Didn`t tell teammates when I recorded song with Bhonsle: Lee

Melbourne: Australian speedster Brett Lee reveals that he lied to his teammates about his whereabouts when he went to shoot for a song with legendary singer Asha Bhonsle during the 2006 Champions Trophy in India.

The duet with Bhonsle had Lee crooning in Hindi while playing a guitar and was a hit on release. The pacer said he didn`t tell his teammates what he was upto when he went to shoot for the song. "I had great fun. I didn`t tell any of my teammates what I was up to; when I went to shoot I told them I was going for a look through the streets," Lee writes in autobiography `My Life`. "Four months later after that whirlwind recording experience, I caught up with Asha when she visited Sydney to perform at the Opera House. She gave me her compilation album with a personally signed message. It will always be one of my treasures," he recalled. Lee has described Bhonsle as a lovely gentlewoman with a wonderful sense of humour. "She is a lovely gentlewoman with a wonderful sense of humour. What a tremendous opportunity to work with an absolute legend. She was in 70s and had sung thousands of songs for Bollywood movies and had countless albums. She was the Aretha Franklin of Indian music," he wrote. The pacer, who sang with the Indian legend as part of a project `Asha and Friends` conceptualised by Shamir Tandon, CEO of Virgin Records India, said the musical journey helped him realise his interest towards writing lyrics. Lee explained how his musical journey had taught him that music had no boundaries, unlike sports, where there were rules in place. "Unlike the constraints of cricket, where administrators may frown at individuals who don`t conform such as Andrew Symonds, music allows people to express themselves. It`s freedom," he wrote. "...I had to prove I could sing: I passed the test by doing couple of songs in a room that had been booked in the team hotel. Shamir seemed to be happy with the result. I was told a song for the compilation would be chosen for me...there was only one thing I wanted to change," he wrote. "Is it possible to write my own song?" he wrote further adding that after getting a nod from Shamir, he wrote the entire song in half an hour. PTI