AES New York 2015 Presenter or Author
Will Lee
Primary Affiliation: Musician - Nashville, TN, USA
To say that Grammy Award-winning Will Lee has done it all in the music business would be quite an understatement. Perhaps best known as bassist for over three decades on The Late Show with David Letterman, he holds the world’s record for longest-running bassist on late night television.
Will has also lent his considerable talents to well over 1,700 pop, jazz and rock albums including those by Mariah Carey, Carly Simon, Steely Dan, Cat Stevens, Michael Bolton, Ringo Starr, Frankie Valli, Laura Nyro, Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine, Sadao Watanabe, Pat Metheny, Nancy Wilson, Luther Vandross, Cyndi Lauper, Ray Davies, Chaka Khan, James Brown, George Benson, Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Cher, D'Angelo, Billy Joel, Weather Report, Al Green, the Brecker Brothers, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ricky Martin, Natalie Cole and Gato Barbieri. He has sung and played on an equal number of TV and radio commercials (he was the voice of Teddy Grahams, Stroh’s Beer, The US Army “Be All That You Can Be”) as well as many movie soundtracks.
Will performed at Live Aid with The Thompson Twins and, with The CBS Orchestra, is in the house band for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. He has toured with Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Horace Silver, The Brecker Brothers and Herbie Mann. He has played with Miles Davis, Phil Woods, Dizzy Gillespie, and was held in Charlie Parker’s arms as a baby. Will also has the enviable position of having performed or recorded with all 4 of the Beatles, which is pretty thrilling for a guy who is a founding member of the world’s premier Beatles band, The Fab Faux!
Will is an inductee in the Musician’s Hall of Fame in Nashville, and has a permanent display (www.musicianshalloffame.com). His latest solo album is Love, Gratitude and Other Distractions, a previous release OH! and a jazz album, BirdHouse, with his father, Bill are also available on iTunes, Amazon and at CDBaby.
Session List
Oct 31:
GRAMMY SoundTable: After Hours—Mixing for Late Night New York (Moderator)