Born and raised in Grimsby, a small historical town on the east coast of England famous for its fishing industry, Lee MacDougall was still a child when he realised that he wanted to be a musician.

Studying music composition and production at university in the north of England for 3 years gave Lee the chance to concentrate fully on his songwriting and musicianship after being in locally successful bands since he learned to play guitar at 13. While at university Lee played live continuously and was spurred on by the positive reaction his performances received.

After university Lee worked at the local fish processing factory for as long as he could stand it. The last straw came when a colleague stole Lee’s shoes meaning that he had to walk home bare foot! On hearing the news that Lee was jobless, his parents gave him a month to find work and start paying rent. Lee spent the next three weeks locked in his room writing and demoing songs on an old tape recorder before sending them out to labels in London. Again the responses were favourable and within a few days Lee was in London attending meetings, secured on the strength of his songs.

For the next year Lee supported himself by playing live wherever he could in London, reducing costs by sleeping in studios and on people’s floors. At this point Lee formed a band. He says: “The highlight was headlining the Quingdao music festival in China in front of 57,000 people and a TV audience of 50 million. We got mobbed at the airport like Beatle-mania.” Once back home, though, Lee felt the direction the band was taking was not what he wanted and so the band split.

Instead Lee wanted to write more personal lyrics aiming to connect more directly with his live audience. Influenced by the Englishness and storytelling songwriting of the Beatles, Kinks, Rod Stewart while also feeling inspired by Nirvana and Tom Petty, Lee’s new material soon came to attention of the acoustic venue bookers and promoters in London. This included various people at LiveNation, Tony Moore at The Bedford and Up All Night Music, who between them started giving Lee good small gigs where he could hone his style and support acts such as Train, Starsailor, Paolo Nutini, The Feeling, Bob Dylan and Van Morrison.

During this time producer Jim Lowe, responsible for number one singles and albums by the Stereophonics, Taylor Swift and the Charlatans, became a fan and started recording versions of Lee’s songs. “She” and “Stay” came out of these sessions. Lee and Jim have continued to work together and will be in the studio again over the next few months.

Lee released an EP on iTunes during July 2010, selling 2000 copies in the first 2 weeks with no press or promo – purely through online fan base.

Lee toured extensively in 2011, completing two 35-date tours of the USA and Canada, as well as heading to Germany, Austria and Italy, before returning to the UK and opening for legendary Sex Pistol Glen Matlock at London’s famous 100 Club.

Lee finished 2011 on a high note, touring the UK as main support act for Atlantic Records million-selling soul artist Rumer. Two and a half thousand capacity venues such as the Manchester Apollo and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall where Lee’s biggest UK shows to date.

Lee is set to begin 2012 where he left off in 2011, with a 5 week European tour of Germany and Austria, and he then heads straight back to the states for his 3rd US tour in a year. This will be Lee’s longest US tour to date at 10 weeks, with Lee aiming to capitalise on his rapidly growing fan base. It has always been Lee’s deepest wish to be able to relocate permanently to America, so he is particularly excited to tour the USA once more and move that one step closer to his dream!

“He’s pretty amazing and very confident.. like Freddie Mercury meets Duke Special meets Rufus Wainwright, Lee is going to go a long way”
- Kate Mossman, The Word Magazine

“You absolutely cannot fake that kind of sincerity and passion, and particularly the yearning quality to his vocals….”
- Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6

“Best night of the year so far..”
- London’s Evening Standard

“He has the type of voice that can fill every crevice of a room and every fiber in your body. Its’ clear perfection can play your heart strings as easily as his fingers strum his guitar..”
- Backseat Sandbar blog