Thunderstruck Singer Lost His Day Job to Audition for AC/DC
Chances are you don’t know the name Lee Robinson, but he got fired from his job in 2016 to audition for AC/DC, which makes him a legend in our book. Robinson told his story on the Beyond the Thunder podcast, admitting nerves got the best of him during his audition.
After Brian Johnson’s departure from AC/DC due to hearing issues, the legendary Australian band reached out to singers from various tribute acts, including Robinson, who sings for Thunderstruck out of North Carolina. Robinson was asked by AC/DC not to talk about the audition, which led him to be fired from his HVAC technician job.
“[They] told me to come over right now. It was about an hour-and-a-half drive. I would have lost a day of work and left in an emergency hurry without any explanation to my boss,” Robinson recalls. “My head supervisor — I didn’t really tell him anything other than I have to go — and he fired me. He did not know the real reason.”
Thankfully, once Robinson was able to prove without a shadow of a doubt that he was really auditioning for AC/DC, his boss called and gave the AC/DC tribute singer his job back.
Robinson didn’t get the job, obviously losing out to Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose. It’s unlikely he would have beat out the other potential replacement singers anyway, as his audition didn’t go so well at first. "I actually could barely sing,” he recalls. “I was so nervous and so uptight. I couldn't get anything out. The tech crew stopped playing and they all just went dead silent. [I asked], ‘Have I wasted anybody's time yet?’”
Robinson was eventually able to show AC/DC his best, singing “Hells Bells” to the praise of guitarists Angus and Stevie Young. "Now that's the way it supposed to sound!" Robinson remembers Stevie saying, while Angus pulled the singer aside to say, “You’ve got a hell of a voice.” [via Blabbermouth]
Listen to Robinson’s story in the AC/DC Beyond the Thunder podcast below.
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