Background
Lessard was born in Anaheim, California, to musician Ron and Jacqueline Lessard.
Lessard was born in Anaheim, California, to musician Ron and Jacqueline Lessard.
In 1987, he enrolled in the Tandem School, where he studied music under trumpeter John Doctorate"earth and bassist Peter Spaar. Lessard completed his junior year of high school then took the General Educational Development (summer of "91) as he had already been accepted at Richmond"s Virginia Commonwealth University in their Jazz Studies program
After moving a number of times during his childhood, Lessard and his family eventually settled in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1987. They had previously lived from 1980-1984 in Buckingham County, Virginia and in Richmond, Virginia from 1984-1986. After moving back to Charlottesville from Madison, Wi.
Doctorate"earth and Spaar recommended Lessard to Dave Matthews for inclusion in his new band, which was looking for a bassist.
Lessard joined Dave Matthews Band just as it was forming, when he was sixteen years old. Due to his age, he sometimes had to sneak in the back door of the clubs where the band was playing.
In 2006, Lessard began maintaining a MySpace page called LowenDude. He also owns and maintains a blog at izstyle.com.
During the 2007 European Tour, Lessard also began a video blog on YouTube.
Later that year, he co-wrote the original music for Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk. Lessard plays a variety of bass guitars, including those made by Nordstrand, Modulus, Warwick, Ken Smith Basses, and hand-made Stambaugh Custom Basses. On the Dave Matthews Band album Busted Stuff, he plays piano, Hammond organ, and Dobro guitar.
Bootleg Hunington Series 1968 Fender P-Bass Thomastik-Infeld Power Bass Strings Ampeg SVT-2 and SVT-4 Pro Heads Ampeg 8x10 and 2x15 Bass Cabinets Furman PL-8 Power Conditioner Shure U4D-UB Wireless Units Eventide GTR-7000 Ultra-Harmonizer Whirlwind 4ch Multi Selector Korg DTR-1 Digital Tuner Rane SM26B Splitter/Mixer Moog Taurus 3 Pedal 1.
He left after six weeks, when it became evident that he could not be a full-time college student & a member of a band, already rising in popularity. On January 9, 2008, Lessard performed with members of Guster and Barenaked Ladies under the name Yukon Kornelius in a benefit concert sponsored by Okemo Mountain Resort, a ski resort in Vermont.
1 child Diego.
