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Johnny Lee is the only bandmember who first saw the light of the world in Florida and who has never had a home town other than Tampa or St. Petersburg. Besides Al Pitrelli he also is the only actual Sava-musician who did not start his career as a drummer. They both cheered up their loved ones with trumpet sounds in the school orchestra in their early childhood. |
In the early days this calm and merry contemporary had his wild times as a the painted-up bassist of the glam-band Lefty, but he hardly looks it anymore. In between touring you can either find this genuine sportsman , who as a teenager performed breathtaking stunts on his skateboard in the halfpipe, on the nearest beach with his surfboard or watching the home games of the NHL newcomer Tampa Bay Lightning together with his highly temperamental wife Michelle, who has already caused him to have many a grey hair thanks to her reckless driving style.
Apart from all that he's got a crisis resistant job in the extremely humid and hot Florida : together with his old man Johnny Lee Middleton II he installs and modernizes air conditioning systems.
Johnny's finest memory of the 'old days' is a show in "Bush Gardens", a mixture between Disneyland and zoo in the north of Tampa.
| " We played on a stage that had been used for elephant training shows during the daytime. In front of the stage was a rather wide water ditch.The ground towards the ditch was a little sloping and so many folks had come to see our gig that the people standing in the back drove the ones that were standing in front on the edge of the ditch into the water slow and sure. In the middle of the set we found ourselves looking at lots of people swimming right in front of us in this muddy brew that , needless to say, was also full of elefant shit." |  |
From: RockHard Legends, Savatage
Translated by Ellen Bakvis