Thompson founded Madness with
Mike Barson and
Chris Foreman in 1976, and wrote the group's debut single, "
The Prince". Among the other songs, he wrote or co-wrote the singles "
Embarrassment", "
House of Fun", and "
Uncle Sam". His experiences of being a petty criminal and serving time in
borstal in his youth, inspired his lyrics for "Land of Hope and Glory" and "One's Second Thoughtlessness", the latter an unusual diversion into
synth-pop for the group. Thompson performed lead vocals on both tracks. He also sang the vocals on his own composition, "Razor Blade Alley", which was a regular inclusion in early Madness shows. Thompson reunited with all seven original Madness members in 1992. After Madness disbanded in 1986, Thompson formed a new band
The Madness with Foreman,
Suggs and
Chas Smash, but they broke up after releasing one album in 1988. Thompson then joined forces with Foreman, and the pair began to write songs. They soon recorded an album at Liquidator Studios with Thompson on vocals and saxophone and Foreman playing the other instruments. This album,
Crunch!, included the song "Magic Carpet", which was co-written with Suggs and originally intended to be included on the follow up album to
The Madness. They then formed a band called "The Nutty Boys" for further live appearances in the early 1990s and since then. In 1996, Foreman formally changed their band name to Crunch!, and Foreman and Thompson started their own label, Magic Carpet Records, with all further releases and gigs being under the name and label. During this time, Thompson often spent the early hours flyposting in the East End of London with Mark Sexbery, a part-time keyboard player of The Nutty Boys. This nearly got him in trouble with the local authorities, but Thompson stopped once the
Madstock concerts in 1992 beckoned. Thompson also regularly visited fellow ex-Madness member
Mike Barson in Amsterdam during this time, where they started writing songs during the band's interim period and throughout the rest of the 1990s, most of which ended up on subsequent Madness albums, such as "
Lovestruck" and "
Drip Fed Fred". Thompson founded The Dance Brigade with Keith Finch in 2007, and they were joined by Jennie Matthias of
The Belle Stars. The other musicians came from projects that they had all been involved in. He also fronted and played saxophone with a covers band called The Camden Cowboys. Thompson was featured floating while playing a red, white, and blue-colored saxophone in the closing ceremonies of the
2012 Summer Olympics. In 2011, Thompson began performing with
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra who released the album
The Benevolence of Sister Mary Ignatius in 2013. They released the single "Fu Man Chu" featuring
Bitty McLean from this album and, in February 2014, released the follow-up single "Bangarang" featuring
Dawn Penn and
Sharon Shannon. In 2021 Thompson's autobiography,
Growing Out Of It: Machinations Before Madness was released. ==Personal life==