Right from the start, Monica was, and wanted to be, a musician. Both her parents were musical, and were very supportive of her, taking her to the ballet and the symphony. She was deeply inspired by the sight of a magnificent red-haired female bassist, but sadly, the dimensions of the family car dictated that Monica would have to settle for a cello.  She quickly moved to the viola, wooed by it’s haunting sound matching her own vocal range. Her current viola, she traded for the instrument she bought with the money she had saved, at the age of 23, to travel to Europe. She also had at, this time, a guitar, a gift from her parents, which she treasures.  She went on to play the clarinet and the piano and newest instrumental love is her beloved ukulele, which, conveniently, fits into the viola case.

 

After completing high school, Monica went to the University of Edmonton to study Political Science as part of a General Arts degree, which she abandoned to go travelling in Mexico. She subsequently moved to Victoria for four years, then, in 1998, came to Vancouver ‘with a freshly-made album in hand’ of her original songs. She very quickly became deeply involved in Vancouver’s music community. Her first band, Monica Lee and the Rockin’ Hobos, was formed at this time, with C.R. Avery and Jolie Holland (who went on to be part of the Be Good Tanyas). Monica was very involved in all kinds of events at, among other venues, the Café du Soleil, then, later on, at the Libra Room; she formed another band, members of which she still plays and performs with.

 

Performing and recording original music took a back seat when her two children came along. It being so much easier for fathers to continue as working musicians than it is for mothers, she made the great sacrifice and chose the love of her children over the stage. Monica met Chris, her children’s father, at the house of her then guitarist Jesse. They had ‘a long courtship’; Chris turned out to be ‘a wonderful father’. Monica wasn’t sure what would happen with her musical career; by this point the Monica Lee Band had thirty original songs ready to record, and so they decided to go into the studio, where they recorded twenty-two tracks. Eight years later, after a lot of hard work, the album was completed (actually, just this last August) – only ten of the originally recorded songs have made the final cut. They tell a ‘through-story’ of the ebb and flow of life and relationships, the difficulty of early parenting, and the new kind of love that comes to life with children. Monica still has to finalize the details of releasing the album, but she is proud and happy that the work has been done. She is a prolific songwriter, and has already written two more albums’ worth of music.

 

A life-changing event took place in January of this year, when Monica learnt that she has been significantly deaf all her life. She finally got hearing aids in April, and, as she says, ‘I had to sign off on a record I was hearing for the first time!’ She looks back over her life, and wonders how her lack of hearing might have affected past relationships and friendships. It is astonishing and delightful to suddenly hear so clearly; when she takes out her hearing aids, ‘the world is a dull place’.  

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- written by Gian Ward

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