By Jim Barber
A fixture, an irrepressible inventive dynamo, a powerhouse performer and an essential artist who has been a fixture on the Canadian music scene for nearly 45 years, Lee Aaron continues to be a pressure to be reckoned with as a songwriter, vocalist, and reality teller.
With songs comparable to ‘Steel Queen,’ ‘Barely Holding On,’ ‘Solely Human,’ ‘Whatcha Do To My Physique,’ ‘Arms On,’ ‘and Intercourse With Love,’ Aaron was a ubiquitous presence on rock radio and music video tv all through the Nineteen Eighties and into the Nineties. After experimenting with alt-rock within the Nineties and releasing an acclaimed jazz album, Slick Chick, in 2000, she returned to the rock and roll fold, with a renewed sense of objective and a extra vibrant model, highlighted by a string of six albums beginning with Hearth and Gasoline in 2016. Every album has continued to not solely assist return previous viewers members to the fold, reinvigorate those that by no means left, and produce many new adherents, but in addition generated fairly good bodily gross sales as an unbiased artist within the age of digital downloads.
This summer season, she is acting at a variety of festivals, in addition to opening for Nineteen Eighties American rockers Night time Ranger on Friday, July 25, at On line casino Rama exterior Orillia, Ontario. After that, she performs on the Saskatchewan Ex in Saskatoon on Aug. 2, earlier than heading to the massive stage in Minnedosa, Manitoba for the annual Rockin’ The Fields Pageant the next day. Within the fall, she already has a string of dates booked alongside the legendary Nazareth.
“Yearly, each summer season is a special story. The fact is there are solely, like 100 festivals and about 700 bands that every one need to play them. And you’ll’t actually return to the identical festivals 12 months after 12 months. So, some summers are approach busier for me than others. This summer season I’d say is a reasonably busy one, however I even have quite a lot of different reveals scattered all year long,” Aaron advised Music Life Journal from her dwelling in British Columbia.
“I began taking part in in February and I kind of haven’t stopped. I’ve the reveals in Rama and in Saskatoon and Rockin’ The Fields after which this fall I’ve numerous reveals with Nazareth after they head throughout Canada. It’s undoubtedly busy.”
With 16 studio albums, hundreds of live performance appearances around the globe, and a limiteless storehouse of memorable moments, Aaron has determined that now’s the time to get her story – her complete story – down on paper.
“I’d all the time thought that many individuals, the general public typically, particularly in Canada and I assume all through the world solely know a floor model of my story. My husband [John Cody who is also her drummer] has stated to me for 20 years, ‘in case you write your story and also you inform the reality, it’s going to be actually fascinating for individuals to learn.’ So, once I acquired a star on Canada’s Stroll of Fame [in 2023], I began to take it extra severely. It was a really fascinating expertise to look at a three-minute presentation, an summary of your profession a 3rd get together places collectively for a ceremony like that and it was extraordinarily nicely accomplished. It’s fascinating to see how different individuals view you,” she stated from her dwelling in British Columbia.
“I had been engaged on these memoirs lengthy previous to 2023 in dribs and drabs, as a result of I’ve been so busy. However that occasion kind of lit the hearth beneath me to finish them, to lastly get them accomplished as a result of mine isn’t just a narrative of a lady in rock. It’s a narrative of getting to struggle a bunch of feminist battles all through the Nineteen Eighties to have my voice heard within the boardroom, within the studio, and on stage, to have a journey of paving a path for women to select up guitars and write offended songs within the Nineties. Within the nineties, the world’s music tradition was primed for that. There was Courtney Love and Gap, Veruca Salt, the Breeders and naturally Alanis. The world was prepared to listen to girls’s voices in a rock context, whereas within the Nineteen Eighties it was all about battling simply to have the ability to write my very own songs.
“I’d struggle and inform them I’m an artist; I’ve issues to say. However again then it was extra, ‘now we have 10 songs from our writer and we wish you to document them, we see them as hits, and that is our imaginative and prescient for you. And right here, put on these garments,’ which normally entailed quick shorts and as little else as attainable, as a result of girls had been so marketed in a sexualized vogue within the Nineteen Eighties. So, I had a number of main obstacles to climb over that many individuals usually are not conscious of. I believe my story is a narrative of empowerment for anybody who’s had massive challenges of their life and profession.”
She stated she believes the potential viewers for this guide goes past simply younger girls making an attempt to make a profession in music and leisure, that it’s a narrative of perseverance, of battling towards outdated considering and a patriarchal construction that holds many individuals again.
“Individuals within the business, rock and roll followers had solely actually a floor model of who I’m. This memoir gives far higher perception into who I used to be as an individual again then, and the alternatives and choices that I made, and what knowledgeable these selections and choices. But additionally, it’s in regards to the woman that all the time wrote songs about being robust. As an artist all through my profession, I can’t rely what number of instances I’ve been doing a present and had a younger girl come as much as me and say, ‘you realize, I simply love your Some Women Do [1991] album, or that tune ‘Powerful Women Don’t Cry,’ from Bodyrock [1989] received me by way of a troublesome time in my life and I’ve all the time been so impressed by you.’ I’ve all the time wished to write down materials that embodied quite a lot of feminine empowerment and songs of inspiration and rising above challenges. I sort of take a look at my story as the identical factor. Even for somebody that was by no means into laborious rock music, however say is a housewife who’s gone by way of a divorce, it may be a really inspiring learn due to the fires that I walked by way of and naturally there’s a cheerful ending, as a result of I’m joyful,” she defined.
“I did write an incredible quantity about my childhood which was additionally difficult. I do know when I’m studying about say of certainly one of my favorite artists or somebody I’m excited by, I already know the arc of their successes proper? What I discover extra fascinating is possibly one thing that occurred to them of their childhood that was actually vital. I believe if you’re keen to dig deep and inform a human story, which is what I’m making an attempt to do with this memoir; a really human story about challenges I confronted rising up, I believe that’s much more relatable for individuals when individuals can establish with it and suppose, ‘oh this individual had a really imperfect life as nicely and I can completely relate to that.’ I believe when individuals can relate to your struggles, it’s a much better approach of humanizing your story. I actually do suppose persons are much more excited by issues they will relate to than all of the awards that I’ve received, or all of the rock stars that I’ve met. Most of that isn’t one thing individuals can establish with.
“And yeah, 100 per cent, writing about my childhood was actually laborious. It was laborious to return there as a result of as we develop and mature … and I’ve been by way of quite a lot of remedy through the years to work by way of issues, and certainly one of my favorite psychiatrists, he all the time stated that the issues that work to maintain you protected if you had been a baby will destroy your maturity. They will destroy your grownup relationships. So, it was fairly painful to return and take a look at among the issues that occurred. Nevertheless it’s all a part of the journey to the place I’m now.”
Aaron stated she hopes to have the manuscript accomplished by the tip of the calendar 12 months, for publication in 2026, alongside a brand new best hits assortment of music (extra about that shortly). Within the interim, and in between summer season pageant reveals, she just isn’t solely battering the keys on her laptop, but in addition reaching out to buddies, household and colleagues each previous and current to assist spherical out the narrative within the memoir.
“I haven’t been posting practically as a lot on socials recently as a result of it’s simply taken quite a lot of very centered, intense time to finish the guide. And I’ve been chatting with lots of people. I’ve spoken just a few instances to John Albani, who was my co-writing accomplice [and band member] for a few years. I’ve additionally talked to my household, my dad and mom, former bandmates and different individuals within the business I labored with, as a result of they bear in mind issues that I forgot,” she stated.
“Their perspective on a selected tour or story is perhaps utterly totally different than mine. However, yeah, I’m placing quite a lot of time and power into it. And I attempt to be in step with the work. As we speak, I’ve received a few appointments this afternoon, then now we have a dinner date this night, so immediately just isn’t going to be a writing day. However tomorrow in all probability might be, though I by no means know when these productive hours hit. I do know if I can get three to 4 actually centered hours, even when that implies that I get impressed at 11 o’clock at evening and keep up till 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., that’s higher for me than setting apart a bunch of hours within the afternoon after which sitting there twiddling my thumbs and taking a look at a display as a result of it’s probably not working for me in that second. I’m just a little little bit of an evening owl, so I wish to work at evening and sometimes get very impressed when my home could be very quiet. I attempt to say I’m going to spend this many or that many hours a day, but it surely doesn’t actually matter when to me. If I get on a roll, I’ll simply maintain writing.”
The as-yet untitled memoir will add one other layer to Aaron’s legacy, which begins within the very early Nineteen Eighties when the teenaged singing sensation landed a document deal, started touring, and releasing albums, beginning with the Lee Aaron Challenge in 1982, adopted by the album that not solely broke her into the laborious rock and steel mainstream, but in addition created a picture and id within the public consciousness which has left behind lingering misrepresentations and considerably tainted Aaron’s personal view of her profession.
“Simply to be clear, I’m not near desirous to retire but. I nonetheless have my voice; I nonetheless have my well being and my power – 100 per cent. I’m nonetheless very impressed to maintain writing and recording and performing. What’s occurred for me, which has additionally been inspiring and motivating me to complete my memoirs, is simply that the Lee Aaron narrative has shifted within the final decade or so once I began actually telling the reality about how I felt in regards to the early years of my profession and among the actually awkward advertising I used to be subjected to. Plenty of the notion that’s nonetheless on the market that, nicely Lee Aaron was that rock chick from the Nineteen Eighties; that robust speaking woman who work the quick skirts and blah, blah, blah. That’s such a superficial degree of what I represented,” she stated.
“It’s about my willingness to speak about the truth that, for instance the tune ‘Steel Queen’ was imagined to be about girls having the ability to run the world. It was in regards to the matriarchy, not the patriarchy. It was a really robust feminist assertion on the time. However then in all of the publications and stuff, right here I’m in my Xena outfit sandwiched in beside WASP who had been placing baggage over girls’s heads and setting them on hearth on stage, and bands like Motley Crue and Bon Jovi the place girls in all their movies and advertising materials had been in bikinis and getting all moist at a automobile wash or one thing like that. So, the message was sort of skewed and misplaced again then by advantage of the place it landed within the Nineteen Eighties.”
The brand new hits package deal options re-imagined new recordings of her songs from the Nineteen Eighties and into the Nineties, notably those that had been on the previous Attic Data label. The package deal may also include fan favourites and stay live performance staples from her most up-to-date albums, which had been launched on her personal label, beginning with 2016’s Hearth and Gasoline as much as and together with 2024’s Tattoo Me. Aaron doesn’t management the masters from her again catalogue and reasonably than struggle the present homeowners by way of all of the traumatic, prolonged and costly authorized shenanigans that might entail, she determined to take her band, the one which has been taking part in all these songs on stage for practically a decade, into the studio and document them as they’re offered now.
“I don’t actually have the emotional bandwidth to need to get into an enormous authorized battle over it. However there may be clearly demand for this music, and since I’ve such a unbelievable band, we determined to only re-record among the hits, among the favourites. And we’re not secret about it. We’re not making an attempt to re-record them and emulate precisely they approach they had been initially recorded. We’re simply going to document them the way in which we play them now. So, it is going to be one of the best of my previous catalog, reimagined, and one of the best of every little thing else I’ve recorded since then. I even have a few treasures nonetheless in my treasure trove: 4 songs that weren’t launched on Elevate [2022]. I don’t know if I’ll put all of them on this, however we’re in all probability going to incorporate a pair. I even have some stuff from after we recorded some stay songs at [famous Toronto night club] the El Mocambo. And I additionally suppose we’re going to document a model new single and throw it on there as nicely. Additionally, just like the memoir, I’m not taking a look at this as a profession topper or something like that. It’s extra like closing a chapter, and having a companion piece to go along with the guide. It’s telling individuals the story of my life in phrases and in music up till now – understanding that there’s much more to come back.”
Moreover husband Cody on drums, the present Lee Aaron band additionally consists of premier Canadian shredder Sean Kelly, who has additionally labored, and continues to work, with artists comparable to Helix, Nelly Furtato, Crash Kelly and Emm Gryner, and long-time bassist Dave Reimer.
“I really like my band proper now. I’ve labored for years, since John Albani left within the mid-Nineties to go to Nashville and open up a studio, to curate a bunch of musicians that I completely love and completely love taking part in and touring with. When the 4 of us get in a room collectively, magic occurs. And we nonetheless have many albums left to go. So, this ‘Better of’ assortment is simply the tip web page of a chapter. It’s a extremely distinctive fan piece that my devoted followers would need to personal to mark the closure of a chapter whereas we transfer on to the following one.”
The cool factor in regards to the future is that these chapters have but to be written, and what phrases are to be scrawled on these pages can change and evolve. For Aaron, there’s nonetheless rather a lot to do, nonetheless an abundance of curiosity, creativity and inspiration ready to be tapped into.
“I don’t have every little thing mapped out for the following decade however I do know that I wish to get again to Europe and do some taking part in there, notably England. I do know that’s on our agenda. It’s simply that publish COVID it’s turn into nearly prohibitive to get your self over there by way of flight prices and every little thing. However that’s one thing we’d love to do. And you realize, I nonetheless love jazz. Individuals ask me on a regular basis, would I do one other jazz album, and I don’t need to say an excessive amount of as a result of if I don’t do one thing, individuals will maintain bringing it up, however I say by no means say by no means. I don’t know. I do know Sean and I’ve talked about how a lot enjoyable it might be to write down a rock opera,” she stated.
“That may be tremendous enjoyable however I don’t need followers to start out asking, ‘when is the rock opera coming?’ as a result of it’s simply certainly one of a bunch of concepts that we’re bouncing round. I actually know now we have extra authentic Lee Aaron albums in us. My son, who is nineteen, and actually, actually into quite a lot of the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties music not too long ago stated, ‘mother, I believe it’s best to lean right into a heavier album. It might be actually cool.’ He and I like quite a lot of related stuff. He’s into much more of the bluesy heavy rock like Royal Blood and bands like that. So, possibly I’d do an album that may shock some individuals just a little bit. Plenty of journalists and different individuals continuously say, ‘Lee why don’t you simply make an album that sounds just like the Nineteen Eighties if you had been actually, actually in style.’ Why would I do this? I’ve been there, accomplished that. I’m much more excited by pushing the boundaries of what I really feel I’m able to into areas that make me really feel like I’m rising and increasing as an artist. Individuals inform me I ought to make one other Bodyrock. I may, but it surely may not be that fascinating to me, which implies it wouldn’t be as genuine.
“Not very many Canadian artists have been in a position to make new data and truly have them promote to the purpose the place they really obtain royalties of their checking account. I’ve been getting these funds. Nothing sells within the bodily world the way in which it used to, however mine promote fairly good, and I really feel actually enthused about that. And once I play stay, I’d say an excellent 1/3 of my set is new materials and other people understand it they usually’re singing alongside to it. In order that’s inspiring for me.”
For extra data on Lee Aaron’s upcoming reveals, in addition to updates on her memoir and best hists launch, go to her social media channels or
Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and creator based mostly in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for greater than 30 years. Moreover his journalistic endeavors, he works as a communications and advertising specialist and is an avid volunteer in his neighborhood. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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