Dee C. Lee
{{Short description|English singer (born 1961)}}
{{use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Dee C. Lee
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| image_size =
| birth_name = Diane Catherine Sealy
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1961|6|6|df=y}}
| birth_place = Balham, South London, UK
| genre = {{flatlist|
}}
| occupation = Singer
| years_active = 1981–present
| label = {{flatlist|
}}
| past_member_of = {{flatlist|
- The Style Council
- Slam Slam
- Central Line
}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Paul Weller|1987|1998|end=divorce}}
}}
Diane Catherine Sealy (born 6 June 1961), known as Dee C. Lee or Dee C Lee, is a British singer. Born to Saint Lucian parents, she grew up in south-east London. Early in her career, she was a member of the British band Central Line under the aliases Dee Sealy in 1981 and Dee C. Lee in 1983. She was a backing singer for Wham!, then released her first solo single, "Selina Wow Wow", in 1984. She started working with the Style Council in 1984, while continuing as a solo artist.
Career
Lee was a member of the funk/soul group Central Line under the alias Dee Sealy in 1981 and her current stage name Dee C. Lee in 1983. She was a backing vocalist for the pop group Wham! in the early 1980s and appeared in their music videos for the songs "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)", "Young Guns (Go for It)"{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doZ6wOJHu_E |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/doZ6wOJHu_E |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Wham! – Young Guns (Go For It!) (Official Video)|website=YouTube }}{{cbignore}} and "Club Tropicana".{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYX0sjP6Za8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/WYX0sjP6Za8 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Wham! – Club Tropicana|publisher=YouTube|date=24 October 2009|access-date=12 July 2015}}{{cbignore}}
Following her departure from Wham!, Lee released her first solo single, "Selina Wow Wow", in 1984.{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/21493/dee-c--lee/|title=DEE C LEE|publisher=The Official UK Charts Company}}
In 1984, she worked with the Style Council and appeared on their debut studio album Café Bleu (released as My Ever Changing Moods in North America), having already worked with the Style Council in mid-1983 by providing vocals on the song "Money Go Round". Lee's vocals appear on the tracks "Headstart for Happiness", "It Didn't Matter", "The Lodgers", "Walls Come Tumbling Down", and "Shout to the Top".{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/style-council-steve-white-paul-weller-oasis-politics-interview-live-aid-2805350|title=Steve White looks back on the legacy of The Style Council – and having a brother in Oasis|first=Mark|last=Beaumont|work=NME|date=30 October 2020}} Lee continued to record solo material during this time, but singles "Yippee Yi Yay!" and "Don't Do It Baby" failed to chart.
In 1985, Lee was the featured artist on Masquerade's version of "Set It Off". In the same year, after the release of the second Style Council album Our Favourite Shop, and a stint working with the band Animal Nightlife, Lee released another solo single; the self-penned ballad "See the Day". The single became a hit and peaked at No. 3 in the UK chart in December 1985,{{cite book| first=David|last=Roberts|year=2006|title=British Hit Singles & Albums|edition=19th|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited|location=London, UK|isbn=1-904994-10-5|page=316}} selling a quarter of a million copies in the UK alone, and earning Lee a silver disc.{{cite web|url=http://www.chartwatch.co.uk/TopTen/acts/ACT00548.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050503044835/http://www.chartwatch.co.uk/TopTen/acts/ACT00548.htm|archive-date=3 May 2005|title=Dee C. Lee: UK Top 10 hits|website=Chartwatch.co.uk|accessdate=26 September 2014}} Twenty years later, the song was covered by Girls Aloud, their version peaking at No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart in December 2005. Her follow-up singles, a cover of Judie Tzuke's "Come Hell or Waters High" and "Hold On" failed to make the UK Top 40. All tracks were featured on her 1986 album Shrine.
Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Lee continued to work with the Style Council on their albums The Cost of Loving (1987) and Confessions of a Pop Group (1988). She also worked with the band on their 1989 recording Modernism: A New Decade, but this album was rejected by the band's label, Polydor, and did not see a release until almost 10 years later, when it was included in the boxed set, The Complete Adventures of The Style Council.{{cite book|author=Munn, Iain|title=Mr Cool's Dream. The Complete History of the Style Council|publisher=Wholepoint Publications|year=2006|isbn=0-9551443-0-2}}
Between 1989 and 1991, Lee teamed up with Robert Howard of the Blow Monkeys to form Slam Slam. They achieved a number of minor UK club successes including "Move (Dance All Night)" and "Free Your Feelings", the latter produced by Young Disciples. In 1993, Lee collaborated with Gang Starr frontman Guru on a single from his solo project Jazzmatazz called "No Time to Play" which also featured guitarist Ronny Jordan.{{Cite AV media|people=Guru|title=Jazzmatazz Vol.1 an experimental fusion of Hip-Hop an Jazz|publisher=Chrysalis Records Inc.|year=1993|id=UPC-A 0-9463-21998-2-9}} It peaked at No. 25 in the UK in November 1993. Later in the 1990s, Lee released two further solo albums; Things Will Be Sweeter (1994) and Smiles (1998).
In 2006 Lee had a small role as a pop star in the film Rabbit Fever. In September 2007 she performed her hit "See the Day" on ITV1's Loose Women show. In September 2007, she also performed at a charity event in aid of combating domestic violence.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}
Lee also portrayed Preaching Nut-Nut in a 2008 short film, The Town That Boars Me, which tells the tale of a Pig Boy created by the lonely town butcher. The Pig Boy, now banished from the town, returns at nightfall to torment the local women and satisfy his insatiable fetish for high-heeled shoes. The film was released in London on 28 August 2008.{{Cite news|last=Wells|first=Dominic|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/theatre-dance/article/heels-before-swine-in-ben-charles-edwardss-the-town-that-boars-me-mnhfsk30wzw|title=Heels before swine in Ben Charles Edwards's The Town That Boars Me|work=The Times|date=14 August 2008}}
On 31 May 2009, Lee joined ex-Level 42 musicians, Mike Lindup and Phil Gould, to play a comeback gig with a collective called 'Favoured Nations' at Ginglik, Shepherd's Bush, London. In October of that year, she played a gig at Dingwalls in Camden Town.{{Cite web|url=https://www.deeclee.com/biography/|title=Biography|website=Dee C Lee – Official Website|language=en-US|access-date=2 March 2018}} She continued to play one-off shows in London venues in 2010, and played in Chelsea in March 2011.{{cite journal|last=Munn|first=Iain|date=4 January 2011|title=Setlist|journal=Wholepoint.co.uk}}
In January 2018, she posted a New Year's message on her website, expressing her sadness at the death of her former Wham! bandmate, George Michael, and reported she had been writing with keyboardist and composer Arden Hart and hoped to be recording new material and gigging.{{Cite web|url=https://www.deeclee.com/news/|title=NEWS PAGE|website=Dee C Lee – Official Website|language=en-US|access-date=2 March 2018}}
Personal life
Lee was married to fellow Style Council member Paul Weller from 1987 until they divorced in 1998. They have two children Nathaniel and Leah.{{cite web|last1=Knight|first1=Kathryn|title=The Jam's Paul Weller to become a dad for the eighth time aged 58 with 31-year-old wife|url=https://www.ok.co.uk/celebrity-news/1041981/the-jam-paul-weller-a-dad-eight-children-wife-pregnant-hannah-andrews|website=www.ok.co.uk|publisher=OK!|access-date=4 March 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Kendrick|first1=Keith|title=Paul Weller's Son Nathaniel Tells Modfather He's Bisexual|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/12/18/paul-weller-s-son-nathaniel-tells-modfather-he-s-bisexual_n_7319030.html|website=huffingtonpost.co.uk|publisher=Huffington Post (UK)|access-date=18 December 2014}}
Discography
=Albums=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+List of albums, with selected details and chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Title ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Details ! scope="col" colspan="1"| Peak chart positions |
| scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| AUS {{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=175}} |
|---|
| scope="row"| Shrine
|
| 94 |
| scope="row"| Free Your Feelings {{small|(credited as Slam Slam featuring Dee C. Lee)}} |
| — |
| scope="row"| Things Will Be Sweeter
|
| — |
| scope="row"| Smiles
|
| — |
| scope="row"| Just Something
|
| — |
| colspan="3" style="font-size:90%"| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
=Singles=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Title ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year ! scope="col" colspan="2"| Peak chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Certifications |
| scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| AUS ! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| UK |
|---|
| scope="row"| "Selina Wow Wow"
| rowspan="3"| 1984 | — || 88 | |
| scope="row"| "Yippee Yi Yay!"
| — || — | |
| scope="row"| "Don't Do It Baby"
| — || — | |
| scope="row"| "See the Day"
| 1985 | 5 || 3 | |
| scope="row"| "Come Hell or Waters High"
| rowspan="3"| 1986 | 69 || 46 | |
| scope="row"| "Hold On"
| — || — | |
| scope="row"| "Hey What'd Ya Say?"
| — || — | |
| scope="row"| "No Time to Play" {{small|(credited as Guru featuring Dee C. Lee and Ronny Jordan)}} | 1993 | — || 25 | |
| scope="row"| "New Reality Vibe"
| 1994 | — || — | |
| scope="row"| "Searching" {{small|(credited as Nobukazu Takemura featuring Dee C. Lee)}} | 1995 | — || — | |
| scope="row"| "Don't Forget About Love" / "Be There in the Morning"
| 2023 | — || — | |
| colspan="5" style="font-size:90%"| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website}}
- {{AllMusic}}
- {{Discogs artist}}
- [https://www.facebook.com/deecleeofficial/ Dee C. Lee at Facebook]
- {{IMDb name}}
{{The Style Council}}
{{Wham!}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Dee C}}
Category:The Style Council members
Category:20th-century Black British women singers
Category:20th-century English women singers
Category:English contemporary R&B singers
Category:English people of Barbadian descent
Category:English women pop singers