Freddie Lee Peterkin, also known as Freddie Lee, is a published author and singer–songwriter and actor born in Pahokee, Florida known for his power soul vocals reminiscent of Bobby Womack, James Ingram and Levi Stubbs. He has become an artist of public note through his independent release of the Soul and Gospel album Beyond Comprehension under the recording name of Freddie Lee. He made his prime time acting debut as "DJ Freddie Murphy" on Channel 4's T4 Stars & Strikes and as a character in BBC2's Grump Guides in 2011. Freddie Lee Peterkin is also a member of Alph Phi Alpha Fraternity, Delta Psi Chapter a brotherhood known for members such as Martin Luther King. Peterkin was responsible for composing many Delta Psi Chapter fraternity anthems such as 'I've Been Changed' written in 1985 while he was pledging.
Freddie Lee is the son of migrant workers originally from Georgia who came to Florida to pick crops for a living. He is of African and Seminole Indian heritage. His stepfather James Elijah Jr. was the lead vocalist the renowned gospel group of the 1960s and 70s The Royal Lights [1]. His sister Breyona Elijah is part of the gospel group James Smith & Nu Birth and they are both cousins of Gospel group Damali. His mother Bernice Bell is also a singer and as a child won a competition to write a song for Joe Tex, for which she was awarded concert tickets and a chance to meet her idol. Joe Tex went on to have a major hit with the song but Bernice remained uncredited. Bernice Bell has been more recently recognized for her charity work and ran youth programs in Pahokee's Padgett Island Community Center for 17 years and donating hot meals to Pahokee's underprivileged children. The community center was recently renamed "The Bernice Bell Community Center".
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Freddie Lee grew up in Padgett Island one of a number of housing projects in Pahokee, Florida, US. As a child he began working alongside his family picking beans and oranges to support the family income. Like most children in the area he also attended Pahokee Elementary and Pahokee High School. Whilst in school Freddie became part of the Pahokee marching band OD Express and also part of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church Choir. He also formed a High School band called High Society featuring James Smith, Ronald 'Buttermilk' Banks and twins Barlow and Peewee Bouie. Freddie was an exceptional high school student and gained a scholarship to attend Florida Memorial University, a historical black college based in Miami, Florida.
He graduated with two degrees in Airway Science, Business Management and minors in Sociology and Education. Whilst attending Florida Memorial University, he pledged to his fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha. He also formed the Florida Memorial Gospel Choir with Benjamin Carroll. During this time Freddie was part of the Soul and Gospel group Message and he opened up for artists such as Howard Hewett, Betty Wright, Vanessa Bell Armstrong and Shirley Caesar. He also worked with Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, providing backing vocals on their studio recordings. Upon graduating, Freddie became a school teacher until a contract to produce a soul show in Spain was offered to him and his colleagues in Message.
Freddie left the US for Spain in 1991 and began a new life as an entertainer and show producer. He created one of the earliest known soul tribute shows in Europe. In 1994 Freddie renamed the group Aces and was responsible for costumes and show production as well as sharing lead vocals in the show. He was based initially in Madrid and then in Gran Canaria, touring all the live music venues. Aces featured on television, billboards and buses. They also toured England, Germany, France, Italy and the rest of Spain.
Aces relocated permanently to London, England in 1998 and were the first American Soul Tribute show to be seen in the UK. They began touring and working 300 shows a year in theatre, clubs, resorts and festivals. They appeared several times on Capital Gold Radio Roadshows. Freddie was responsible for both costume and choreography for the national theatre show "Reach Out" produced by Pete Tobit.
It was in 2002 when Freddie found that one of his colleagues who had been appointed the group's business administrator has been stealing from their company account for a number of years. High tensions ensued, Freddie and the other group members were outraged enough to close down the group and they went their separate ways. The effects of his colleague's theft and the termination of their work contracts caused Freddie Lee to lose his home. It was during this time that out of pride and refusal to ask others for help, that he took to sleeping in his car in roadside service stations whilst restarting both his life and career over again. He has stated in interviews that the one or two friends he confided in about his situation who had previously enjoyed his five star live style, turned their backs on him. He also could not face returning home to his family in the US having lost everything he had worked for. It was during this time that his inspiration for writing much of the album Beyond Comprehension took place.
In early 2003 Freddie Lee Peterkin was signed up by entertainment agency, BCM Promotions Ltd. and came under the management of Jessie Tsang who gave him some much needed contracts to work as a solo artist. He showcased as a solo artist for The Stage newspaper and won rave reviews for his performance in Showcall 2003. By 2004 Freddie was back on his feet again and BCM Promotions offered to finance a new Soul Tribute production show for Freddie. The show named the Sounds of The Four Tops, made its debut at the national Showcall Showcase 2004. During this time Freddie found fame in the live industry of the UK through producing in Soul Tribute Production shows and was frequently reviewed by The Stage newspaper [2] in the UK for his production shows the Sounds of The Four Tops [3] and The Sounds of the Drifters [4] . These production show began touring 200 dates per year in the UK and Europe.
In 2009 Peterkin discovered that the colleague who had stolen from him and the other group members had taken his original stage production and misappropriated the works as his own and contracted Peterkin's original dramatic works to "The Magic of Motown Theatre Show". Three former employees falsely claimed in the Herald newspaper that they had choreographed Peterkin's stage production in "How Sweet It Is" another British theatre show. His former employees were aged between 12–14 years old when Peterkin then aged 23 – 27 years old first created and performed the works to the public between 1989-1994.
Peterkin has since taken legal action against both the show producer of "The Magic of Motown", his former colleague from his group 'Aces' and his former employees in "How Sweet It Is" via Leonard Lowy and Co Solicitors, former in house solicitor for Island Records. Both shows gave notice that they would desist from using Peterkin's works but did not do so until 2010. Peterkin stated in interviews that he intends to still take the matter to the High Court to be acknowledged for his works and to seek compensation for the illegal use of his works.
Unaffected by the plagiarism, Freddie's production shows "The Sounds of The Four Tops" and "The Sounds of The Drifters" renowned for their dazzling signature choreography and costumes, continue to be the most heavily booked Soul Tribute Production Shows in the UK. These production shows enabled Freddie to independently finance the production and pressing of his first album Beyond Comprehension. The album went into production in early 2007 and was completed by the December of the same year.
In August 2008 Freddie Lee Peterkin flew a copy of his new Gospel and Soul album Beyond Comprehension [5] [6] to be debut in the US by Radio DJ Dawn Brady on WSWN Sugar 900 Radio. Freddie chose Sugar 900 Radio because he grew up working in the surrounding sugar cane fields and orange groves. The people of South Florida and the Caribbean have been listening to Freddie Lee 3 times a day ever since. This made Dawn Brady the first DJ on radio in the US to play material from Freddie Lee Peterkin's debut album. Stellar Award winning radio station WMBM Radio became the next station to support the album, with DJs MJ Smith and Jerry 'the disciple' Sawyer, interviewing Freddie Lee on four occasions.
Other radio stations such as WHQT, Hot 105FM have since followed suit. Chief Jimmie Brown interviewed Freddie Lee for the first time alongside Walter Clyde Orange of the Commodores on Hot 105FM in September 2008. The first Radio station in the UK to play the song 'Brighter Days' from the album 'Beyond Comprehension' was Mike Rimmer on BBC Radio West Midlands in August 2008.
The album Beyond Comprehension was produced by music heavyweights Tony Bean and Colin Bassett at 5am Productions for 5am Records , Birmingham, UK. 5am have been noted for their work with UK soul star Lemar, and US stars Kelly Rowland, Usher, Tyrese and Justin Timberlake. The PR guru behind the album is Michael Grant [7] formerly a child reggae star in the group Musical Youth.
"Beyond Comprehension" was initially distributed independently through CD Baby and ITunes and has gained popularity through British soul clubs and specialist soul music radio stations such as Solar Radio [8], Starpoint Radio [9] and 209 Radio [10]. Most recently he was interviewed on mainstream FM stations by Tony Roots on New Style Radio 98.7FM [11] and by the revered Joe Aldred on BBC WM 95.6FM.
On Thursday 16 June 2009, Freddie Lee gave his first British television interview on the chat show Bright Talk on BEN Television, Sky TV channel 184. Following radio and club support by the UK's premier soul DJ's on November 23, 2009, the album was made available in independent UK music shops and hit the No.12 spot Solar Radio's album charts on December 14, 2009. Music from his album "Beyond Comprehension" has featured heavily on the Phil Driver Soul Unsigned radio show and the Gary Spence Soulchoonz radio show, giving Freddie Lee airplay in the UK, US, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. This has resulted in critical acclaim from the UK music press and music review websites.
Following this success Freddie Lee is featured in the January 2010 edition of the award-winning Blues & Soul, speaking to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis. Freddie Lee also appears in a 3 page feature in the February edition of Soul Survivors magazine in an interview with journalist and DJ Fitzroy Facey. Towards the end of 2010 Freddie was featured in a small role in the feature film 'How Not To Be a Loser' with Richard E. Grant. He also made a guest appearance in the BBC 2 comedy series 'Grumpy Guide to...' which is due to be screened in 2011. Freddie also released his first music video for "The Great I Am" from the album "Beyond Comprehension" in January 2011. The video was directed by Gratian Dimech and James Heath of Razor Edge Productions. He is also currently writing and producing with 5am Productions, his first artist - Clifton End. As of February 2011 Freddie has begun shooting the role of a comedy character creation on T4 (Channel 4).
In the US Freddie Lee's style of music is considered to be Contemporary Gospel but in the UK he has coined his style of music as "Inspirational Soul".
Three years after the release of his first album, Freddie Lee released his new single 'Searching' on May 1, 2011. This single is the first release from his forthcoming second album 'My Soul Intentions' distributed via ITunes, Amazon and Nokia Music. On October 24, 2011 he released the single 'Book of Love'.
2012 World War Z - Feature Film starring Brad Pitt
(Role: Looter)
2012 Streetdance 2 3-D - Feature Film starring
(Role: Fan)
2011 How to Stop Being a Loser - Feature Film starring Richard E Grant
(Role: Lawyer)
2011 Stars and Strikes - Channel 4 Saturday Morning TV Show
(Role: Presenter DJ Freddie Murphy)
2011 4Music - Channel 4 Music Show
(Role: Presenter DJ Freddie Murphy)
2011 Bewiser Insurance - TV Commercial
(Role: Voice of Bewiser Owl)
2011 English Language Educational Series - For London Wall TV Studios
(Role: American Interviewee)
2010 The Grumpy Guide To Work - BBC 2 Series
(Role: Naughty Office Worker)