Alex Lee

Alex Lee was born in 1970 in Bristol & has been based in the West Country since. He has played guitar and/or keyboards for the bands Goldfrapp, Suede, Placebo,The Blue Aeroplanes and Strangelove amongst others. He has had very little formal musical tuition & does not read music but owes most of his ability to his dependance on instinct, improvisation & developing his "ear" rather than reliance on technique & musical training.

He left school in 1988 & immediately joined Bristol band The Blue Aeroplanes, recording the cult classic Swagger & Beatsongs albums and touring the world during his two year tenure with them. After he left, he became a founding member of Strangelove in the early 90s who signed to EMI & enjoyed top 40 success for several years before splitting the band in 1997.

After Strangelove's demise, Suede asked him to join their ranks. He was a live session player during the 1999 Head Music tour and was later taken on as a full member of the band for their swansong album, 2002's A New Morning. In January 2006, after a hiatus to travel & recharge his road-worn batteries, Lee was recruited for Placebo's live lineup and played shows with them on their multi-million selling Meds album world tour which finished in September 2007.

In between dates on this tour he contributed guitar to five tracks on Seventh Tree by Goldfrapp (Mute Records 2008), their fourth album. He is currently playing guitar in their spectacular live band which played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2008, sandwiched on the bill between Neil Diamond & Leonard Cohen, as part of their extensive world tour.

In addition to his work with these artists, he has also worked extensively as a composer for TV and film soundtracks. He has worked as a session musician and producer on a variety of different recordings ranging from pop music to more experimental projects. He also plays the musical saw, lap steel, bass guitar & mandolin.