ST. PARIS – A piano concert by St. Paris native Thomas F. “Tommy” Lee will be presented at the Evans-Purk Fellowship Center on Saturday, July 27. The concert will be from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Doors will open at 3 p.m.

Lee is a St. Paris native and 1962 Graham High School graduate who played piano at the White House with the U.S. Marine Band from the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson through President George H.W. Bush.

Lee is celebrating his 80th birthday with a free-will donation concert benefiting the St. Paris Pony Wagon Museum. He will share the highlights of his life from St. Paris to Washington, D.C. and now Virginia with family and friends. Tommy is issuing an open invitation to all for this concert.

The following information about Lee has been provided for publication by organizers of the concert:

Biography of Thomas F. “Tommy” Lee

Lee has been in the entertainment industry throughout his life. It all began when at the age of seven, he asked his parents if he could take piano lessons. Throughout the rest of his formative years, he played piano and later became proficient on the accordion winning many local talent contests as well as gaining recognition state wide for his musical ability. He was well known for his academic ability and graduated with honors from Graham Local High School in St. Paris.

He continued his musical studies at Berklee School of Music in Boston and the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. After four years of college, he auditioned and was selected for military duty in the prestigious United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C.

Lee spent 24 years in the Marine Band performing on a regular basis for the President of the United States and other official White House staff, members of Congress and Justices of the Supreme Court, government agencies and military units, and in public concerts for visitors to Washington, D.C.

One of the Marine Band’s primary responsibilities was to provide musical support for the President of the United States. Accordingly, Lee performed regularly at the White House for six presidents beginning with Lyndon Johnson and ending with George Herbert Walker Bush. Lee received many letters of commendation for his work in the Marine Band.

During his years in the Marine Band, he led an active life off duty playing in small combos, rock bands, wedding and party bands and often was the leader of his own group. Lee also extended his education at George Washington University studying Business Administration.

Upon his retirement from the Marine Band, he became active with the Washington, D.C. Local of the American Federation of Musicians. Elected to the position of Secretary Treasurer he was responsible for reforming the local administrative offices in both technology and administration. He created a payroll service for musicians, negotiated contracts, represented the local during Presidential Inaugurals and ensured that musicians were properly treated.

Shortly after becoming a local AFM Officer, the delegates to the American Federation of Musicians national conventions and conferences elected him to successively serve as an International Executive Officer, Vice President, International Secretary Treasurer and ultimately President of the American Federation of musicians of the United States and Canada. In that capacity he represented 90,000 musicians who were members of 350 different AFM musician locals throughout Canada and the U.S. Lee was responsible for negotiating contracts for symphonic musicians and musicians who performed on recordings, film scores, television, radio and in theatres around the U.S. and Canada.

During this time he was also elected as a member of the Presidium of the International Federation of Musicians. This organization is headquartered in Paris, France and represents 85 different musician organizations around the world.

Lee traveled extensively in his duties visiting musicians all around North America and addressing their problems and assisting their local officers. He was often meeting with congressmen and senators on issues affecting musicians and regularly testified before Senate and Congressional Committees on Performance Rights, Musical Instruments as carry on for passenger planes, medical care for musicians, pension protection and he met and coordinated regularly with the leaders of the recording industry. Lee served musicians for 19 years before leaving office.

In 2011, he began a third career as Executive Director of the National Theatre Corporation (a 501C(3) not for profit corporation) in Washington, D.C. The National Theatre was established by William Corcoran in 1835 and has a rich history of performances by many great Broadway actors and artists of all types. Lee has worked with the Board of Directors of the National Theatre Corporation to vastly increase the numbers of performances from 30 days a year in 2009 to 110 days of Broadway performances and activity in 2013-14.

Lee has advocated expansion of the National Theatre Corporation board and its transformation into a fundraising body that will significantly upgrade the theatre and provide a much broader base of non-profit performances in dance, ballet, pop concerts, jazz programming, and affiliations with other theatres to vastly improve children’s programming for the students in school in the District of Columbia.

This is an exciting time for the theatre and those associated with it. After years of neglect Lee wishes to see the National Theatre return to its greatness and to extend its mission to provide top grade artistic performances of all types to the benefit of the citizens of Washington, D.C. and the surrounding communities.