Famous musician, Jack Lee has died after three years of battling colon cancer. His death occurred on Friday, May 26, 2023, in Santa Monica. He was 71.
“He never gave up on his music, to the very end. His guitar, right by his side. His lived his songs. One by one they told the story of his life. Some dreams die. His never will,” his family shared.
Lee was best known for his song Hanging on the Telephone. In 1974, he founded the music group, The Nerves along with two guys from the East Coast called Case and Collins, who also sang and wrote songs.
“The first day I met him, in late ’73 or early ’74, we went out and sat in the car, and I played him When You Find Out, and he played me Hanging on the Telephone. It was fantastic and inspiring. When Paul joined, it was a very exciting period, and Jack was the mover and shaker. In the early days, he was on fire, and he was visionary about where music could go,” Chase once shared in an interview.
After the newly found group recorded their EP, they relocated to Los Angeles on New Year’s Day in 1977. That same year, they booked their own self-produced coast-to-coast U.S. tour.
Unfortunately, the group broke up shortly after and Case went ahead to form The Plimsouls, whiles Collins formed The Beat. Lee also released two original collections dubbed Jack Lee’s Greatest Hits Volume 1 (1983) and a self-titled set in 1985.