 2019, Billboard.com premiered Rocker's latest single and music video for "Dog House Shuffle". In an interview with the magazine, Rocker said about the song: "It's a tribute in a lot of ways...It's a song I wrote over the last couple of months. I was thinking about my career with 40 years of Stray Cats and all of that and thinking about the upright bass, which is what started this thing. It takes me back to the opening line of the song -- which is "Took me 'round the world and I changed my name/found a little fortune, found a little fame/Doin' the dog house shuffle"—which is right out of my story. Dog House is what they call the upright bass, so it's a tribute to the bass itself and a lot of the players that I came up listening to." On October 30, 2019, "Dog House Shuffle" was officially released on all digital platforms.

Awards and honors

In 2013, Rocker received a Lifetime Achievement Award from '' Bass Player'' magazine and gave master classes in London and Los Angeles. He is a member of the Long Island Music Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Visionary Artist Award from the Laguna Beach Arts Council.

Discography

* ''Lee Rocker's Big Blue'' (1994) * ''Atomic Boogie Hour'' (1995) * ''No Cats'' (1998) * ''Lee Rocker Live'' (1999) * ''Blue Suede Nights'' (2001) * ''Bulletproof'' (2003) * ''Upright and Kickin' '' (2003) * ''Burnin' Love: The Best of Lee Rocker'' (2004) * ''The Curse of Rockabilly'' (2005) * ''Racin' the Devil'' (2006) * ''Black Cat Bone'' (2007) * ''The Cover Sessions'' (2011) * ''Night Train to Memphis'' (2012) * ''The Low Road'' (2019) * ''Gather Round'' (2021)

References

External links

* *
Lee Rocker Interview
at NAMM Oral History Collection (2014) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rocker, Lee 1961 births Living people American expatriates in the United Kingdom 20th-century American Jews People from Massapequa, New York Stray Cats members American rockabilly musicians American double-bassists American male double-bassists Black Top Records artists Slap bassists (double bass) Rock double-bassists 21st-century American double-bassists 21st-century American Jews