A Chat with Dee C Lee (22.10.25)
Dee C Lee is a British singer who was a part of Wham! and The Style Council. Her recent album Just Something was released last year to positive reviews. We caught up with her to speak about her career and celebrate the 40th anniversary of her biggest hit, ‘See The Day’.
OSR: There is an episode of Top Of The Pops where you appear with both Wham! and The Style Council. Did the two become difficult to juggle in the end? Did you ever get confused about who you were recording with on what day?
Lee: Absolutely not. In fact, it’s one of my most proud moments, my little bit of a claim to fame. I found it amusing, as when I arrived, the staff showed me to my assigned dressing room, looking a little baffled by the fact that I was assigned two! As I was the only female member of The Style Council at the time, I was assigned my own dressing room. George (Michael) was quick to take the mickey out of me when he found out and was laughingly referring to me as a ‘diva’. Shirlie (Kemp) also made the most of it. I had my two dressing rooms, and so did Shirlie, who also found it hilarious. At the time, I was moving on from Wham! over to The Style Council, so this was the only time the crossover happened, as both bands had singles in the chart that I had worked on. For any fact finders out there, the records were ‘Bad Boys’ with Wham! and ‘Money Go Round’ with The Style Council.
OSR: What did you think of Lewis Capaldi’s painstakingly accurate homage to ‘Club Tropicana’ in his ‘Forget You’ video? Did it bring back fond memories of the original shoot?
Lee: To be honest, I wasn’t aware of this video until my team showed it to me. My verdict is I thought it was fabulous! I was impressed by the frame-by-frame copy of the video. A great job on a faithful interpretation. Well done, Lewis!
OSR: There was a great energy in The Style Council’s performance at Live Aid. What are your memories of that day? How did you feel about being second on the bill?
Lee: Memories of the day? We were in the middle of a tour at the time, and so we knew what we were going to be doing. At that point, it was just another show on the schedule….that was until we arrived at Wembley. From then on, my initial feeling was terror, but also overwhelming anticipation of something great about to happen. I popped out to see the Quo performing and realised the scale of the day. That was when I ran to my dressing room to find my dark glasses, as I’d made my eye make-up run due to the nerves, which caused me to throw up! Still very proud to have been a part of this historic day.
OSR: There was a successful Sky documentary a few years ago about The Style Council. Do you think the group’s legacy has grown over time? Some of those singles are very strong.
Lee: I’d like to think so, but difficult for me to say. On my recent Just Something tour, where Steve White covered both MD and drumming duties, we were really happy to meet quite a few Style Council fans, who are definitely the best fans in the world. We loved chatting to them and hearing their memories of the band.
I agree with you, the singles are strong, so thank you. I would always say yes to a revival of The Style Council – but that’s down to the Boss 😉
OSR: ‘See The Day’ sold a quarter of a million copies and peaked at Number 3 in December 1985. Did you think it had a chance for the Christmas Number One?
Lee: I was just amazed and super happy that ‘See The Day’, a song that I’d been trying to get released for such a long time, did so well. It was my personal choice that ‘See The Day’ should have been my debut single instead of ‘Selina Wow Wow’, so it was very gratifying to see it climb the charts and hit that Number 3 spot at a time when the charts were so important and a true reflection of what people were buying.
OSR: How did you find carving out your own solo career in the mid 80’s? Your debut album, Shrine, was released in 1986.
Lee: Carving out my solo career was a lot harder for me to begin with than I had imagined it would be.
I’d always previously been part of a band and had got used to the camaraderie and having the support of others to jam and bounce ideas for performance and production with. This time proved very formative in my career, not only as a performer but also as a songwriter. However, I knew I was always destined to give a solo career a try because I had so many other musical vibes and ideas I wanted to get out there and not be stopped by anyone else. Looking back, Shrine was a collection of the tracks that I had written, probably over a number of years. And as any artist will tell you, it’s an amazing experience to have your own work out there and people support it (or not!)
OSR: How did the British press behave while you were married to Paul Weller? Was there media scrutiny as you were both in the spotlight or not?
Lee: The British press did try to intrude, but to be fair, we never courted the celebrity circles and places where they would be, so they didn’t bother with us too much. We kept our life private and out of the spotlight and were very happy with our small circle of close friends; we were actually quite boring.
I think the press where more after Paul and his politics than anything else.
OSR: You contributed the gorgeous chorus to Guru’s ‘No Time To Play’ in 1993. Can you tell me more about how that project came about? Do you think you could’ve done more hip-hop? As I think your voice lent itself very well to that.
Lee: Firstly, thank you, that’s a lovely thing to say! I’ve always liked late 70s/80s old-school hip-hop and love the fact that sometimes a soulful/jazz vocal layered over a beat can really work well to put a twist on a record. This is why I’ve always loved working on collaborations. The project came about when Paul introduced me to Gangstarr. I had been working on the Slam Slam project with Paul and Dr. Robert (The Blow Monkeys), and Paul had Gangstarr remix one of the tracks called ‘Free Your Feelings’. Guru loved my voice on that record and asked me if I would be interested in working on a new project with him. I said “hell yeah”. As we were recording the track, Guru kept repeating how little time we had in the recording studio, and in a light bulb moment, triggered by the wonderful guitar hook from the legendary Ronny Jordan, I came up with the ‘No Time To Play’ line.
OSR: Just Something was irresistibly smooth and earned you fantastic reviews. I love the nostalgic feel to tracks like ‘Back In Time’ and ‘Walk Away’. You must’ve been ecstatic with how the album turned out?
Lee: Thank you again. I’m so glad you enjoyed it and got the nostalgic feel from it. A lot of the album was written during lockdown, when I was reflecting on my early years and the way music used to be.
I was lucky enough to co-write with a number of like-minded songwriters on that album, and then Acid Jazz put me in touch with the amazing producer Sir Tristan Longworth, who immediately understood where I wanted to go with the album musically.
OSR: What does the future have in store for you? Will you make another album and go on another tour? It must be nice that people still hold you in so high regard and want to hear more music from you.
Lee: I am always looking towards the future and never say never. I’d been quiet for a long time before Just Something, and doing that album and the tour really reawakened my love for making music. So we will see. You’ll be the first to know.
Thank you to Dee C Lee for speaking to The Other Side Reviews. Find out more about Dee on her Instagram, Facebook and Spotify.
