Leee John

Born Leslie McGregor John in Hackney, east London, and raised in a Saint Lucian family, Leee John split his early life between the UK and New York, where he also trained for the stage before returning to England. After beginnings as a backing singer and a stint in the project Fizzz, Leee John founded Imagination in the early 1980s with Ashley Ingram and Errol Kennedy, a trio that blended soul, R&B, funk, britfunk, post-disco and pop. His falsetto voice, melodic sensibility and an aesthetic closely tied to the urban productions of the time shaped the group's identity, notably on the albums Body Talk (1981), In the Heat of the Night (1982) and Scandalous (1983). Afterwards Leee John pursued a broader trajectory, combining Imagination’s repertoire with soul and dance stages, ventures into house and UK garage in the late 1990s, and a jazz-soul direction with the album Feel My Soul (2005). He also appeared on several collaborations, including a track with Byron Stingily and Gorillaz’s “The Lost Chord” in 2020, while continuing to perform under his own name and around Imagination’s catalogue.