John Lee Sanders
He has composed and produced Grammy nominated CDs, A gifted lyricist, singer with a 4 octave range, who writes symphonic orchestrations, Big band Charts, or a full Gospel
Choir extravaganza. His instruments of choice are piano, Hammond organ, flute and saxophone. His most unusual gift of music is making music with his hands,...
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John Lee Sanders
He has composed and produced Grammy nominated CDs, A gifted lyricist, singer with a 4 octave range, who writes symphonic orchestrations, Big band Charts, or a full Gospel
Choir extravaganza. His instruments of choice are piano, Hammond organ, flute and saxophone. His most unusual gift of music is making music with his hands, with which he won first prize on the Gong Show in 1977! In 2004, John Lee was nominated for writing Song of the year” at the WC Handy Blues Awards in Memphis. The song “Foreclose on the House of Love” reached #9 on the Billboard charts and was also, the single off Marcia Ball’s latest CD, which won blues CD of the year and was nominated for a Grammy. John Lee was also nominated for daytime Emmy Award for best song in 2004. Variety Magazine in Oct. 2004 says “The Paul Williams show is highlighted by a soaring sax solo by the talented John Lee Sanders, who doubles on electronic keyboard and triples on backup vocals.”
John Lee spent his childhood in Memphis, Alabama. Mississippi and Louisiana, His Aunt Ellie lived 2 doors down from Elvis Presley in Memphis. The excitement of the birth of Rock and Roll inspired John to pursue a life of music. The legends of New Orleans Jazz and masters of Delta Blues inspired John at an early age. He was singing and opening for name acts since age12. After graduation from High School, John became a member of the Grammy Winning North Texas State University Big Band. And received his B.A. in music composition. In 1977, he headed to San Francisco where he landed a recording contract with Rod Stewart's Riva Records, a production contract with Narada Michael Walden, producer of multi-platinum recordings of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey,
He has written for, and recorded, toured, and played with many world-class artists. Examples include: Willie Nelson, John Lee Hooker , Starship, Percy Sledge, Paul Williams, Melissa Manchester, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Page Of Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, & Huey Lewis who told the audience “this man has recorded my favorite Cd of the last 10 years” John Lee has held Elton John’s old piano gig since 1986 with Long John Baldry. He’s has written horn arrangements for Tower of Power’s new Cd “Oakland Zone”, nominated for a California Music award for Best R&B CD
In 2001, he was nominated for a Grammy for "Splash Zone: for best Children's recording, a CD commissioned by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. You may have seen John Lee on the Walmart TV network, the lead vocalist in their recent Ad campaign in all of North America. Other clients include Nissan, Apple Computer, and the Oakland A's. He's also composed motion picture scores for 20th Century Fox, documentaries for PBS. His music appears often on the CBS soap opera, Bold & Beautiful.
He has done 4 solo concert tours of Europe, where he also teaches Gospel workshops, and founded the 80 voice, Upper Austrian Gospel Choir. He has played many of the major Blues and Jazz festivals of the North & South America, Europe, Australia and Asia.
“The pianist /saxman combines elements of Dr. John with those of several of the best piano based artists of the last 20 years- like Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, and Leon Russell for example - and holds his own with all of 'em. When their style comes out of John Lee Sanders he's transformed it into something I like alot.” Blue Suede News Magazine
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