RIP Katie Lee

The singer of the Unpopular Music theme song has died at the age of 98, having lived quite the life.





I discovered Real Sick Sounds from a compilation called "beat jazz - pictures from the gone world, volume 2," and eventually tracked down it's source, a collection of satirical songs on psychological themes written by Bud Freeman and Leon Pober called "Songs of Couch and Consultation." Katie was basically a hired gun as the girl singer, she worked primarily as a folk singer (Burl Ives described her as "the best cowboy singer I know.")

 

I ended up digging only a bit deeper, enough to discover her as a free spirit who walked away from Hollywood to live in Arizona. (She describes her recordings here.) I did not until now, unfortunately, discover her devotion to Glen Canyon, and her spirited activism against the damming that led to its disappearance.

The short film above is a wonderful reflection on that life. Sad to see, though, that her gentleman companion, Joey van Leeuwen, took his own life, rather than live without her.