Former Detroit Lions player and executive Larry Lee now leads a successful cover band.
Lee credits blues guitarist Robert Penn as his mentor in the music business.
His group, the Larry Lee & Back In The Day Band, has opened for major acts like Chaka Khan and Smokey Robinson.
The passion that can be heard in Larry Lee’s voice when he says, “I bleed Lions blue blood” is undeniable.
Indeed, Lee’s ties to Detroit’s hometown football team run deeper than most.
During a nine-year period which ended in 2001, Lee worked in the Lions’ front office, rising from player development assistant to vice president of football administration.
Before then, Lee proudly rocked the Lions’ iconic Honolulu blue and silver uniform on playing fields across the National Football League as an offensive lineman after the Lions selected the former UCLA Bruin standout in the fifth round of the 1981 NFL draft.
And it was during Lee’s rookie season as a Lions player in 1981 that the seeds were planted that would pave the way for a former NFL player and front office executive to become the leader of the Larry Lee & Back In The Day Band.
Since 2002, Lee’s versatile cover band has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in music, including Chaka Khan, George Clinton, Smokey Robinson, Boyz II Men, Morris Day and The Time, The Four Tops, Cameo, The Whispers, New Edition and many, many more.
Oftentimes, the group’s performances have contributed to the celebration of special occasions, like Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, Super Bowl XL in Detroit and the opening of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park on Detroit’s riverfront this past October. But, Lee says, none of this would have been possible if he had not made himself known to a legendary guitarist and international blues performer, whose stirring music caught Lee’s ear and touched his soul during a Lions game at the old Pontiac Silverdome.
“I was thinking: ‘That dude is jamming on the guitar,’
