1. Lee Mark Ranaldo was born on February 3,1956 and is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth.
20 Facts About Lee Ranaldo
1. 2.
Lee Ranaldo was born in Glen Cove, Long Island, studied art and graduated from Binghamton University.
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Lee Ranaldo has three sons, Cody, Sage and Frey, and has been married twice, first with Amanda Linn in 1981 but later divorced, and later with experimental artist Leah Singer since 1989.
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Lee Ranaldo started his career in New York in several bands, including The Flucts, and by playing guitar in Guitar Trio with Rhys Chatham before joining the electric guitar orchestra of Glenn Branca.
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In 1987, Lee Ranaldo released his first solo album, From Here to Infinity, compositions which ended in locked grooves.
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Lee Ranaldo's books include several with art or photography by Leah Singer, including Drift, Bookstore, Road Movies, and Moroccan Journal: Jajouka excerpt.
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Besides working as a guitarist, Lee Ranaldo has frequently produced sound, performance and visual art independently of Sonic Youth.
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Lee Ranaldo has released over fifty solo, band and collaborative recordings, and a dozen books; including travel journals, poetry and artists' books.
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Lee Ranaldo's work has been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums, including the Hayward Gallery in London, the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art, NSCAD in Halifax, the Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Mercer Union in Toronto, and Printed Matter, Inc.
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In 2021, Lee Ranaldo released In Virus Times, an EP of solo acoustic guitar pieces recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In May 2024, Lee Ranaldo received the honorary Doctor of Music degree from his alma mater, Binghamton University.
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Lee Ranaldo has produced albums for artists including Babes in Toyland, You Am I, Magik Markers, Deity Guns, and Dutch art rock-ensemble Kleg.
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Lee Ranaldo has edited a volume of tour journals from the 1995 Lollapalooza tour written by himself, Thurston Moore, Beck, Stephen Malkmus, Courtney Love, and others.
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Lee Ranaldo has worked with jazz drummer William Hooker on improvised music, and reading and improvising poetry and released several records together.
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In 2007 Lee Ranaldo collaborated with British rock band The Cribs on their third album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever.
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Lee Ranaldo made an appearance in the 2008 feature documentary by Nik Sheehan about Brion Gysin and the Dreamachine entitled FLicKer.
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In 2010 Lee Ranaldo released the solo album Maelstrom From Drift on Three Lobed Recordings with guest appearances of Buck and Watson.
18.
In 2022 Lee Ranaldo collaborated with Catalan French musician Pascal Comelade and drummer Ramon Prats in a concert inspired by Velvet Underground music for the premiere of "Linger On: The Velvet Underground" a book published by Eva and Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace Library by Catalan music journalist Ignasi Julia.
19.
Lee Ranaldo has used many guitars but is associated with the Fender Jazzmaster, Telecaster Deluxe electric guitars and sometimes Gibson Les Pauls, usually with radically alternative tunings, and modifications.
20.
Lee Ranaldo is one of the few popular artists to use the Ovation Viper solid body electric.