Joseph Wilson Lee, owner of the eclectic Joe’s Record Paradise, died July 4. He was 76.
Lee was the third of eight children of Blair Lee III, a Maryland legislator, lieutenant governor and acting governor. Blair Lee II was lieutenant governor in the 1970s with Gov. Marvin Mandel (D). He became acting governor while Mandel was ill and then on trial for corruption.
While the Blair-Lee family included senators, presidential advisors and even Robert E. Lee, Joe Lee always took a very different route in life, according to his son, Robert Johnson Lee, who was named after the famous Delta Blues singer.
“It was always about music and culture and roots and sticking it to authority,” his son said of his father. “He was kind of a gangster and a bad boy.”
Blair Lee IV, wrote an email to the family upon learning of his brother’s death, recalling that their father had said. “Joe gave me more trouble than all the rest of the kids combined, but he also gave me more fun than the rest of the kids combined.”
Blair Lee IV also wrote, “He was born into a family that prized expectations and success and, despite all his anti-establishment nose-thumbing, he strived for respect, but on his own terms.”
Joe Lee and his uncle played an Elvis Presley record back in the 1950s “on a little battery turntable.” That moment became instrumental in forming his love of music, according to his son.
Johnson Lee learned music from his dad and knew the entire Motown catalogue by the time he was 10. He went on to learn many more types of music that his father did not always favor, including digital.
Joe Lee was born in Silver Spring and opened his store filled with record collections in Takoma Park in 1974. He moved the store to the Plaza Del Mercado shopping center in Layhill, then to Aspen Hill and Gude Drive in Rockville before returning to Silver Spring, where it is currently celebrating its 50th year.
The record collection fills the basement of a former bank on Georgia Avenue. There are albums, CDs, cassettes and 8 Tracks. Shoppers slowly peruse the aisles, seeking both types of music and particular musicians.
“It’s a very, very diverse crowd,” Bob Lee said of his customers. He has been the owner for more than a decade, although his father stayed involved for many years.
When asked how many pieces of music he has, Bob Lee responded “thousands, and more in the back rooms.”
Besides going through collections and working at the story, Joe Lee ran benefit concerts for anyone he knew who was sick or needy, according to his son. He also booked musicians for shows and managed a few.
“Whatever family privilege he had, he would throw it to the record store,” his son said.
In October of 2023, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and soon lost the ability to speak. It was then he learned to text, his son said.
Lee was a graduate of Springbrook High School and the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
“Rest in peace, Joe Lee,” his son said.
