- Amos Lee
Infobox musical artist
Name = Amos Lee
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Background = solo_singer
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Origin =Philadelphia ,Pennsylvania
Instrument =
Genre =Jazz fusion , Soul, Folk,Blues
Occupation =Singer-songwriter ,guitarist
Years_active = 2004 – present
Label = Blue Note
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URL = [http://www.amoslee.com AmosLee.com]
Notable_instruments =Amos Lee (born
1978 ) is asinger-songwriter andguitarist fromPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania . His musical style encompasses folk,soul , andjazz . He has released threealbum s onBlue Note Records , "Amos Lee", "Supply and Demand" and "Last Days at the Lodge". He has been on tour with musicians such asBob Dylan ,Elvis Costello ,Norah Jones ,Paul Simon , andMerle Haggard . Lee performs withdrummer Fred Berman andbassist Jaron Olevsky. Some of his musical influences includeStevie Wonder ,John Prine ,Bill Withers , andJames Taylor .Early life
Born in 1978, Lee grew up in
Philadelphia ,Pennsylvania and Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He graduated fromCherry Hill High School East . [Moon, Tom. [http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22Amos+Lee%22+%22cherry+hill%22++east+graduate&btnG=Search+Archives&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&um=1 "Philadelphia's emerging musical talents"] , "The Philadelphia Inquirer ",January 26 ,2003 . AccessedOctober 17 ,2007 .] He enrolled at theUniversity of South Carolina in 1995, graduating with an English degree. While attending the university, Lee's stepfather gave him an acoustic guitar. Lee also found a job at a record store that specialized in jazz musicians, where he picked up an affinity forThelonious Monk andMiles Davis .cite news|last=Gitlin|first=Lauren|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/amoslee/articles/story/7092465/10_artists_to_watch_amos_lee |title=10 Artists to Watch: Amos Lee|publisher=Rolling Stone |date=March 10 2005 ] After college, he moved back to Philadelphia and taught elementary school for two years, but later made the decision to stop teaching in order to pursue a career in music. Lee released a self-produced EP that featured five songs in 2003, and was signed byBlue Note Records soon afterward. The EP sold well in Philadelphia, catching the attention ofNorah Jones . Jones invited Lee to open for her on her 2004 tour. Lee has also taken part in shows withBob Dylan ,Van Morrison ,Paul Simon andJohn Prine [Winter,Miller. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/arts/music/04amos.html?scp=2&sq=amos+lee&st=nyt "A Ready-Made Idol? Nope, Just a Folkie Happy to Play His Music] ,The New York Times ,October 04 ,2006 .]Musical career
Debut album
Lee Alexander, the bassist in
Norah Jones ' band, produced Amos Lee's self-titled debut album, which was released in March 2005. Norah Jones made an appearance on several of the tracks, playing piano and contributing vocals. The album found significant commercial success, hitting a peak of #2 on the "Billboard"Top Heatseekers chart. [cite news|title=Top Heatseekers|publisher=Billboard |date=June 10 2006 ] Later that month he was named one of "Rolling Stone "'s "Top 10 Artists to Watch." To promote the album, Lee performed on popular television shows such as "The Late Show with David Letterman ", "The Tonight Show ", "Total Request Live ", and "Austin City Limits ",cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1821225/|title=Internet Movie Database: Amos Lee Accessed October 3, 2006] the latter onAugust 10 2005 , which was also aired on PBS onNovember 11 of that year. In March and April of 2005, Lee opened forMerle Haggard andBob Dylan . Lee's song "Colors" was featured on "House" [cite web
url = http://www.have-dog.com/house/
title = play.house
accessdate = 2006-10-01
language = English] and on the finale of the second season of "Grey's Anatomy ". [cite web|url=http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/music?pn=mguide&ep=27&s=2|title=ABC.com Grey's Anatomy: Music GuideAccessed October 1, 2006] It was also used in the 2005 movie "Just Like Heaven," which featured Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. The songs "Colors" and "Sympathize" were also used in episodes of the first season of abc's "Brothers & Sisters". Lee's songs "Shout Out Loud" and "Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight" were both used during the ABC show "Six Degrees ." "Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight" was also heard during NBC's "Studio 60 ." NBC also utilised Lee's "Seen It All Before" on an episode of their widely-acclaimed "ER" primetime drama series."Supply and Demand"
Lee's second album, titled "Supply and Demand", was released on
October 3 2006 in the United States. The album was produced byNatalie Merchant 's bassistBarrie Maguire , and peaked at #76 on the "Billboard" 200. Jazz singerLizz Wright contributed background vocals on the song "Freedom". The first single from the album is "Shout Out Loud." [cite web|url=http://amoslee.com/music.php|title=Amos Lee - Music Accessed October 1, 2006] To promote the album, Lee played on "The Tonight Show " onSeptember 28 ,2006 .The track "Skipping Stone" also played on the ER episode "Dying Is Easy" (originally aired February 8th 2007). The song "Sweet Pea" was also featured in December 2007 in television commercials for
AT&T ."Last Days at the Lodge"
Lee's third studio album, "
Last Days at the Lodge ", was released onJune 24 ,2008 . [cite web |url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/discography/index.jsp?pid=647858&aid=1140154 |title=Billboard.com - Discography - Amos Lee - Last Days at the Lodge |year=2008 |accessdate=2008-05-31 |publisher=Billboard.com]Live recordings
Amos Lee recorded a live session at
Abbey Road Studios in the summer of 2006 for "Live from Abbey Road ". His performance was screened on the Sundance Channel in the USA and Channel 4 in the UK in an episode also featuring Randy Crawford and Joe Sample andDavid Gilmour . There are also two short live recordings available from KCRW, one released in November 2005 and the other in March 2007 (available digitally).Discography
tudio albums
* "Amos Lee" (
March 1 ,2005 ; #113 (US); #2 (US Heatseekers))
* "Supply and Demand" (October 3 ,2006 ; #76 (US))
* "Last Days at the Lodge " (2008; #29 (US))EPs
*"
Amos Lee EP ",Blue Note Records , 2004
*"Live from KCRW", Blue Note Records, 2005References
External links
* [http://www.amoslee.com Amos Lee's Official Website]
* [http://bluenote.com/ArtistMain.aspx?ArtistId=920167 Amos Lee at Blue Note Records]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15355761 Amos Lee at NPR Music]
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