James Whild Lea, born on June 14, 1949 at The Melbourne Arms pub in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England.

Violin, piano, bass, vocals in British glam rock group Slade.

Jim Lea was the nearest thing Slade had to a sensitive artist and trained musician. Influenced by French jazz-violinist Stéphane Grappelli Lea's first musical love was the violin. He played in the Staffordshire Youth Orchestra and gained first class honours in a London music-school practical exam before moving on to piano, guitar and finally bass.

He first played guitar and then bass in the schoolboy group Nick and The Axemen, then went for auditions for a local band, The N'Betweens. He turned up with his bass guitar in a plastic bag, but as he was a great bass player, very fast indeed, he joined The N'Betweens. Drummer Don Powell and guitarist Dave Hill and vocalist Johnny Howells were already members and when Noddy Holder joined soon after the foundations for Slade had been laid. Howells later left the band.

Jim Lea was Slade's principal songwriter, along with singer Noddy Holder. Lea wrote melodies and Holder concentrated on the lyrics. Together, Holder and Lea were one of the most powerful songwriting partnerships of that era, being responsible for most of the band's hits, and today they jointly own Slade's music.

In the 1980s Lea also produced all of Slade's recording sessions and became an increasingly dominant creative force within the band. It was not uncommon for him to handle Holder's guitar parts on record, and sometimes Hill's, too.

Jim Lea left Slade after Holder's departure from the band in 1991, being of the opinion that Slade was all four of them or nothing. He studied psychotherapy and qualified as a psychotherapist but hasn't taken it up as a full-time career.

He is still creating music, but has only ever released one record under his own name (Jimmy Lea: "Citizen Kane"/"Poland"). Other sporadic records have been released under odd pseudonyms such as China Dolls, JimJam and Whild, all via the Trojan group of labels. The most noticable release was The Dummies' album "A Day in the Life of The Dummies" which gathers together all the demos and single tracks that he recorded with his brother Frank Lea and wife Louise.

Jim Lea has performed live only twice since Slade's demise; once for a local protest against a motorway development in his home area and once again for a charity event at the Robin 2 venue in Bilston, near Slade's old local pub, The Trumpet.

In early 2004, it was reported and then confirmed that he was in the studio, working on a new solo record, but as is common with Lea, these things take an extremely long time....

Jim Lea married Louise Ganner, who was his first girlfriend, on March 19th 1973 and they are still togther, living quietly and well out of the public eye, in a totally non-showbiz way, today. They have two children, Kristian and Bonny, as well as 2 grandchildren. Lea lives with his wife in Brewood, in a secluded area of rural Staffordshire.

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