Thomas Lee Bass (born October 3, 1962), best known as Tommy Lee, is an American musician and founding member of glam metal band Mötley Crüe. As well as being the band's long-term drummer, Lee founded rap-metal band Methods of Mayhem, and has pursued solo musical projects. He has been married to model Elaine Starchuk and actresses Heather Locklear and Pamela Anderson.
Lee was born on October 3, in Athens, Greece, as Thomas Lee Bass, the son of David Oliver Bass, a US Army serviceman of Welsh descent, and Vassiliki Papadimitriou, a former Miss Greece. His family moved to West Covina, California one year after his birth. He received his first drum when he was four and his first drum kit when he was a teenager. Lee has one younger sister, Athena Lee (Athena Michelle Bass, b. 1964), who was married to James Kottak, the drummer for the band Scorpions and she was also the drummer of his solo band KrunK.
As a teen he listened to Queen, Kiss, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest. After listening to Kiss, his main drum influence became Peter Criss.