Nominations Mercury Prize | ||
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Albums The Fade in Time, Ground of its Own Record labels The Nest Collective Records, India Records Similar Stanley Robertson, The Unthanks, Lisa Knapp, Eliza Carthy, Kathryn Roberts | ||
Personal life
Lee grew up in North West London and later studied art at Chelsea College of Art. Both of Lee's parents are Jewish. In 2008 Lee met Stanley Robertson, nephew of Jeannie Robertson, Scottish Traveller and ballad singer. Robertson took Lee on as a student and apprentice, teaching him many of his songs before his death in 2009.
Contents
Lee reached a broader audience with his performance of "The Tan Yard Side" to the accompaniment of nightingale song in a BBC radio 4 broadcast on 19 May 2014, marking the 90th anniversary of the first broadcast of Singing with the Nightingales by cellist Beatrice Harrison on 19 May 1924, which was the first-ever BBC live wildlife outside broadcast (i.e. not from a radio studio), becoming a regular annual BBC radio event until interrupted by World War II.
Before becoming a folk singer, Lee was a wilderness survival expert, and once travelled as a student of Ray Mears. On his change of career Lee notes "What is wilderness in this country, where there is no real unspoilt land? I see wilderness in Britain as stinging nettles submerging a disused rubbish tip. Or a Gypsy camp, washing hanging between the caravans. Gypsies and nettles fit into any landscape, and Gypsy folk song is made-up cultural nettles." Lee lives and works in Dalston, London, but spends a lot of his time promoting and managing folk music events and collecting songs around the UK.
Band
The instrumentation of Lee's music follows a "roots and wings" concept of how traditional music needs to thrive to survive. The instrumental mix is a modern fusion and re-working of traditional sounds. The band consists of Lee's vocals and Shruti box work, accompanied by the Jew's harp combined with klezmeresque cello, tabla, Japanese koto, ukulele, violins and percussion.
Awards and commendation
In 2010, Lee's folk club-night, The Magpies Nest, won Best Folk Club in the 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Lee was nominated in the 2013 BBC Folk Awards for best folk singer of the year, best album and best original track for "Wild Wood Amber". In 2011, the Arts Foundation Award honoured folk music amongst the art forms for the first time, with Lee going on to win.
Sam Lee and Friends were sent by the British Arts Council to visit Sudan to perform at the Khartoum International Music Festival, which was being staged for the first time in 13 years. As well as performing a set of his own material, Lee also worked on a collaborative performance with two of Sudan's most talented musicians, Omer Ihsas and Dr Alfateh Hussain. In 2012, Lee's debut album, Ground of Its Own received a Mercury Prize Album of the Year nomination. The album also won the Froots Critics Poll 2012 award for Best Album of the Year. In 2016, the album The Fade in Time won the Songlines Music Award in the category Europe.
Discography
Songs
Goodbye My DarlingGround of its Own ยท 2012
The Ballad of George Collins
Puck's Song2010