Tommy Lee (b. October 3, 1962) is an
American musician, and founding member of
glam metal band
Mötley Crüe. As well as being the band's long-term
drummer, Lee founded rap-metal band
Methods of Mayhem, and has pursued solo musical projects. He was previously married to actresses
Heather Locklear and
Pamela Anderson, with whom he has two children.
Lee was born in Athens, Greece as Thomas Lee Bass. His mother, Vassiliki "Boula" Papadimitriou, was Miss Greece in 1957, and his father, David Lee Thomas Bass, was a US Army serviceman of Welsh descent.[1] He has one younger sister, Athena Kottak (b. 1964), who is currently married to James Kottak, the drummer for the band, Scorpions and the current drummer of Kottak. His family moved to California one year after his birth. He received his first drum when he was four. However he received his first real drum kit when he was a teenager.
By that time he was listening to Kiss, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest. As he started listening to Kiss, his main drum influence became Peter Criss. After transferring from South Hills High School (West Covina, California); he joined the marching band at Royal Oak High School (now Royal Oak Middle School) in Covina, California, but dropped out of school in his senior year to focus on his musical career.[citation needed]
His first successful band Suite 19 played the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles during the late 70s. At this time he met future bandmate, Nikki Sixx. Casually, Sixx was forming a theatrical band that would specialize in anthemic heavy metal, and was impressed by Lee's drumming. At this time, he changed his name to Tommy Lee and earned the nickname "T-bone" due to his skinny physique. Shortly afterward, guitarist Mick Mars joined the band. Mars recommended a singer Tommy had met while in high school, Vince Neil, who soon joined the group, and Mötley Crüe was formed.[citation needed]
