Jake E. Lee
Jakey
Lou Williams was born in West Virginia on February 15, 1957.
His father was in the military.
As a young boy, Jake liked to stay up late and practice the guitar while watching classic films. His mother, however made him learn classical piano.
He had an older sister who introduced him to artists like Jimi Hendrixand Led Zepplin. Tragically, she was killed in a motorcycle accident.
Jake went to Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach, California. He was known for walking around school with his acoustic guitar in hand. He started a band called Teaser. The band played in several venues such as the Straight Ahead Sound Club, and Parties. It was here that he met long time friend Warren DiMartini. He also met lead singer of Mickey Rat, Stephen Pearcy. Pearcy offered him a lead guitar position in the band.
From there, they moved to California to try to score a recording contract. They changed the band's name to RATT, and became regulars on the sunset strip club scene. They played at clubs like, The Whiskey a Go Go, The Roxy, and The Troubadour.
Problems began to happen within the band, and Jake left the band largely in part due to Pearcy's excessive drinking.
After leaving RATT, Jake joined the band Rough Cutt, which was managed by the wife of Black Sabbath's Ronnie Dios (Wendy). Dios performed several times with Rough Cutt, and asked Jake to join him on his solo album. The pair did write some material together, but parted due to musical differences.
It
was around this time that he was contacted by Ozzy Osbourne for an
audition. Jake auditioned against many other guitarists, but
made the cut after Ozzy's first choice, George Lynch was asked to
leave the band. Jake flew to England, and embarked on the
Speak of the Devil tour. Ozzy and Jake seemed to click
musically. They released Bark at the Moon, which went multi
platinum.
Following the release, the band went on a world wide tour with RATT opening for them, later followed by Motley Crue.
The next album was Ultimate Sin
with a tour to follow. Soon after, Jake was asked to leave the
band.
Jake left the band on good terms and decided it was time to spend some time with his daughter, Jade who was born during the last tour.
He later went on to join the Badlands with ex Black Sabbath singer Ray Gillen.
