When Ben Lee was in second grade, he stood among a throng of trembling classmates waiting to audition for their school’s production of Uncle Moishy and The Mitzvah Men. When the teacher called his name, Lee stepped forward and launched into a rendition of that old chestnut, “Happy Birthday,” the required audition song.
He had never really thought of his singing voice before, but as the notes poured out of him — on key! — he felt good. He watched as the teacher wrote something next to his name on the list of auditionees and, all of a sudden, he knew that he could sing.
“In that moment, the connection between what felt good, what music did to me and to my body and my organism — and getting validation — were intimately connected,” Lee tells TIDAL. “I ended up playing Uncle Moishy, with the hit song, ‘Ain’t Gonna Work on Saturday.’”
Decades later, the acclaimed singer-songwriter is primed to enter the world of musical theater once more, this time as one set of brains behind a musical adaptation of author Tom Robbins’ 2009 satirical children’s book for adults, B is for Beer (out October 12). It’s a definite evolution for the lifelong musician, one that’s in perfect concert with his new role as composer for HBO’s upcoming show Camping (October 14). Lee is no longer the tortured front man; he’s now a master collaborator.
A quick primer on Ben Lee: he’s an Australian musician who first broke out at age 14 in the band Noise Addict, a group that had some major fans in the form of Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and the Beastie Boys, the latter of whom released Noise Addict’s work on their label, Grand Royal Records. His solo career kicked off when he was 16, and, ever since, he has been churning out ever-more ambitious work — ……READ MORE