Michelle Leon

Michelle Leon was the bass player for the band Babes in Toyland, joining the band in 1988.

Leon reportedly learned how to play the bass after joining the band, something band leader Kat Bjelland cited as a strength: "Hopefully, from being technically inexperienced, you can use your imagination, and...play the bass like you feel it, from your gut, instead of saying, 'Here's my scales.'" [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDB153DF934A15750C0A964958260]

She played on the band's first two albums, "Spanking Machine" and "To Mother". Following the murder of her boyfriend, Joe Cole, she left the band in 1992, and was replaced by Maureen Herman.

Leon married bass player Mike Check of The Saucers in 1997. Later that year, as Michelle Check, she rejoined Babes in Toyland for a brief period. [http://www.citypages.com/databank/18/853/article3393.asp]