Feeder and early career[edit]
Feeder were formed whilst Grant Nicholas was a producer, before moving to London to gain more experience. He had already met Lee in Newport who moved to London afterwards. They formed a band named Raindancer, who despite winning a TV slot on ITV Central never gained a record deal. Shortly before this, Lee was a member of Newport band The Darling Buds, although only appearing on a couple of b-sides of the "Sure Thing" single. Raindancer's split saw bassist John Canham part ways with the band, before Simon Blight followed soon after when they reformed as Hum, which was changed to Reel, before then changing their name once again to Real when Taka Hirose took over bass duties in 1995. The band signed to The Echo Label in November 1994 before changing their name to Feeder, with their debut single proper "Stereoworld" reaching number 128 in the UK charts in October 1996, while the second single "Tangerine" reached number 60. The first full-length album, Polythene, was released in May 1997. Produced by Chris Sheldon, it charted at number 65 in the UK and was certified Silver for sales over 60,000 copies in 2003 when the band had already broken through. Metal Hammer magazine included it in its Top 20 Albums of 1997 list at number 1. It would later in mid 2017, upgrade to Gold status for 100,000 units.
The follow-up album, Yesterday Went Too Soon, was produced by Nicholas. Released in August 1999, the album was a much quicker commercial success than its predecessor (entering the UK album chart at number 8 and certified Silver in 2001, with this being upgraded to Gold in 2003). The title track was the band's first UK Top 20 hit.
Two years later, the band released their third and also breakthrough album, Echo Park. Produced by Gil Norton (Foo Fighters, The Pixies, Echo & the Bunnymen and James), the album peaked at number 5 in the UK and was also certified Gold, but in its release year, before going platinum in 2003. It contained their debut Top 10 single "Buck Rogers".
After Lee's death in 2002, the band kept out of the public eye until Comfort in Sound was nearing its completion. The first play of its lead single "Come Back Around", was the first time since Lee's death that the band made any public appearances and released new material. The single charted at #14, while the follow-up "Just the Way I'm Feeling" made the Top 10. The album, which was also produced by Norton, charting one place lower than Echo Park had, and later became their first platinum seller. The album featured Mark Richardson of Skunk Anansie on drums; he parted company with Feeder in 2009, to return to a reformed Skunk Anansie. An instrumental demo of "Come Back Around" was recorded before Lee's death, with lyrics written later on by Nicholas. After his death, they were rewritten for the final version which Mark Richardson played on, keeping close to the original instrumental demo recording Lee made with the band.