Lee Engle © Andrea Canter

Growing up in West St. Paul, Lee’s family enjoyed the recordings of classical musicals such as South Pacific, West Side Story and My Fair Lady. “I listened to these records all the time, and had all the lyrics memorized from every show,” recalls Lee. “I was a bit of a ham, and I can remember times when the neighbors came over and she [Mom] put on an album and I would sing to them, ‘doing a show’.” At 13, Lee started in community theater, and without her parents’ knowledge, auditioned for (and was accepted by) the Children’s Theater Company summer program. In high school she won the lead in a musical production, sang in the choir, performed in a combo, and had small roles at Chimera Theater. While studying theater and voice at the U of M, Lee continued to perform in community theater, including a season with the Dudley Riggs ETC Music Theater. “The quarter I was set to graduate I was offered a band gig on the road with the last touring group of The Serendipity Singers, which started many years of performing with numerous bands here and traveling the US,” says Lee. Graduation would have to wait.

In the mid-1980s, Lee found a new career path as a disc jockey. “Bands were being pushed out of clubs by DJs, and I decided to follow the trend,” explains Lee. “I had been involved in a minor recording project of just a few songs with a producer named Jim Huser, which resulted in a dance single on Wide Angle Records. It got some minor radio play, but I was ecstatic to play at shows when I DJ’d. A high point at that time was at First Avenue, at a Ramones concert waiting for the band to come on and listening to the DJ there. They played my record and my brother and I almost fell off our chairs!”

Throughout the late 80s and into the 1990s, Lee continued to work as a DJ and club manager, and began hosting karaoke; she also finished her BA and worked in customer support for a software company, eventually enrolling at St. Catherine’s and earning a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership. At about the same time she started singing with the Just Friends Big Band. “For the next three years all I did was study and worked, and we had occasional gigs. All during this time, though, I kept saying that when I was finished I would try to establish myself as a jazz vocalist.” Lee remained with Just Friends for six years, earning her degree in 2003 and moving on in 2006 to the vocal chair with the Somewhat Dixieland Band.

Like many area musicians, Lee maintains a “day job,” serving as a Technology Processes Manager for the Bio-Medical Library at the University of Minnesota. She also runs a mobile DJ business, noting that “a high point in the summer of 2005 was being a part of a co-DJ team that entertained at the Microsoft World Partners Conference here in Minneapolis that summer. It was an awesome show!”

Lately, Lee has been concentrating on her career as a jazz singer, appearing at the Dakota, Dakota County Music Café, Rossi’s, Jensen's, and Club Saratoga in Duluth. During the recent Twin Cities Jazz Festival, she joined fellow singers from the Jazz Vocalists of Minnesota to present a Singers Showcase on the Dakota Foundatoin/MacPhail Stage. In addition to her gigs, Lee is active in the jazz community as the newly elected President of the Twin Cities Jazz Society.

On October 14th, Lee Engele will be right where she’s always been most comfortable—on stage. In the company of four very fine jazzmen, she’ll give her audience at the Dakota plenty to swing about!

The Dakota is located at 1010 Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis; www.dakotacooks.com. Keep up with Lee Engele at www.myspace.com/leeengele