Bill Lee

Who was Bill Lee?

Bill Lee was an American playback singer who provided a voice or singing voice in many films, for actors in musicals and for many Disney characters. He was born in Johnson, Nebraska, and died in 1980 in Los Angeles, California, of a brain tumor.

Lee was part of a popular singing quartet known as The Mellomen. In The Jungle Book's soundtrack, it was mistaken that fellow Melloman member, Thurl Ravenscroft, provided the singing voice of Shere Khan in the song, "That's What Friends Are For". However, Richard Sherman confirmed on the audio commentary on its 2007 DVD release, that it was Lee who provided Shere Khan's singing as George Sanders, Khan's voice actor and singer in the film itself, though an accomplished singer, was not available during the finalized recording of the song.

Lee also provided the singing voice for Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music.