Michael Lee (born Michael Gary Pearson; 19 November 1969 – 24 November 2008) was an English

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 ...

best known for touring and recording in the 1990s with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

Biography

Born in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

, Lee started his professional career as drummer with

Little Angels Little Angels were an English hard rock band predominantly active between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. The band reformed to play the Download Festival#2012, 2012 Download Festival. History 1984–1994: Early history and UK popularity Little A ...

, a band from Scarborough who became one of the primary British rock acts of the early 1990s. Lee was replaced in

during their ''Young Gods'' tour by Mark Richardson, after it was discovered he had auditioned for

the Cult The Cult are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band had performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead vocalist Ian Astbury ...

behind their backs. He went on to play the full ''

Ceremony A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil ...

'' world tour with the Cult in 1991 and 1992. After playing with the Cult, he would go on to work with Echo & the Bunnymen and the reformed version of Thin Lizzy. Lee also worked with many other bands including Holosade (with whom he received his first album recording credit as "Damian Lee"), Alaska, and Sweet Janes. Ultimately, it would be his work with

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

frontman

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...

that garnered him the highest profile. As a result of his work on Plant's solo material, he was invited to continue this collaboration when Plant re-joined forces with

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

. Lee became the drummer for their touring and recording band, Page and Plant, and received writing credit for all songs on the band's 1998 album '' Walking into Clarksdale''. Lee also toured with Jeff Martin and played drums on Martin's solo

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 ...

, '' Exile and the Kingdom''. He also co-operated on the 2006 Ian Gillan album, '' Gillan's Inn''. Similarly to Led Zeppelin's

John Bonham John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician who was the drummer of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Noted for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove, John Bonh ...

, Lee used large

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

sizes, something he attributed to his 6'5" height. His

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...

was 26" in diameter, and his

snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...

was a brass 14" x 14" shell.

Death

Lee was found dead in his flat on 24 November 2008, having suffered a fatal

epileptic seizure A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...

. His funeral took place the following week in his hometown of Darlington, and was attended by former bandmates Toby Jepson and

References

1969 births 2008 deaths People from Darlington English rock drummers English male songwriters Neurological disease deaths in England Deaths from epilepsy People with epilepsy Page and Plant members {{drummer-stub