Dave Lewis | |
|---|---|
 Lewis performing live in Belfast in 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | David Llewellyn Lewis |
| Born | 18 February 1951 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Genres | Rock, blues, soul |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Website | davelewismusic |
Dave Lewis (born 18 February 1951) is a singer-songwriter and musician from Northern Ireland. He was a member of the bands Method, Andwella's Dream, and Andwella.
David Llewellyn Lewis was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He started writing and performing songs during his childhood. By the time he was 12, his mother was getting him guest spots in Belfast social clubs and bars at a time when people such as the comedian Frank Carson were headlining. [1] Having mastered both guitar and piano, he left school at 15 and starting working in Belfast's main music shop Crymbals, which was the epicentre of the Belfast music scene at that time.
At 16, Lewis joined his first band, the Method [2] managed by George Mechan. Method were a five piece soul band who were becoming popular in Dublin and fans around that time included Phil Lynott from the band Skid Row. Gary Moore (who was 16 at the time) stood in for Lewis for a few weeks while the latter was in hospital, and subsequently joined Skid Row. [3]
The Method changed their name to Andwella's Dream after moving to London in 1968. [4] They were signed to a new management and recording company Reflection Records, headed by Andrew Cameron Miller. In 1969, the band released their first album Love and Poetry (CBS) with all the songs penned by Lewis before his 18th birthday. The album did not achieve wide recognition but is featured in the Record Collector's Book: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records. After changing the name again to simply Andwella the band released two more albums; World's End (1970) and People's People (1971). Lewis wrote all the songs on the Andwella albums with the exception of the "World's End Theme Part 1", which was written and arranged by Bobby Scott. During this period, Lewis also made a private pressing of 500 copies of a promotional album in 1970 entitled The Songs of David Lewis, [1] which was never intended for general release, it was simply a vehicle to showcase his songs.
After Andwella split up, Lewis pursued a solo career as a singer-songwriter. In May 1975, he supported Don McLean at a concert in London's Hyde Park in front of an audience of 85,000. [5] That same year, he also toured with Fairport Convention playing to packed audiences all over the UK. During 1975, Lewis also wrote a hit song for Demis Roussos; "Happy To Be on an Island in the Sun"; the song shot to number one all over Europe and went platinum. [6]
Also in the 1970s, Lewis released two solo albums – From Time to Time (Polydor 1976) [7] co-produced by Chris Rainbow who also did back-up vocals, and engineered by Phil Ault, and A Collection of Short Dreams, produced by Bruce Albertine and Steve Brantley (Polydor 1978). [8] The Dreams album was recorded at Miami's Criteria Recording and represented a musical adventure incorporating American Southern Rock and Soul into Lewis' compositional style, with his band being augmented by American musicians Steve and Jamie Brantley, Bruce Dees, and Andy McMahon. Just prior to this time Lewis had formed the Dave Lewis Band, first with the line up of Felix Krish (bass), Dave Rose (keyboards) and Preston Heyman (drums); the line-up later changed to Rob Townsend (drums), Charlie McCracken (bass) and Derek Beauchemin (keyboards).
In the 1980s, Lewis took a sabbatical from performing and touring and went travelling, on his return to London he reinvented himself as a singer-pianist after winning a competition [9] run by the London Evening Standard , to find a resident entertainer for new West End restaurant and cocktail bar, Smollenskys Balloon. He went on to play for over 14 years at Smollensky's Balloon and Smollensky's on the Strand.
In recent years, Lewis has performed at venues all over the world including Ireland, Spain, the Caribbean and Japan, where he has a long-standing fan base dating back to his days with Andwella. In 2004, Lewis performed at two Japanese concerts hosted by Vinyl Japan at the Club 251 in Tokyo with a specially created band "Tokyo Andwella" (headed by musician Koji Wakui). The band spent weeks preparing and they performed to packed audiences.[ citation needed ] In 2005, a chance meeting with Van Morrison led to Lewis performing on Morrison's 2005 album, Magic Time . [10] Lewis also opened a show for Morrison in Belfast at the Ulster Hall that same year.
Two of Lewis's songs, "Whole Lotta Something Goin On" (also known as "Whole Lotta Something Going On", and "Whole Lotta Something") and "Beautiful Woman", both written for his second studio album, A Collection of Short Dreams (Polydor Records, 1978), were covered by the saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft) on his own solo album, Her Father Didn't Like me Anyway (CBS, 1979). In 2005, Ravenscroft's version of "Whole Lotta Something Goin On" was sampled by Beanie Sigel on the song "Feel It in the Air" from his album, The B. Coming peaking at number one in the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. [11] The sample has gone on to become something of a rap anthem, with covers being made by a whole host of other singers and fans since it was first released by Sigel. [12] On 30 April 2021, the song was sampled by US hip hop producer and musician DJ Khaled on the track "I Can Have it All", from his 12th studio album, Khaled Khaled and it also appeared on the track I Can Have It All on H.E.R's 2021 album Back of My Mind.
Another one of Lewis's songs to be having a revival is "Hold On To Your Mind" (from the World's End album, also released as a single (Reflection, 1970)). It was a favourite of American DJ David Mancuso at his "by invitation only" parties in the early days of The Loft (New York City). Lewis, who was unaware of the songs popularity in the 1970s New York club scene at the time, was recently interviewed by one of Mansuco's friends and collaborators, DJ Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy on her radio show, who told him it had been a firm favourite in the early days of The Loft parties, as confirmed by an article in The New York Times in 2020 to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Loft party, 'Love Saves The Day'. [13] Lewis continues to write songs [14] and can often be seen performing live at the piano in the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel in London. [15]
Led Zeppelin II is the second studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 22 October 1969 in the United States and on 31 October 1969 in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at several locations in both the United Kingdom and North America from January to August 1969. The album's production was credited to the band's lead guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Page, and it was also Led Zeppelin's first album on which Eddie Kramer served as engineer.
Fred Wesley is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s.
Third is the third album by American rock band Big Star. Sessions started at Ardent Studios in September 1974. Though Ardent created promotional, white-label test pressings for the record in 1975, a combination of financial issues, the uncommercial sound of the record, and lack of interest from singer Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens in continuing the project prevented the album from ever being properly finished or released at the time of its recording. It was eventually released in 1978 by PVC Records.
Cat Mother and The All Night Newsboys was an American musical group, originally formed in New York and later based in Mendocino, California, most active in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
"Whole Lotta Love" is a song by British rock band Led Zeppelin. It is the opening track on the band's second album, Led Zeppelin II, and was released as a single in 1969 in several countries; as with other Led Zeppelin songs, no single was released in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it became their first hit and was certified gold. Parts of the song's lyrics were adapted from Willie Dixon's "You Need Love", recorded by Muddy Waters in 1962; originally uncredited to Dixon, a lawsuit in 1985 was settled with a payment to Dixon and credit on subsequent releases.
"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" is a song written by Dave "Curlee" Williams and sometimes also credited to James Faye "Roy" Hall. The song was first recorded by Big Maybelle, though the best-known version is the 1957 rock and roll/rockabilly version by Jerry Lee Lewis.
"Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" is a 1969 song recorded by Sly and the Family Stone. The song, released as a double A-side single with "Everybody Is a Star", reached number one on the soul single charts for five weeks, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 19 song of 1970.
Elvis Country is the 13th studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Records in January 1971. Recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville, it reached number 12 on the Billboard 200. It peaked at number six in the United Kingdom, selling over one million copies worldwide. It was certified Gold on December 1, 1977, by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Andwella were a Northern Irish psychedelic rock band formed in 1968, originally as The Method and later renamed Andwellas Dream. The trio were fronted by Dave Lewis (Guitar/keyboard/vocals), with Nigel Smith (bass/vocals) and Gordon Barton (drums).
The B. Coming is the third studio album by American rapper Beanie Sigel. Originally scheduled for an October 2004 release, the album was ultimately released on March 29, 2005 through Dame Dash Music Group and Def Jam Recordings.
The Roar of Love is a 1980 concept album and fourth studio album by Christian band 2nd Chapter of Acts, that recounts the story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published book in The Chronicles of Narnia, a series by C. S. Lewis. It was recorded in 1976, prior to their third studio album Mansion Builder, but its release was delayed by contractual and copyright issues. According to band member Matthew Ward, all the vocals were cut in a bedroom of the house the trio lived in at the time. They converted their garage into a mixing room, knocked a hole in the bedroom wall and ran a microphone cord into it. The songs have a heavy use of synthesizers. It was reissued on the Live Oak label.
Robert George Downes is an English avant-garde jazz flautist and saxophonist. He is known for his work with Mike Westbrook and for leading the Open Music Trio since 1968. Downes is also a composer, arranger, and singer of rock and blues.
Little Richard Is Back is Little Richard's first album of rock and roll songs for Vee-Jay Records. The label went out of business and its records were not accurate, leaving many to speculate about the recording details. Despite claims to the contrary, Jimi Hendrix does not play on any of the album's songs.
Emergency! is the debut double album by the American jazz fusion group The Tony Williams Lifetime featuring Williams with guitarist John McLaughlin and organist Larry Young. It was recorded and released in 1969 and was one of the first significant fusion recordings. The album is commonly regarded as an influential album in the jazz, rock, and fusion genres.
Douglas Wesley Ashdown is an Australian singer-songwriter who had a minor hit in Australia with "Winter in America", also known as "Leave Love Enough Alone", which also reached No. 13 on the Dutch Singles Chart in 1978.
There's a Riot Goin' On is the fifth studio album by American funk and soul band Sly and the Family Stone. It was recorded from 1970 to 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California and released later that year on November 1 by Epic Records. The recording was dominated by band frontman/songwriter Sly Stone during a period of escalated drug use and intra-group tension.
Rock and Roll Queen is a compilation album by the British rock band Mott the Hoople. The album predominantly features selections from the four albums Mott recorded for Island Records in the UK, which were subsequently issued in the US by Atlantic Records. In Canada, the first three were released by Polydor, while Brain Capers was released in Canada by Island.
James Faye "Roy" Hall, also known by his pseudonym "Sunny David", was an American rockabilly pianist and songwriter. Hall was an uncredited co-writer of the rockabilly classic "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", a song recorded by Hall himself and later popularized by Jerry Lee Lewis. Although his writing claim was initially disputed, later reissues of the song credit Hall for his role in its conception.
Two Sides of Wanda is a studio album by American recording artist Wanda Jackson. It was released in March 1964 via Capitol Records and contained 12 tracks. It was the sixth studio release of Jackson's career; side one contained rockabilly performances, while side two featured country music selections. The album received a nomination from the Grammy Awards following its release and has since been re-released.
"Feel It in the Air" is a song by American rapper Beanie Sigel from his third studio album The B. Coming (2005). It is the third single from the album. The song was produced by Heavy D and features singer Melissa Jiménez.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
