Lee Hawkins Jr. is an American journalist and musician.

Early life

Hawkins grew up in

Maplewood, Minnesota Maplewood is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 42,088 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Maplewood is ten minutes' drive from downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul. ...

. His father, Lee Hawkins, Sr., is an

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

native. Hawkins attended the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, graduating with a degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

.Lee Hawkins profile
, ''The Wall Street Journal''

Journalism career

Hawkins began his career as a business reporter for the ''

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper and also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely read. It was purchased by the G ...

'' and the ''

Wisconsin State Journal The ''Wisconsin State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin. As of Septembe ...

''. Hawkins is a reporter and news editor for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. Since 2011 he has also done on-camera interviews for the ''WSJ'' website and their sister site ''WSJ Live''. He has interviewed celebrities from the business, sports and entertainment worlds, in many cases for a series of segments titled ''The Business of Celebrity w/ Lee Hawkins''. He is also a regular guest on

Fox Business Network Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American conservative business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios ...

. Hawkins' friend coined the term "NEWBOs", or "New Black Overclass", to describe a younger generation of wealthy and business-savvy

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

celebrities, but it was Hawkins who ran with the idea. In 2009 he presented the

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

special ''NEWBOs: The Rise of the New Black Overclass'', which profiled

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

Kirk Franklin Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American Gospel music, gospel musician. One of the List of best-selling gospel music artists, best-selling gospel music artists, his accolades include 20 Grammy Awards. ''Variety (magazine), Var ...

and

Terrell Owens Terrell Eldorado Owens (; born December 7, 1973), also known by his initials "T.O.", is an American former professional football wide receiver who played 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Regarded as one of the greatest wide rec ...

, among others. Hawkins is a member of the

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and professional organization of African Americans, African American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 197 ...

Musical career

Hawkins won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the R&B category in 2011 for his song "I Love You Woman". In 2012 he released the album ''Midnight Conversations'', which included the song. Hawkins had an on-camera interview with children's music group

The Wiggles The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. As of 2022, the group members are Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Tsehay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce (entertainer), John Pearce, Caterina Mete ...

in 2013 in which he ended up singing with the group. They invited him to sing onstage with them several days later. He then appeared on their 2014 DVD ''Wiggle House'', and was a guest singer (on " This Little Piggy Went to Market") on their 2014 album ''Apples and Bananas''. In 2015 Hawkins released the

Christmas album Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of carols, may employ lyrics about the nativity of Je ...

''Songs About the Birth of Jesus'', in which he sings with his father.

Publications

''I Am Nobody's Slave: How Uncovering My Family's History Set Me Free''. Amistad.ISBN 978-0-06-282316-8. 2024.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Lee People from Maplewood, Minnesota African-American journalists 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers The Wall Street Journal people University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni