Lee Fields: Every Date is a Talent Show

NOTE: This feature references a live date that took place in April 2026.

Lee Fields was in love with music from an early age. But by age 13, music wasn’t the only passion of Wilson, N.C.-born Fields. “My interest at the time was to become a businessman,” he recalls. “I thought [a career in] music was for other people.” Still, he was inspired enough to pick up and learn how to play the bass guitar. But then a stage opportunity set him on another path.

A talent show was scheduled in his hometown. “A friend of mine dared me to go up and sing,” Fields recalls. He mustered his courage, took the stage and delivered a rousing cover of “Try Me,” a No. 1 hit on the r&b charts in 1958 for James Brown and the Famous Flames.

The audience reaction caught Fields by surprise. “All the girls started screaming,” he says with a broad smile. “I won the talent show. And the girls have been screaming ever since.” Fields comes to the Orange Peel April 2.

After that talent show, Fields’ bass guitar went back into its case. “It was easy to play,” he admits, “but there were a lot of bass players who were better than me.” Applying his business acumen to his budding musical career, he made a decision to focus solely on singing. “So I told Lee on bass, ‘You’re fired,’” he says.

Fields’ recording career got underway before he celebrated his 20^th birthday. His recorded debut, 1969’s “Bewildered” b/w “Tell Her I Love Her” was a soulful slow jam in the style of James Brown. That record ushered in a steady stream of 45 r.p.m. releases, all for small independent record labels. By the end of the ‘70s, Fields had released at least 16 singles. But his debut album Let’s Talk it Over wouldn’t appear until 1979; today, original copies of that record are highly sought after by collectors and serious fans of funk and soul.

But with the rising popularity of disco, Fields found that his brand of soul music was in decreased demand. So he took a break from performing, turning his attention toward a long-term strategy. “I took time out to study the industry,” he explains. “Because the way I was taught how to [succeed] wasn’t working any more.” He developed a plan that would empower him to connect with the decision-makers and influences in the music industry. And when he was ready, Fields resumed his career.

“Now I’m working all the time, all over the world,” he says. “So apparently I must have hit on something.” Between 1981 and 2000 Lee Fields released more than 15 singles. A highlight among those is the funky “Shake It Lady, Shake It,” a 1984 single and a co-write with Parliament-Funkadelic co-founder Bernie Worrell. Fields’ 1993 dance-oriented album Enough is Enough – today a collectors’ item as well – showcased his writing skills. In the decade to follow, Fields made up for time, releasing more than an album per year. But his biggest breakthroughs hadn’t yet come.

One of the labels for which he recorded split and reorganized; the new labels were Daptone and Soul Fire. Fields would cut material for both. He also appeared on releases by his friend and label mate Sharon Jones with her band, the Dap-Kings. By 2012 and the release of Faithful Man, Fields was an in-demand touring performer, singing his songs to audiences around the globe.

“I write 99% of my songs,” he says.”All the lyrics are mine.” Fields says that he has developed an instinctual feel for when a new song is working, and when it lacks that certain something. “When I hear a good song, it makes my foot pat,” he explains. “When it starts patting, I have no control of that. I roll on natural inclinations.” He says that he often doesn’t know what it is about a given song that sets his foot in motion. But when it happens, he is certain of one thing. “That song is good,” he says.

And with that groove established, Fields starts coming up with lyrics. “I don’t try to write,” he admits. “I just try to be a receptor when something good comes. It’s an organic, natural process.”

Many seasoned performers who travel the world note that audiences in different countries react to their music in different ways. In his experience, Lee Fields has discovered quite the opposite. “I can’t tell any difference,” he says. “When I come on, it’s all about finding the moment when everybody is one, when we all feel the excitement and the love.” When that happens, he says, “everybody starts singing together and jumping around.”

That experience is a secular parallel to the one found in some churches. And Fields says that when he’s writing those songs, he’s writing toward a higher entity. “Like the Bible says, he that desires to be exalted must become a base and servant of all. And that makes sense to me,” he says. That humility – coupled with Fields’ admittedly powerful and outsize onstage persona – is a big part of what makes him a performer who connects with audiences.

In between live dates, Fields is gearing up for his next album, to be cut in sessions with his longtime live band The Expressions. But right now his primary focus is where it usually is: on the live audience. “And I’m looking to have a very good time in Asheville,” he says.