Left to Right: Mike Utley, Keisha Hardison, Brandon Scott, Whitney Bryan, Larry Lee. Photo taken by: Mrs. Utley
Larry D. Lee born September 10, 1959 in Dayton Ohio began his journey into sports and bass guitar in the sixth grade. At a young age he decided to start a band with his friends after requesting instruments for Christmas; Lee also started playing football that same year. Everything seemed to work for Lee until his senior year of high school when he played bass for Soul Explosion. There was a show and a game the same day and after six years of doing both he had to make a choice to focus more on one than the other.
“I knew that at the time football was more important, I was a freshman playing varsity football. My senior year I was an All American and All State player. I was not in the position to choose the guitar and from then on my football career took off,” says Larry Lee.
Lee attended UCLA for college and was then drafted in 1981 at the age of 22 to the Detroit Lions, as an offensive lineman. Lee played four and a half seasons as a Detroit Lion from 1981 to 1985; he then started playing with the Miami Dolphin’s in 85-86, and ended his playing career with the Denver Broncos from 87-88. Lee spent nine years in the NFL as a professional football player, and went on to spend another nine years as vice president of the Detroit Lions.
Larry Lee and Back In The Day is the name of his band and is known as one of Detroit’s hottest. Spending 18 years in the NFL, Lee was not able to focus on his love for the bass as much, but after leaving the Lions in 2001 he has been focused on the strings ever since. The band not only preform in the city of Detroit, but they travel and do events all of the US.
“This is it this is my profession. I have retired from athletics, and at one point I thought about going into the front office for another team and become and executive, but I have done the band now for 14 years and we have done big things. Such as super bowl parties to major concerts, and this is my love and my passion. The beauty about it is if I work back in football or something I am working for somebody, but this is my business, I am the boss and this is my profession. I do this for a living now,” said Lee.
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It’s hard to become and pro-football player, it takes a lot of hard work and determination on and off the field. It’s also a challenge to become a popular musician with the same amount of work needed to be successful. Larry Lee is someone that can say that he has been successful at both. 18 years of knowledge in the NFL and at least 50 years of experience playing the bass guitar, Lee is definitely someone that we can call an expert in his field.