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Laura Lee (born Laura Lee Newton, 9 March 1945, Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
, Illinois
Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 soul
Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the African American culture through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, Secularity testifying." The genre occasion...
 and gospel
Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
 singer and songwriter
Songwriter

File:Beethoven.jpgA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer....
, most successful and influential in the 1960s and 1970s particularly for her records
Gramophone record

A gramophone record is an analog signal sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc....
 which discussed and celebrated women’s experience.

was born in Chicago, but as a child relocated to Detroit with her mother. After a few years, she was adopted by Rev. E. Allan Rundless, who had previously been a member of the Soul Stirrers, and his wife Ernestine, who led a gospel group, The Meditation Singers
Meditation Singers

The Meditation Singers was a Gospel music group formed by Della Reese in the late forties. The original members were Della Reese, Earnestine Rundless, Lillian Mitchell and Marie Waters ....
.






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Laura Lee (born Laura Lee Newton, 9 March 1945, Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
, Illinois
Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
) is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 soul
Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the African American culture through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, Secularity testifying." The genre occasion...
 and gospel
Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
 singer and songwriter
Songwriter

File:Beethoven.jpgA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer....
, most successful and influential in the 1960s and 1970s particularly for her records
Gramophone record

A gramophone record is an analog signal sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc....
 which discussed and celebrated women’s experience.

Career

Lee was born in Chicago, but as a child relocated to Detroit with her mother. After a few years, she was adopted by Rev. E. Allan Rundless, who had previously been a member of the Soul Stirrers, and his wife Ernestine, who led a gospel group, The Meditation Singers
Meditation Singers

The Meditation Singers was a Gospel music group formed by Della Reese in the late forties. The original members were Della Reese, Earnestine Rundless, Lillian Mitchell and Marie Waters ....
. Featuring Della Reese
Della Reese

Della Reese , is an United States actress and singer. She started her career in the late 1950s as a jazz singer, best known for her 1959 hit single "Don't You Know"....
, they were the first Detroit gospel group to perform with instrumental
Instrumental

An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or any other sort of vocal music; all of the music is produced by musical instruments....
 backing. The group recorded
Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical or mechanics inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects....
 on the Specialty
Specialty Records

Specialty Records was an United States record label based in Los Angeles. It was originally launched as Juke Box Records in 1946 in music, but later renamed by its owner Art Rupe when he parted company with a couple of his original partners....
 label
Record label

In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of recorded sound and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the Record producer, manufacturing, distribution , marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protec...
 in the mid 1950s, appeared on the LP
Album

An album or record album is a collection of related Sound recording and reproduction or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites....
 Della Reese Presents The Meditation Singers in 1958, and in the early 1960s recorded for Checker Records
Checker Records

Checker Records was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records. Like Cadet Records it stopped releasing records around 1971.Its most known artists include young Aretha Franklin, Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, J....
.

As Laura Lee Rundless, she replaced Reese in The Meditation Singers in 1956, and over the next few years toured widely around the country. In 1965, as Laura Lee, she launched her secular solo
Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer. In practice this means a number of different things, depending on the type of music and the context....
 career as an R&B
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
 singer in clubs
Nightclub

A nightclub is a Alcoholic beverage, Dance and entertainment Music venue which does its primary business after dark. People who frequent nightclubs are known as clubbers....
 in Detroit, although she also continued to record occasionally with The Meditation Singers. She first recorded solo for Ric-Tic Records in 1966, with "To Win Your Heart". The following year she won a recording contract
Recording contract

A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote....
 with Chess Records
Chess Records

Chess Records was an United States record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
, and travelled to Rick Hall’s FAME Studios
FAME Studios

FAME Studios are located at 603 East Avalon, Muscle Shoals, AL. in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They have been an integral part of American popular music from the late 50s to the present....
 in Muscle Shoals to record "Dirty Man", which became a # 13 R&B hit (also # 68 pop). She stayed with Chess until 1969, touring and also recording "Up Tight Good Man" and "As Long As I Got You".

Lee then moved to Holland, Dozier and Holland’s newly established Hot Wax
Hot Wax Records

Hot Wax Records was a Detroit, Michigan, Michigan-based record label, created by producers/songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland in 1968 when they left Motown Records....
 label. One of her first recordings for Hot Wax, "Women’s Love Rights", became one of her biggest hits
Hit single

A hit single is a Sound recording track or Single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official Record chart through repeated airplay and/or significant commercial sales....
, reaching # 11 on the R&B chart in 1971 and # 36 pop. In 1972, "Rip Off" reached # 3 on the R&B chart, but only # 68 pop. She also recorded an album, Two Sides of Laura Lee, while in a relationship with singer Al Green
Al Green

Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an United States gospel music and soul music singer who received great acclaim in the 1970s. At the 2008 BET Awards Green was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, for all the work he has done throughout his career....
.

Lee left Invictus / Hot Wax in 1975 and signed with Ariola Records
Ariola Records

Ariola Records is a German record label, as of the late 80s a daughter label of BMG which in return has become a part of international media conglomerate Sony BMG Music Entertainment....
, but became seriously ill shortly afterwards and retired from the music industry for several years. She returned in 1983 with a gospel album, Jesus Is The Light Of My Life, on which she worked with Al Green. By 1990 she was recovered from illness, and had been ordained as a minister. She has continued recording music to this day.

A swedish garage rock band did an unexpected homage to Lee by baptizing themselves as Division of Laura Lee
Division of Laura Lee

Division Of Laura Lee is a band of Swedish musicians/skateboarders originally from V?nersborg, Sweden heavily influenced by post-punk bands, britpop and the DC music scene ....
.

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