Lee Everett Alkin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Audrey Valentine Middleton (1937-02-14)14 February 1937 Sheffield,South Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 24 February 2022(2022-02-24) (aged 85) Berkshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Lee Everett, Lady Lee |
| Occupations |
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| Spouses | |
Lee Everett Alkin (bornAudrey Valentine Middleton; 14 February 1937 – 24 February 2022) was a British businesswoman and self-proclaimedspiritual healer who was previously a pop singer and celebrity psychic working under the stage nameLady Lee.
Born inSheffield as Audrey Valentine Middleton, she moved to London in 1958 after the breakdown of her first marriage to local footballer, Alan Bradshaw. She had fallen in love with aspiring rock star,Alex Wharton, and followed him where he formed the band Most Brothers. The relationship did not last long, though she found herself a job singing at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho, whereCliff Richard had been discovered. She was spotted here by pop music impresarioLarry Parnes, who signed her on the spot.[1]
She was abacking singer forEmile Ford before Parnes became her manager and gave her the stage name "Lady Lee". She also attracted media attention as the girlfriend ofBilly Fury, one of Parnes's best known artists. In 1964 she got a recording contract and released threesingles, none a hit: a cover of "I'm into Something Good", recorded around the same time byHerman's Hermits; "Ninety-Nine Times Out of a Hundred" byIvor Raymonde, released in May 1965; and "My Whole World (Seems to be Tumbling Down)" byTony Macaulay andDon Paul, released in October 1965.
She moved into a large house in Surrey with Billy Fury, though she left him in 1967 and came back to London to try and revive her showbiz career. Very few auditions came her way, and at one point she auditioned for theRaymond Revue bar, not realising it was a strip club. She walked out as soon as she realised her mistake.[1]
Soon afterwards, she met disc jockeyKenny Everett, who was one of the first DJs for BBC Radio 1. They enjoyed the high life, partying with celebrities such as Freddie Mercury, and John Lennon, who provided them with LSD. They married at Chelsea register office, and she made her own wedding dress out of a table cloth fromHarrod's. However, they separated in 1979 after Kenny Everett had come to terms with his sexuality, and divorced in 1984.[1] He wrote theforeword to her autobiography, published in 1987, but later criticised the book forouting him; the two remained estranged until his death.[2]Katherine Kelly played Lee inThe Best Possible Taste, a BBC drama about Kenny Everett shown in 2012.[3]
Everett was a friend ofDusty Springfield,Elton John andBillie Jean King;[4] the latter two were among those she questioned about supposedpast lives for a book she published in 1996.
Everett met the actorJohn Alkin at a house party thrown by Richard Branson. They began collaborating on an interest in past life regression therapy and mindfulness, and in 1982 they opened the "House of Spirit", a "healing centre" inBayswater, London.[1] They married in 1985, moved to Berkshire in 1994, and opened the "Obsidian College", another "healing centre", in 2000.[5] They also started the "Chilliqueen" condiments company,[6] which wound down when Everett turned 80 in 2017.[7]
Lee Everett Alkin died from cancer on 24 February 2022, at the age of 85.[8][1]
The Chilliqueen has turned 80, so retirement beckons! As of today, no orders can be taken by this website.