Could it be that Australia finally gets Ben Lee? He’s been around for 30 years, released 18 albums and become one of our biggest celebrity exports, but the singer reckons we’re only just getting to know him. | Louise Rugendyke
Could it be that Australia finally gets Ben Lee?
“It took 30 years for people to kind of understand what my attitude is, you know, and it just sort of clicked,” says Lee, who is picking from a fruit box in a sofa-stuffed room at Warner Music’s Sydney offices. I was a bit like the weird guy who did things his way ... If you didn’t understand it, it was just annoying and perplexing.“[Then] I suddenly became aware of a lot of love coming towards me. Whereas before, I’d felt animosity or indifference or confusion. I didn’t make it such a big part of my identity, like, ‘What does everyone think of me? What does everything mean?’ I just was like, ‘What can I do? That’s interesting.
“I think all my chasing cults [he marketed essential oils and has dabbled in various religions], that was my type of self-destructiveness,” he says. “And the reason I say it was self-destructive was it took me off course. There were parts of my life where I actually should have been more productive.”Advertisement