Les Lee

Les Lee was the second DJ I remember at the Blue Note. I had seen him before, mainly at the Twisted Wheel where he was a familiar figure on a Friday and occasionally at the Saturday all-nighters. He was mainly known for accompanying Bob who was a builder (honestly), widely recognised by any of the girls that I knew at the time to be the most good looking guy in the place, if not Manchester. I couldn’t see it myself but there we are. Bob disappeared after a couple of years and apparently joined the army. Like all Greek gods that come to earth, there had to be a flaw – Bob was a bit short on brain power, his conversation not the most captivating. That didn’t seem to bother the girls, however.

Back to Les. He was probably ok but to us he was always known as a bit of a smart-arse. May be it was because he drove a GT Viva or may be his girl friend (Elaine?) was a bit annoying but mainly it was the way he spoke and more to the point, danced. His party piece was to dance with his girlfriend to ‘Billy’s Bag’ by Billy Preston, very much in the style of James Brown’s ice-skating moves, later copied and perfected by none other than Michael Jackson. It became the Moonwalk. Of course, at the time we are talking about, no one had actually landed on the moon – hence ice-skating.

I have two memories about Les. The first one is going outside the club with another friend Lawrence and seeing that the window of his shiny GT Viva had been smashed. For some reason, it gave us both immense pleasure to go back in and tell him. Childish in retrospect but good at the time. Many years later I found out who had committed the act of vandalism but I am sworn to secrecy.

The second memory was when it transpired that Les’s girlfriend was pregnant. That was quite a bit deal in the mid sixties. When it became common knowledge, every time she entered the club for the next few weeks, the new DJ (Les had disappeared) tended to play ‘Baby’ by Carla Thomas…