He became acquainted with bassist Nikki Sixx, whose bands Sister and later London played the same circuit.
In the late 1970s Lee's band, Suite 19, was a regular on the Sunset Strip club circuit in Los Angeles along with other up-and-coming acts such as Van Halen and Quiet Riot. His main drumming influences are John Bonham, Tommy Aldridge, Alex Van Halen and Terry Bozzio. As a teenager, he listened to Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, Kiss, AC/DC and Sweet. He dropped out of high school to pursue a career in music, starting with the L.A. Lee received his first drum sticks when he was four years old, and his first proper drum kit when he was a teenager. When Lee was approximately two years old, his father moved the family back to the United States, settling in California. He has a younger sister, Athena, who is also a drummer. Army sergeant, and mother Vassiliki 'Voula' Papadimitriou (Greek: Βασιλική Παπαδημητρίου), a contestant on the 1957 Miss Greece beauty contest. Lee was born Thomas Lee Bass on October 3, 1962, in Athens, Greece, to father David Lee Thomas Bass, an American U.S.
