Spencer Lee has a big voice out of little Fort Scott, Kansas, and the major backing that will get it heard. We spoke on the phone last week — now 25, he was raised in a small town and literally scouted as a teen: after someone saw him perform at a local talent show, they called up the grocery store where he worked, suggested he come out to L.A. to work on music, and he quit on the spot.
He moved full time right after graduating high school, but his career went not-so-up and mostly down. He got a handful of songwriting jobs but ended up living out of his car, ready to give up — until a chance meeting at a songwriting session with Freddy Wexler, who's worked with Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Selena Gomez… Freddy signed him and invited him to live at his place, where they worked on Spencer's album together.
On top of that break: Scooter Braun heard the music early and was instantly hooked — notably, the pop legend-maker recommended they leave a raw demo just as it was, including the room noise. He teamed up with Freddy to manage him and brought on Eric Valentine, the maaajor rock producer, to finish up the forthcoming project.
So many pieces had to come together — and on this The Spencer Lee Band cover of "With A Little Help From My Friends," you do see why. I don't even really like this song! Beatles who, Spencer's Southern rock is undeniable. "There's many a songs I could cover, to be honest, but that song just takes a singer," he told me. "Like, a sanger, to really pull it off, so I was happy to take the challenge. Recorded it live, one take." Can't really fault his confidence at this point, lol. "That song definitely has the true meaning behind it," he adds. "I can back that up with my little bit of life story."
Fitting for a nine-piece group, The Spencer Lee Band playing big festivals this summer. "I hope to be really exhausted," he said. "I've been told by Scooter, 'You're going to be there when you don't know what time it is, where you are, what you're doing. That's when you'll see if you'll stand the test of time.' Which I know I will. I've been waiting for that moment for a long time. I'm really excited to be super exhausted."
Catch them this summer at Governors Ball, Bonnaroo, Firefly, and more.