Early Life
Freddie Lee Peterkin, also known under the recording name of Freddie Lee, is a published author singer–songwriter and actor born in Pahokee, Florida known for his power soul vocals reminiscent of Bobby Womack, James Ingram and Levi Stubbs. He the son of migrant workers originally from Georgia who came to Florida to pick crops for a living and is of African and Seminole Indian heritage.
Freddie Lee grew up in the black project area of Pahokee and worked alongside his family picking beans and oranges to support the family income. Thanks to his grandmother, mother and Godmother he was pulled away from early gang activity and made to attend church and joined the New Hope Missionary Bapstist Church Choir.
Freddie was an exceptional high school student and gained a scholarship to attend Florida Memorial University, a historical black college based in Miami, Florida. He pledged Alpha Phi Alpha and became part of the Delta Psi Chapter. Freddie and Benjamin Carroll also founded the Florida Memorial Gospel Choir. He graduated with two degrees in Airway Science, Business Management and minors in Sociology and Education. Whilst at College Freddie became part of the Miami based Soul and Gospel group Message and he opened up for artists such as Howard Hewett, Betty Wright, Vanessa Bell Armstrong and Shirley Caesar. He also worked with Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, providing backing vocals on their studio recordings. Upon graduating, Freddie became a school teacher until a contract to produce a soul show in Spain was offered to him and his colleagues in Message.
Early career
Freddie left the USA for Spain in 1991 and began a new life as an entertainer and show producer. In 1994 Freddie renamed the group Aces and was responsible for costumes and show production as well as sharing lead vocals in the show. He was based initially in Madrid and then in Gran Canaria, touring all the live music venues. Aces featured on television, billboards and buses. They also toured England, Germany, France, Italy and the rest of Spain.
Aces relocated permanently to London, England in 1998 and were the first American Soul Tribute show to be seen in the UK. It was in 2002 when Freddie found that one of his colleagues who had been appointed the group's business administrator has been stealing from their company account for a number of years. High tensions ensued, Freddie and the other group members were outraged enough to close down the group and they went their separate ways. The effects of his colleague's theft and the termination of their work contracts caused Freddie Lee to lose his home. It was during this time that he took to sleeping in his car in roadside service stations whilst restarting both his life and career over again and this became the inspiration for writing the album Beyond Comprehension.
Restarting his career
In early 2003 Freddie Lee Peterkin was signed up by entertainment agency, BCM Promotions Ltd. and came under the management of Jessie Tsang who gave him some much needed contracts to work as a solo artist. He showcased as a solo artist for The Stage newspaper and won rave reviews for his performance in Showcall 2003. By 2004 Freddie was back on his feet again and BCM Promotions offered to finance a new Soul Tribute production show for Freddie. The show named the Sounds of The Four Tops, made its debut at the national Showcall Showcase 2004. During this time Freddie found fame in the live industry of the UK through producing in Soul Tribute Production shows and was frequently reviewed by The Stage newspaper in the UK for his production shows the Sounds of The Four Tops and The Sounds of the Drifters. These production shows began touring 200 dates per year in the UK and Europe and enabled Freddie to independently finance the production and pressing of his first album Beyond Comprehension.
Beyond Comprehension
The album Beyond Comprehension went into production in early 2007 and was produced by music heavyweights Tony Bean and Colin Bassett at 5am Productions for 5am Records , Birmingham, UK. 5am have been noted for their work with UK soul star Lemar, and US stars Kelly Rowland, Usher, Tyrese and Justin Timberlake. The PR guru behind the album is Michael Grant formerly a child reggae star in the group Musical Youth
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"Beyond Comprehension" is distributed independently through Butterfly Music and has gained popularity through British soul clubs and specialist soul music radio stations such as Solar Radio, Starpoint Radio and 209 Radio. Most recently he was interviewed on mainstream FM stations by Tony Roots on New Style Radio 98.7FM and by Joe Aldred on BBC Radio. Freddie Lee gave his first British television interview on the chat show Bright Talk on BEN Television, Sky TV channel 184. The album has been given high praise by soul legends such as Clyde Walter Orange from the Commodores who said “There is music but then there is good music. This boy and this album is hot!”
Beyond Comprehension and Freddie Lee’s unique brand of ‘Inspirational Soul’ is blazing a trail through radio and soul club land alike. If you love Gritty American Soul with a touch of funk, jazz and gospel then this is an album for you. Beyond Comprehension was officially released in the UK on November 23rd
Freddie made his acting debut recently Keep a look out for his forthcoming television appearances on T4 on Channel 4 on February 26th 2011 and also his role on the BBC 2 Comedy 'Grumpy Guides' to screened later this year. He also makes a cameo appearance in the feature film 'How Not To Be A Loser' starring Richard E Grant.
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