Steve Lee (born Stefan Alois in

Horgen Horgen () is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is one of the larger towns along the south bank of the Lake of Zurich. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the mu ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, 5 August 1963 – 5 October 2010) was a Swiss musician, best known as the vocalist of the band Gotthard.

Biography

In 1979, Lee's first public concert took place at the Aula Magna of Lugano-Trevano, under the name Cromo, with Lee on vocals and drums; Gerard Garganigo on keyboards and vocals; Tiziano Lippmann on keyboards, synthesizers, and sequencers; Massimo Basso on bass and vocals; and Guido Gagliano on guitar and vocals. In 1988, Lee joined the group ''Forsale''. In 1992, in

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

, along with guitarist Leo Leoni, bassist Marc Lynn, and drummer Hena Habegger, Lee founded the band ''Krak''. Under the lead of bassist and founding member of ''Krokus'', Chris von Rohr, the band changed its name to ''Gotthard'', a name inspired by the

Gotthard Pass The Gotthard Pass or St. Gotthard Pass (; ) at is a mountain pass in the Alps traversing the Saint-Gotthard Massif and connecting northern Switzerland with southern Switzerland. The pass lies between Airolo in the Italian-speaking canton of Ti ...

. In 2007, Lee was contacted by

Arjen Anthony Lucassen Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer, best known for his long-running progressive metal/ rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as t ...

to feature on

Ayreon Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk music, f ...

's 2008 album ''

01011001 ''01011001'' is the seventh studio album by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's long-running Ayreon project. The title is the binary representation of the ASCII value of the letter ''Y''. ''01011001'' is a concept album that tells the story of aliens ca ...

''. He sang vocals, alongside other

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

and

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

singers. He spoke fluent Italian, German, English, and French. Steve Lee was killed in a motorcycle accident 10 miles south of

Mesquite, Nevada Mesquite is a city located in the northeast corner of Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, Nevada, United States adjacent to the Arizona state line and northeast of Las Vegas on Interstate 15 in Nevada, Interstate 15. As of the 2020 United State ...

on Interstate 15 when a

semi truck A semi-trailer truck (also known by a wide variety of other terms – see below) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer attaches to the tractor with a type of hitch called a ' ...

hit a parked motorcycle that subsequently struck and killed Lee. The Swiss band Blue Cold Ice Creams dedicated the song '' Moon of Midnight'' to him.

Discography

Influences

Lee's musical influences included

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 ...

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...

and

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

. Lee was especially fond of Whitesnake and based his singing style on that of their lead singer

David Coverdale David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the founder and lead singer of the hard rock band Whitesnake. Coverdale was also the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976; he has had a solo car ...

References

External links

Official Gotthard WebsiteOfficial condolence WebsiteNordic fan site with a lot of news, pictures and moreHeavy Harmonies page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Steve 1963 births 2010 deaths Motorcycle road incident deaths Road incident deaths in Nevada Swiss rock musicians Swiss male singers Swiss heavy metal singers English-language singers from Switzerland Swiss people of British descent People from Horgen