Laura Lee Ochoa[1] (born October 14, 1986), also known as Leezy, is an American musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and one of the founding members of the Grammy-nominated musical trio Khruangbin.
Biography
The daughter of Mexican-American parents,[2] Ochoa played piano and guitar as a child, but picked up bass at the suggestion of future bandmate Mark Speer. Ochoa met him in 2009 through friends, where they initially connected over a shared love of Afghan music. Ochoa was an art history major with a focus on art of the ancient Near East. She worked as a math teacher for six years.[3] At the time, she was interested in playing piano again and he suggested she "follow the sound of the bass", which she had never thought about doing before.[4][5] This recommendation led her to begin playing, which she says came very naturally to her.[6]
Ochoa has recorded five studio albums with Khruangbin: The Universe Smiles Upon You (2015), Con Todo el Mundo (2018), Mordechai (2020), Ali (2022) and A La Sala (2024) as well as two EPs: Texas Sun (2021) and Texas Moon (2022), both with the band and Leon Bridges. Prior to forming the group, Lee played bass on tour with Yppah.[4] In April, 2021, she collaborated with Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter Niia on the song "Not Up For Discussion."[7]
Style and stage persona
In Khruangbin, Ochoa performs as "Leezy", an alter-ego that helps her keep some parts of herself private: "It helps me separate from her and it helps me emotionally to put it on her, so I let her take on all of the pressure."[4] She is the band's creative director, using her training in art and architecture to set up staging and create choreography and graphic design.[8] Both she and Speer sport long black wigs while performing[9] and "Leezy" goes through many costume changes throughout a show. In 2011, she made the decision to never wear the same outfit twice on stage, estimating that she has worn 600 different outfits whilst on tour.[10] She wears two different outfits per show, a decision inspired by Elton John, who was known to change up to four outfits.[3] She is also inspired by Prince who handled choreography and played guitar at the same time.[8]
