Jack Lee ville gerne være berømt i 1976 med sit californske band The Nerves. Men popmusik er et lunefuldt game og det skete aldrig. En enkelt EP – der i dag søges og handles som klassiker af power pop-aficionados for store penge – blev det til, så gik de tre medlemmer hver til sit. Jeffrey Lee Pierce (Gun Club) var The Nerves-fan og introducerede Blondie for Jack Lee’s ‘Hanging On The Telephone’, åbningsnummeret på Nerves-EP’en. Blondie kunne derfor i 1978 udsende sin egen version af sangen med den karakteristiske kaldetone som den perfekte åbner på Parallel Lines. Jack Lee selv havde senere et par oversete soloalbums, fik vist også en sang indspillet af Paul Young, men forsvandt så helt fra offentlighedens søgelys. For tre år siden døde han så, åbenbart ikke i den bedste forfatning. Her en opfølgende kommentar på nyheden om hans bortgang fra YouTube-brugeren MartinMidlifeMisadventure:
I had no idea…God rest his soul. Jack was a tenant of mine for a few years back around 2016. He gave my son guitar lessons and he gave him his Les Paul, it is a beautiful black electric guitar and it is sitting right here in my home. This was during his last album being printed, I have that here too. He had been in a really sad state of being, and with the help of his neighbors (and my son) they cleaned up his motor home, encouraged him to eat, and to pick up those guitars. He would give little concerts in the back of our rv park for the tenants. It was amazing to watch the transformation…then, he left…in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. I know he had just had a song signed for one of Martin Scorseses movies, because he was having the emails sent to my office. And guitars started being delivered to him. He was preparing for some performance, I think. I was thinking about him this morning, so I searched and found your video, thank you. Sorry I wrote a novel, lol…I just am pretty shocked to hear he left us.
Der stopper historien dog ikke, for nu har Jack White’s Third Man Records samlet de optagelser der findes med The Nerves og udsendt dem på et dobbeltalbum under titlen Best Collection. Her en TV-optagelse af en af de Jack Lee-sange fra dengang – det er ham der synger og er på guitar – som først nu har fået sin udgivelse…