Leonard Lee born June 29,1935

Leonard Lee (June 29,1935 - October 23,1976) was an American R&B singer, who came to prominence as one half of 1950's duo, Shirley and Lee.

Shirley Goodman and Leonard Lee were bororn ten days apart, they met when they were children, and both of them sang in their Baptist church in New Orleans. They were discovered by studio owner Cosimo Matassa, who heard Goodman and Lee as part of the Joseph Clark High School singing group when they were thirteen years old. Matassa got Aladdin Records owner Eddie Messner interested in pairing them as a duo, and New Orleans veteran producer Dave Bartholomew produced their first recording, “I’m Gone,” in 1952, and backed the teenaged singers with many of the most skilled session musicians in New Orleans at the time, including saxophonists Alvin “Red” Tyler, Herb Hardesty and Lee Allen, bassist Frank Fields, and drummer Earl Palmer.

                                  

“I’m Gone” climbed to No. 2 on the rhythm and blues charts in 1952. The record contrasted Goodman's soprano with Leonard's baritone. This success was followed by a string of other duets, including “Shirley, Come Back to Me,” “Shirley’s Back,” and “The Proposal,” backed with “Two Happy People.” These songs gave Shirley and Lee their stage name, and each new release continued the saga of these presumed teenage sweethearts, which added to the duo’s popularity, though they were never romantically involved.

In their early songs, they pretended as if they were sweethearts and were dubbed "the Sweethearts of the Blues". Still just teenagers when they found success, Goodman's grandmother chaperoned her while they toured with Big Mama Thorton as her opening act. Nightclubs often stopped serving alcohol when they performed due to their age. Although both Shirley and Lee sang, theirs was often a call-and-response style rather than a two-part harmony.

Flagging sales prompted Shirley and Lee to change their song topics, starting with “Feels So Good” in 1955. In 1957 they released their most popular song, the anthem “Let the Good Times Roll,” which sold over a million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The song was considered too suggestive by many radio stations, and they banned it from their airwaves. Although a follow-up single, "I Feel Good". also made the charts. The duo's later releases were less successful, and the pair moved to the Warwick label in 1959, followed by Imperial Records in 1962. The duo never equalled their biggest hit, and broke up in 1963.

Leonard made some subsequent solo records with little success. In the mid 1960's Goodman moved to California, where she worked as a session singer on records by Sonny & Cher, Dr. John and others, and also formed a duo for a time with Jesse Hill. She sang backing vocals on the Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street album, but then briefly retired from the music industry.

On October 15,1971 Shirley & Lee were reunited for one show only at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. The playbill included musicians of the early rock era, including Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Bobby Rydell.

Lee eventually returned to school, earned a degree in social work, and worked for a government poverty agency as a social worker. He died of a heart attack in New Orleans on October 23,1976 aged 40, and was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery and Mausoleum in New Orleans. In 1994, Shirley suffered a stroke and moved back to California to live with her son. She died there at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles on July 5th of this year. She was 69 years old.

(Edited from Discogs & WBSS Media)