Ben Lee

Ben is one half of Rock Electric String Group FUSE
"Air tight performance" – Time Out London
"Thrilling invention" - Mojo Magazine
"Pushes the boundaries with astonishing success" - Songlines Magazine
Ben Lee is one of the most innovative and exciting electric violinists around today. He is also a string arranger, composer, programmer, leader, and improviser – a true musician who has worked within many different styles of music across the world.
He is a violin hero, exploring the wild frontiers of electric violin technique and sound
EARLY YEARS
Life with music started at an early age for Ben, who was given a very small violin for his 5th birthday. His guitarist dad who had worked with the likes of Pink Floyd and Humble Pie, constantly played blues and rock records at home. He encouraged Ben to play along with the records when he wasn't practicing his classical stuff, allowing Ben to appreciate the rhythms and scales of lots of musical styles. When he was 11 he won a competition on "The Children's Channel" on Sky TV, and recorded his first single at Capital Radio, London.
Whilst gaining scholarships to music schools during his teenage years, Ben could be found playing gigs with his dad for pocket money, and soon formed his own bands to jam anything from Motown soul classics to Grappelli jazz Standards.
He worked at McDonalds for a whole summer, saving to buy his first electric violin (it was green!) and effects box when he was 16. That year, he was awarded "Daily Telegraph Young Jazz Composer of the Year." In 1999, he formed All Jigged Out, an electric folk/rock band to play his arrangements and compositions. This band was picked up by BBC Radio 2 and invited to perform at their Young Folk Awards in the same year.
By this time, Ben had been awarded a place to study violin at the Royal College of Music. He studied film music composition, began playing with indie bands as an electric violinist and picked up work in recording sessions and performing on film & TV.
Ben formed Eclipse electric string quartet, which was invited to support the band McFly on tour (alongside the girls that were to later form Escala), and also formed the electric duo Bensquared, who were invited to support Amici Forever on their 2006 tour.
During the next few years, Ben found himself very busy with recording, touring and playing with such artists as Arctic Monkeys, Razorlight, Gorillaz, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, Tynchey Stryder, Take That, Tom Baxter, The Heritage Orchestra, Mel C, White Lies, Lou Rhodes and Lightspeed Champion. He also played in west-end theatre productions, and has recorded music for feature films such as Nowhere Boy, fashion shows for Alexander McQueen and for TV programmes on BBC, Discovery and National Geographic Channels
FUSE
In 2006, Ben was approached by the manager of Linzi Stoppard to write and produce music for her live performances. Linzi had the vision of creating an electric violin show and with Ben's sounds and ideas on electric violin playing, the two worked together to build Linzi an enviable reputation as a solo electric violinist performing all over the world. As their working relationship grew, they realised that they shared a common ambition to push the boundaries of what is most commonly regarded as a classical instrument. FUSE was born.
Ben & Linzi were not keen to be just another "crossover" string act, but wanted to explore new techniques and sounds. Whilst forming their signature sound, they were also setting the bar for a new generation of electric violin player. 2 years later and after a lot of hard work, FUSE were noticed and courted by several record labels leading them to sign a record deal with one of Europe's biggest labels, "Edel Records" alongside the likes of Prince, Deep Purple, Simple Minds and Kiss.
This past year has seen FUSE playing across the globe with dates in Hong Kong, Philadelphia, Istanbul, Mumbai, Moscow, Chicago, Athens, Beirut, Monte Carlo and Jordan as well as a string of high profile shows at the Royal Albert Hall, British F1 grand prix, BAFTA and Swarovski.
Their eponymous album was released in spring 2010. Get ready for a playlist of air guitar dreams, epic rock/pop hits lovingly reinterpreted and blazingly performed FUSE style.



HISTORY
Here are some of my memorable sessions and live work Pre-FUSE.
GORILLAZ (Brit Awards & "Monkey" opera)
MARK RONSON+AMY WINEHOUSE+ADELE (2008 Brit Awards)
GOLDFRAPP (Royal Festival Hall "ETHER '08 Festival", RAH and BBC Electric Proms '08 )
LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION (Solo violin, RAH & Evolution Festival 2008)
RAZORLIGHT (single)
WHITE LIES (forthcoming album and BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe show)
ARCTIC MONKEYS (leader of string section, "Baby I'm Yours" single, co-writer of strings intro to "If You've Found This, It's Probably Too Late" and leader of string section, "My Favourite Worst Nightmare" 2007 album)
TAKE THAT ("Rule The World" music video)
LOU RHODES (solo violin, 2006 festivals & "BLOOM")
WAR OF THE WORLDS (2006 UK tour & DVD)
LINZI STOPPARD (Musical Director/Producer)