Johnny Lee Middleton

Johnny Lee Middleton (born May 7, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the heavy metal bands Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Middleton was born in St. Petersburg, Florida.

His first experience as a performing musician was as first-chair trumpet in the sixth-grade orchestra.

The band director provided early encouragement.

"I'd get free lessons from him, so I learned how to play the saxophone, the clarinet, [and] the oboe. He kind of gave me an ear for music."

As a bass player, however, Middleton is largely self-taught.

At age 14, he joined the high-school jazz band.

With the bass rig behind him, he quickly discovered "the way the bass moves the earth" – and just as quickly realized "you could get more girls by playing bass instead of trumpet."

He invested $35 in his first bass, locked himself in his bedroom with REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, and Black Sabbath records, and learned to play along.

Among his influences, Middleton counts Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler, Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy), Geddy Lee (Rush), Chris Squire (Yes), John Entwistle (the Who), and Paul McCartney (the Beatles).

Another influential experience – also at age 14 – was his first concert: Blue Öyster Cult.

Middleton left the show knowing he wanted to be a professional bass player.

"After that first concert, I was hooked. I was like, 'I want to be up there. I want to do that.

Later in high school, Middleton and two friends formed his first band, Mariah.

The trio performed regularly at high-school parties and other events.

After graduation, Middleton played in several local bands before joining Lefty, a glam band that was already fairly well known on the Florida club circuit.

Middleton soon found himself onstage nearly every night, decked out in makeup and spandex, playing to packed clubs across Florida and the South.

"We got a lot of stage experience," he says.

"We did a lot of covers, and some original. We were like a Poison before Poison. Everyone had bleached blonde hair, and wore a lot of makeup and hairspray. We were bizarre, but we would pack the clubs."

Middleton spent several years with Lefty, the nightly shows honing both his bass chops and his stage presence.

And it was during this time that he first crossed paths with Savatage, a decidedly un-glam metal band based in the Tampa, Florida area, near his hometown of St. Petersburg.

By 1984, Savatage had released several albums, but guitarist Criss Oliva and drummer Steve Wacholz were losing patience with bass player Keith Collins.

That year, Wacholz spotted Middleton onstage with Lefty at a local club.

Although the Lefty image was a far cry from that of the hard-edged Savatage, Middleton's talent and stage presence caught Wacholz' attention.

Wacholz passed Middleton's name to Savatage founder and singer Jon Oliva.

Like Wacholz, Oliva had little interest in the Lefty look, but he too was impressed with Middleton's performance.

When invited to join Savatage, however, Middleton turned the offer down.

The members of Savatage all worked other jobs, and Middleton's Lefty gig paid well enough to live on without the need for outside work.

"Steve [Wacholz] approached me and offered me the bass gig. I said, 'I'm not going to [work] a day job – I'm making $250 a week.' For me, being 19-20 years old, that was good money. I said, 'When you can offer me a salary, come back and see me.

But eventually, playing cover songs with Lefty lost its appeal.

"We did well, but it got old," Middleton says.

Late in 1985, Savatage approached Middleton again.

Preparing to record their next album, they were still looking to replace Collins.

This time, Middleton agreed: "Somehow I was fed up with this bar-band-shit, even though it was a good living, getting through the week with $250, even if it meant we had to work each night for it. At the time I was only 20, 21 years old. The guys from my band would have loved to have lynched me, when I stepped out. Four weeks later I couldn't have cared less. I was in London with Savatage – and had a fuckin' great time!"

Middleton's first appearance on a Savatage recording was 1986's Fight for the Rock, an album the band now refers to as "Fight for the Nightmare."

"We recorded a great record," he says, but the record label "took our record, mangled the hell out of it, and tried to make us into something we weren't, when they thought the market was going more poppy. It was a learning experience."

The experience improved with 1987's breakthrough Hall of the Mountain King, which marked the band's first collaboration with producer Paul O'Neill.

The title track received significant airplay on hard-rock radio and MTV's Headbanger's Ball.

Gutter Ballet (1989) and Streets (1991) continued and solidified the partnership with O'Neill.

During this time, Savatage embarked on several American and European tours, opening for bands such as Motörhead, Dio, and Megadeth.