About The Artist

US-based artist Lee Johnson is a ravenous reader and student of history, literature, art, and music. He constantly strives to progress and evolve forward to discover the amazing possibilities of life and love. A musician for his entire life, Lee is a talented keyboardist and drummer who also composes and produces in his home studio. Also an accomplished software engineer and webmaster, he is one of the founders and principals behind the RadioSparx and AudioSparx music enterprises. His love for music and art has been hugely inspired by his loving parents and sister who were each brilliant, creative, inspirational forces in their own right.

Lee's artistic inspirations derive from a vast range of masterful artists and innovators including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Jackson Pollock, Frida Kahlo, Alberto Vargas, LeRoy Nieman, Peter Max, Frank Frazetta, H.R. Giger, M.C. Escher, Graciela Rodo Boulanger, Tim Burton, JoHanna Moresco, Erwin Steijlen, and the iconic Barbara Coleman. Additionally, Lee was heavily influenced by various thinkers, tinkerers, and inventors such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Harry Houdini, P.T. Barnum, Rube Goldberg, Alfred E. Neuman, and W.E. Coyote. As an adolescent, he read the illustrated Encyclopædia Britannica from cover-to-cover multiple times, learning about myriad amazing and mondo topics. Things proved to be a bit surreal when later, upon diving into his family history on Ancestry.com, he traced his ancestral roots back 16 generations from the US to Sussex, England. Lee was primed!

And it turns out that a major part of his musical influences come from the UK and the EU, ranging from classical composers such as Schubert, Bach, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky to the iconic British artists Kate Bush, The Beatles, Elton John (early period), Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes, The Clash, New Order, Pink Floyd, Bad Company, Fleetwood Mac, U2 (early period), Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, The Cult, Thomas Dolby, King Krimson, UB40, The Police, Sting, Duran Duran, Psychedelic Furs, and Jesper Kyd. Plus he's a fan of Italian artist Adriano Celentano (anybody remember "Prisencolinensinainciusol"?!) 

Lee's favorite American artists include Elvis Presley, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frank Sinatra, Bill Haley & The Comets, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kansas, Styx, Joni Mitchell, Heart (early period), Blondie, The Cars, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Talking Heads, Stray Cats, Missing Persons, Terry Bozio, The Tubes, Oingo Boingo, Danny Elfman, Romeo Void, No Doubt, Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morisette, Limp Bizkit, Nine Inch Nails, and The Crüxshadows.

Also a true Jazz afficionado, Lee listens to Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane, Chick Corea, Charles Mingus, Nat King Cole, Jonny Mathis, Mike Crotty, Deater O'Neall, and Satin Doll Trio. Lee has also been heavily influenced by both R&B and Hip Hop. His foremost R&B influences came from Earth, Wind, & Fire, Dionne Warwick, Al Green, Ohio Players, Parliament/Funkadelic, Rick James, Prince, Beyoncé, and Mariah Carey of significant note. Influential Hip Hop artists include LL Cool J, Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, TLC, Lauryn Hill, Public Enemy, Snoop Dogg, Beastie Boys, and then coming forward to various diverse artists including 50 Cent, Jack Harlow, Megan Thee Stallion, Post Mallone, Lorde, Charlotte Jane, Billie Eilish, and Doja Cat.

It is Lee's wide-ranging love of diverse music, art, dance, and theatre that has been instrumental in the success of RadioSparx and AudioSparx. Lee is tremendously grateful to all the talented artists who participate, and he and the company's amazing team constantly strive to grow things and help everyone prosper and advance together in this complicated and competitive world.

Favorite Quote: “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” ― Hunter S. Thompson

Another Favorite Quote: "Composing on your computer at the piano is like sitting on a mountain, painting the landscape in front of you on a discarded radiator you brought along." ― Ed Newton-Rex

Favorite Song: Alfie (Performed by Dionne Warwick, Composed by Burt Bacharach, Lyrics by Hal David)

Favorite Movie: Blade Runner

Lee Johnson - 2023