LEE MORRIS

Lee Morris (born 11 January 1970) is a British drummer. He comes from a musical family and started playing the drums at six years of age. He learnt his instrument from his dad Ivor and spent many hours during his early years playing along with various records from the family record collection. At age 12, he joined his first High School covers band, playing the top 40 songs at the time, but the band never played outside the school walls. At the age of 14 he discovered a love of rock music after hearing the Iron Maiden 'Killers' and Kiss 'Alive!' albums.

Lee joined his first rock covers band called Wyzed in the early 1980s and got to enjoy playing music regularly at various halls, pubs and clubs throughout the Midlands. He became frustrated with playing covers at that time and joined Royale, that included Vince O'Regan (Bob Catley / Pulse) in the line-up. During the late 1980s and early 1990s he played in his first signed band which was the Birmingham based Marshall Law, with whom he recorded the 'Power Crazy'EP, 'Power Game' studio album, plus the 'Law In The Raw' live album. At the start of 1991, he auditioned for Little Angels after a recommendation from departing drummer Michael Lee and made it through the various auditions to the final two, eventually losing out to Mark Richardson.

Marshall Law decided to take an extended hiatus from touring and recording so Lee was invited to team up with guitarist Robin George in a band called The Promise. He recorded a demo for their album, and appeared on the James Whale TV show, before accepting the offer to join death/doom metal icons Paradise Lost in December 1994. He recorded seven albums with the band between 1994 and 2003 and got to tour the globe several times,including a performance on the German version of Top of the Pops. In 2004 he parted ways with Paradise Lost due to musical and personal differences but remains on good terms with the band. He has also contributed to the new autobiography 'No Celebration' which was released in November 2019.

After leaving Paradise Lost, Lee found his love of teaching drums to aspiring drummers whilst also concentrating on session work, the first of which included some additional live dates with Ten. He also worked with Danny Vaughn with whom he recorded the 'Traveller' and 'The Road Less Travelled' albums. In 2010, he recorded the 'Methods To End It All' album with Creation's Tears.

Lee played drums for New York band Arabia when they performed at the Z Rock festival in 2011. In 2012, he again played the Z Rock festival this time with Paul Sabu after having played drums on Sabu's 'Bangkok Rules' album. In September 2013, Lee spent the next 4 years teaching drums and playing in various tribute bands.

Early 2017 brought Lee's latest opportunity when he replaced Harry James (Thunder) in the legendary British band MAGNUM. Work commenced immediately on the 'Lost On The Road To Eternity' album and subsequent tour which saw Lee play at the Sweden Rock Festival. The tour resulted in the 'Live At The Symphony Hall' album, recorded at the Birmingham Symphony Hall and released in 2019.

2020 will see Lee open his drum academy to allow him to reach even more students globally, plus more studio and live work with MAGNUM.