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Lee Ranaldo

Lee Ranaldo
A man performing live on-stage, playing a red guitar. A yellow light shines on him.
Ranaldo performing with Sonic Youth in 2007.
Background information
Birth name Lee Mark Ranaldo
Born (1956-02-03) February 3, 1956 (age 61)
Glen Cove, New York, United States
Genres Alternative rock, noise rock, no wave, experimental rock, art rock
Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter, visual artist, poet, producer
Instruments Vocals, guitar, bass, drums
Years active 1980–present
Labels Neutral, Ecstatic Peace!, Homestead, SST, Enigma, DGC, SYR, Interscope, Matador
Associated acts Sonic Youth, The Cribs, Text of Light, Plus Instruments
Website www.sonicyouth.com/symu/lee/
Notable instruments
Fender Jazzmaster
Fender Telecaster Deluxe
Gibson Les Paul
Moonlander

Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, writer, visual artist and record producer, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list. In May 2012, Spin published a staff selected top 100 guitarist list, ranking Ranaldo and his Sonic Youth bandmate Thurston Moore together at number 1.

Ranaldo was born in Glen Cove, Long Island, studied art and graduated from Binghamton University. He has three sons, Cody, Sage and Frey, and is married to the experimental artist Leah Singer.

Ranaldo started his career in New York in several bands, and joined the electric guitar orchestra of Glenn Branca. In 1981, he and David Linton briefly joined the band Plus Instruments formed by Truus de Groot. With this line-up they recorded the album February - April 1981, released on the Dutch Kremlin label. After the release of the album, Ranaldo left the band and started Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon.

In 1987, Ranaldo released his first solo album, From Here to Infinity, compositions which ended in locked grooves. The second side of the album also featured an unplayable engraving by Savage Pencil.

Among Ranaldo's solo records are Dirty Windows, a collection of spoken texts with music, Amarillo Ramp (For Robert Smithson), pieces for the guitar, and Scriptures of the Golden Eternity. His books include several with art or photography by Leah Singer, including Drift, Bookstore, Road Movies, and Moroccan Journal: Jajouka excerpt (from a full-length book of writings on Moroccan travels and music). Ranaldo has also published Jrnls80s (published by Soft Skull Press), as well as a book of poems, Lengths & Breaths, with photography by Cynthia Connolly. His most recent book of poetry, Against Refusing, was published by Water Row Press in April 2010 with cover artwork by Leah Singer. His visual and sound works have been shown at galleries and museums in Paris, Toronto, New York, London, Sydney, Los Angeles, Vienna, and elsewhere.


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