- Lee, Arthur
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▪ 2007American singer-songwriter (b. March/May 7, 1945, Memphis, Tenn.—d. Aug. 3, 2006, Memphis), formed the influential interracial rock band Love, which bridged the gap between the shamanistic psychedelia of the Doors and the folk rock of the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, its contemporaries in the 1960s Sunset Strip musical scene in Los Angeles. Working with bandmate Bryan MacLean, Lee—an African American whose family had relocated from Memphis to California and who called himself “the first so-called black hippie”—crafted an eclectic range of songs that incorporated rock, blues, jazz, flamenco, folk, and orchestral elements, along with sometimes spacey lyrics, on a series of albums that culminated in the group's masterpiece Forever Changes (1968). Among the group's hit songs were “My Little Red Book,” “Seven and Seven Is,” and “She Comes in Colors.” Following the band's success in the 1960s, Lee and his shifting supporting cast struggled in the '70s and '80s, and in 1996 he was convicted of possession of an illegal weapon. He was incarcerated until 2001, when he began performing again. He died of complications from acute myeloid leukemia.
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▪ American diplomatborn Dec. 21, 1740, Westmoreland county, Va. [U.S.]died Dec. 12, 1792, Middlesex county, Va., U.S.diplomat who sought recognition and aid in Europe for the Continental Congress during the American Revolution.Lee gave up a medical practice for the study of law and then became interested in colonial politics. He wrote political tracts, among them a series of 10 essays called “The Monitor's Letters” in the Virginia Gazette in 1768. In 1770 he became an agent for the colony of Massachusetts, and in 1776 he, Benjamin Franklin, and Silas Deane were appointed by the Continental Congress as commissioners to negotiate an alliance with France and to solicit aid from other European governments. Important treaties of commerce were signed with France in 1778; however, Lee's quarrels with his associates led to the recall of Lee and Deane to the United States. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1781 and served as a delegate to the Continental Congress (1782–84). He was on the U.S. Treasury Board (1785–89). After the adoption (1789) of the federal Constitution, which he opposed, he retired to Landsdowne, his Virginia estate.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
