b. John Lee Ham, 3 July 1946, Texas City, Texas, USA. Lee was raised on a dairy farm in Alta Loma, Texas, but his main interest was rock ‘n’ roll and he led a high school band, Johnny Lee And The Roadrunners. He worked through the 60s by playing popular hits in Texas clubs and bars. In 1968, he began a 10-year working relationship with Mickey Gilley, both on the road and at his club Gilley’s in Pasadena. He had moderate US country successes in the mid-70s with ‘Sometimes’, ‘Red Sails In The Sunset’ and ‘Country Party’, and appeared in the 1979 television movie The Girls In The Office. Lee was featured in the film Urban Cowboy, which was shot at Gilley’s, and in 1980, he had a US number 1 country single and US Top 5 pop hit with a song from the film, ‘Lookin’ For Love’, which had previously been turned down by 20 different performers. Further number 1 country hits came with ‘One In A Million’ and ‘Bet Your Heart On Me’. Another US country hit, ‘Cherokee Fiddle’, featured Michael Martin Murphey and Charlie Daniels. Lee married actress Charlene Tilton (who played Lucy in the television series Dallas) on St. Valentine’s Day 1982 in a much-publicized wedding at Tony Orlando’s house, with Gilley as best man. Lee contributed a track, ‘Lucy’s Eyes’, to an album by the stars of Dallas. However, their stormy marriage only lasted three years and Lee remarried in 1987. He had a further number 1 country single with a theme from a short-lived television soap opera, The Yellow Rose, with actress-singer Lane Brody, who was in the country music film Tender Mercies. His final solo number 1 country single was with ‘You Could’ve Heard A Heart Break’ in 1984. Lee was in the right place at the right time, but unfortunately for him, a stringent management contract meant that he enjoyed very few financial rewards. Setting up a rival club to Gilley’s, called Johnny Lee’s, was not a wise career move. He reappeared in 1991 with a country version of Chris De Burgh’s ‘The Lady In Red’. This strange cover version is widely regarded as Lee’s low point. A new album in 2003 received favourable reviews although at the time he was fighting against colonic cancer.
