BIO

Lester McLean is a native of Toronto, Ontario and has been active on the city’s busy music scene since the early 90’s. He studied jazz as a saxophonist while earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communications and Sociology at York University. Although he performed as a lead vocalist in high school, he resumed singing with a serious focus in the late 90’s. The instrumental funk-fusion band The Colour of Soul was the first outlet for McLean’s songwriting and under his leadership the band recorded and released 3 Independent records in 1998, 1999, and 2002 respectively.

The next project was The Lester McLean Trio featuring Lester on lead vocals and soprano sax, Juno award winning and nationally recognized Michael Occhipinti on acoustic guitar, and multi-instrumentalist Louis Simao on upright acoustic bass. The trio released a full-length CD entitled “Best Foot Forward” in 2005. Drummer Mark McLean guests on a few tracks. The disc features a collection of covers and originals, 5 of which were penned by Lester.

Fast forwarding to 2009, the band went into John “Beetle” Bailey’s Drive Shed Studio for sessions that resulted in the 2011 release “Lester McLean – LM: 4, 3,2,1” which features 12 originals all penned by McLean and 3 covers. LM: 4,3,2,1 continues to demonstrate Lester’s versatility with a wide array of musical styles and genres, great melodies, thoughtful lyrics, ear catching grooves, thick harmonies, and the soulful, eclectic sound that defines Lester McLean’s listening tastes and talents.

Lester has continued to write, record, and release singles since LM: 4,3,2,1. He also proudly carries out the tradition of writing, recording, and releasing original Christmas music that began in 2003 with “Don’t Make Me Go to The Mall”.  The annual release has come with a video produced by Lester since 2016’s “This Damn Christmas Song”.  “A Mostly A Capella Christmas”, a compilation of Lester’s holiday songs was released in 2014. There are plans to release a new compilation in Dec 2024.

In addition to his original works, Lester has been lead singer and alto saxophonist for the Funk and Soul influenced “Grooveyard” since 1998. Lester is a also a key member of the internationally acclaimed Elton John tribute band “Elton Rohn” in which Lester handles sax, percussion, acoustic guitar, and backing vocal duties.

Throughout his career, Lester has performed with a wide array of Canadian and International artists including, Maestro, jacksoul, Ashley McIsaac, Vinx, Randy Crawford, Jarvis Church, Colin James, Divine Brown, and Jim Cuddy.