LEE AARON
Calgary Herald- August 25, 1989


It's Aaron's in control:

Lee Aaron, former trash- metal queen xxxx has grown up.

In town to promote her forthcoming fifth album, Body Rock, the Canadian hard-rock siren sounds like a woman with both high heels on the ground.

"My stage persona and my own self are probably closer to being the same now than they ever have been," says the articulate, husky-voiced Aaron, whose latest video is getting heavy exposure on MuchMusic.

She still stikes come-hither poses and screams out tunes with titles like Nasty Boyz and Whatcha Do To My Body. But nowadays the petite 27-year-old Toronto singer, booked for a Nov. 24th show at the Jubilee Auditorium, is in control of her image. She makes her own decisions about publicity shots, album covers and videos.

That wasn't the case when she started out a decade ago. "I was listening to a lot of other people about how I should be marketed," she recalls. "People had the impression I was this leather-clad Amazon wench.

"And no, I didn't walk down the street in a loincloth with a sword hanging at my side."

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What she does want is to keep building airplay and record sales, particularly in the U.S. where she has yet to break through. She already has a strong following in the United Kingdom and Europe. At home, her third LP, Call of the Wild, earned her a Juno nomination for Best Female Vocalist.

Aaron says she no longer gets dismissed as "a chick who sings in a rock band."

"I feel like I've earned respect, just from the way I'm treated. The Scorpions asked me to sing on their last record - that was one of the biggest rock albums in the U.S. last year."

Her own album, set for a Sept. 11 release, has a more powerful sound than the previous self- titled one.

"With this record we've come back home to our rock 'n' roll roots."

Aaron contributed lyrics and melodies to collaborations with some seven songwriters. Body Rock also includes a revved-up version of the Montrose classic, Rock Candy.

She based one song, Rock The Hard Way, on the experience of a childhood friend who became a teenage runaway and who met a sordid death in Montreal.

"It's about being tough, hanging on to your values and your strength, trying to resist the dark side of life."

Has Aaron herself had to resist evil?

"Anyone thrown into the music business does. I was 17 when I started playing in nightclubs. I was this sweet little girl from the suburbs playing for bikers."

Speaking of bikers, Aaron had some fun choosing male extras for the video, Whatcha Do To My Body.

She wasn't impressed with the pretty boys a casting agency provided, so some real men were plucked from Toronto's hip Queen Street: "kind of biker guys with long hair."

"They're the type of man I'm attracted to; my own personal taste," says Aaron. "They have a little rougher edge. We didn't have to dress them."

Aaron won't reveal much about her personal life, but admits having "a sweetie" who is a guitarist/songwriter. At home in Toronto she does regular domestic stuff like grocery shopping in track pants and no makeup. "Just because someone gets on stage and sings for a living doesn't mean they don't clean a toilet once in a while too."

Alison Mayes
Calgary Herald ©

Note: Some parts of this article has been blackened out due to personal issues.