Peter Lewis (musician)

Last updated

Peter Charles Lewis (born July 15, 1945) is one of the founding members of the band Moby Grape. Three of his better known songs with Moby Grape are "Fall on You" and "Sitting by the Window" from the self-titled first Moby Grape album and "If You Can't Learn from My Mistakes" from Moby Grape '69 . [1]

Contents

Background

The younger of the two sons of actress Loretta Young (1913–2000) [2] and writer-producer Tom Lewis (d. 1988), [3] Peter Lewis spent much of his childhood in Hollywood. His older brother, Christopher (1944–2021), was a writer and television producer. The brothers were nephews of Polly Ann Young, Sally Blane, and Ricardo Montalban, and were the half-brothers of Judy Lewis (d. 2011), their mother's child by Clark Gable. Musician David Lindley is a cousin. [4]

As a youth, Lewis attended military school; after a stint in the Air Force, he became a commercial pilot, initially working for Shell Oil. [5] As for his musical career, Lewis cites Tim Hardin and Fred Neil as important influences, and credits Linda McCartney (née Eastman) with introducing him to their music. [6]

Moby Grape bandmates

Beyond his work as a musician, Lewis has been noted for his efforts in assisting fellow Moby Grape bandmates Bob Mosley and Skip Spence (d. 1999) in battling the challenges of schizophrenia. [7] At age 11, while his parents were embroiled in an acrimonious divorce and custody dispute, he suffered a nervous breakdown in New York City and was involuntarily hospitalized for a period. [8] In 1969, he recalled, "I was under the care of a psychiatrist, taking all this Librium so I could stay with the band." [9]

Mosley credited Lewis with helping him end approximately five years of homelessness in the 1990s. Mosley describes the circumstances as follows: "In 1996, Peter Lewis picked me up along the side of a San Diego freeway where I was living, to tell me a ruling by San Francisco Judge Garcia gave Moby Grape their name back. I was ready to go to work again." [10] Lewis was skeptical about Spence being labeled a schizophrenic because recognized treatments were not resulting in any noticeable improvements. As a result, Lewis sought and participated in alternative healing therapies with Spence involving metaphysics. "Through my dad, who'd become a born-again Christian, I'd met these monks in Lucia above Big Sur, who were really serious about rational metaphysics. Their faith beyond reason overwhelms you every time. [11] Since the doctors couldn't help Skippy - they kept objectifying his problem: 'He's a paranoid schizophrenic' and were never going to heal him. All they were interested in was keeping him out of McDonald's with a machine gun, so it (the monastery) was the only place I could think of to take him." [9]

Recent career

In addition to performing occasionally with Moby Grape, Lewis was a guitarist with the reformed Electric Prunes (2000–2003), contributing to their Artifact album. [12] His connection to The Electric Prunes commenced in the 1960s, through the late guitarist Ron Morgan (1945-1989). Morgan, originally from Colby, Kansas, had relocated to Los Angeles and played with Lewis in one of Lewis' early bands, Peter and The Wolves. Morgan then went on to join The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, as well as an early version of Three Dog Night and, thereafter, a reformed version of The Electric Prunes, playing on the Just Good Old Rock and Roll album. [13] He developed a career as a solo artist, and released three albums on the Taxim label: Peter Lewis, Peter Lewis with David West Live in Bremen , and Peter Lewis with David West Live at the Lobero Theatre . [14] Lewis occasionally performs as a duo with David West, his collaborator on Live in Bremen and Live at the Lobero Theatre. [15] For a series of pictures of Peter Lewis and David West, performing in 2003, see here.

In 2010, Lewis appeared with Stu Cook at the SXSW festival, performing with The Explosives. [16] Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson and Omar Spence, son of Skip Spence, also appeared at a different venue, but on the same day, at SXSW, performing as "New Wine". For reasons not publicly known, Lewis did not join his former bandmates in performance.[ citation needed ] As of 2011, Lewis was writing songs and performing with poet M.L. Liebler. [17]

Solo discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moby Grape</span> American rock group

Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966. Part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene, the band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lead vocalists and songwriters. The group's first incarnation ended in 1969, in part due to members Bob Mosley and Skip Spence suffering from mental illness. The group has reformed many times afterwards and continues to perform occasionally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skip Spence</span> Canadian-American musician (1946–1999)

Alexander "Skip" Spence was a Canadian-born American singer-songwriter and musician. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. In the same year, he released his only solo album, Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry. He had started his career as a guitarist in an early line-up of Quicksilver Messenger Service, and was the drummer on Jefferson Airplane's debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. He has been described on the AllMusic website as "one of psychedelia's brightest lights"; however, his career was plagued by drug addiction coupled with mental health problems, and he has been described by a biographer as a man who "neither died young nor had a chance to find his way out."

Jerry Miller is an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performs as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He is also a founding member of the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, which continues to perform occasionally. Rolling Stone included Miller at number 68 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time and Moby Grape's album Moby Grape at number 124 from listed 500 greatest albums of all time. Miller's longtime guitar is a Gibson L-5 CES Florentine guitar which he calls "Beulah".

<i>Moby Grape</i> (album) 1967 studio album by Moby Grape

Moby Grape is the 1967 debut album by rock band Moby Grape. Coming from the San Francisco scene, their reputation quickly grew to immense proportions, leading to a bidding war and a contract with Columbia Records. The album peaked at #24 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in September 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McFee</span> American musician

John McFee is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist, and long-time member of The Doobie Brothers.

<i>Wow/Grape Jam</i> 1968 studio album by Moby Grape

Wow/Grape Jam is the second album by the rock band Moby Grape. It was first released in April 1968. It is different from most double album releases in that it was released as two different albums in separate covers, but packaged together and sold for only one dollar more than price of a single LP.

<i>Moby Grape 69</i> 1969 studio album by Moby Grape

Moby Grape '69 is the third album by the psychedelic rock band Moby Grape, released on January 30, 1969.

<i>Truly Fine Citizen</i> 1969 studio album by Moby Grape

Truly Fine Citizen is the fourth studio album by American rock band Moby Grape. It was released on July 30, 1969, by Columbia Records. After completing the album, the band went on hiatus until 1971 when they reunited with Skip Spence and Bob Mosley to record the reunion album, 20 Granite Creek.

<i>20 Granite Creek</i> 1971 studio album by Moby Grape

20 Granite Creek is the rock band Moby Grape's fifth album. After recording their last album for Columbia Records, Truly Fine Citizen, the band went on hiatus until 1971 when they reunited with Skip Spence and Bob Mosley and recorded this reunion album for Reprise Records; their only album for the label. David Rubinson, who produced most of the band's Columbia albums, was back as producer here, as well as serving as the band's manager.. The album title refers to an address near Santa Cruz, CA but there is no record that any band member ever lived there. The rights to this album are now owned by the band after previous manager, Matthew Katz, lost them when the band successfully sued him in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Mosley</span> American musician

James Robert "Bob" Mosley is principally known as the bass player and one of the songwriters and vocalists for the band Moby Grape. Some of his best-known songs with Moby Grape are "Mr. Blues", "Come In The Morning", and "Lazy Me" from the first Moby Grape album (1967), and "Gypsy Wedding" from the 20 Granite Creek (1971) album.

Don Stevenson is the American drummer and a singer and songwriter for Moby Grape, a band which was formed in San Francisco in 1966 and continues to perform occasionally today.

Dale Ockerman is a keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter who has worked with a variety of internationally recognized musicians since the late 1960s. He is best known for his association with the Doobie Brothers, where he was principal keyboardist and a guitarist with the reformed version of the band during the 1988–1996 period.

<i>The Place and the Time</i> 2009 compilation album by Moby Grape

The Place and the Time is a compilation album of demos, outtakes, alternative versions and live versions of songs by Moby Grape, released by Sundazed Records in 2009 in CD and double LP format.

<i>Vintage: The Very Best of Moby Grape</i> 1993 greatest hits album by Moby Grape

Vintage: The Very Best of Moby Grape is a retrospective collection of Moby Grape songs, many previously unreleased, originally issued in 1993 as part of Columbia Records' "Rock Artifacts" series. Included in the collection was the entire eponymous first album of the group, generally considered to be one of the most important albums of its era. Noted rock critic David Fricke wrote the liner notes to the compilation.

<i>Crosstalk: The Best of Moby Grape</i> 2004 greatest hits album by Moby Grape

Crosstalk: The Best of Moby Grape is a 2004 compilation album by Moby Grape, released by Sony International. It was released at a time when the legal status of ownership of Moby Grape recordings was uncertain.

<i>Legendary Grape</i> 1989 studio album by Moby Grape

Legendary Grape is an album by Moby Grape, released by Dig Music in 2003.

<i>Live Grape</i> 1978 live album by Moby Grape

Live Grape is a 1978 album by Moby Grape, released by Escape Records, of live performances of the band at two venues in California, the Shady Grove in San Francisco and the Inn of the Beginning in Cotati.

<i>Fine Wine</i> (Fine Wine album) 1976 studio album by Fine Wine

Fine Wine is an album released in 1976 by Polydor Records in Germany, by a group of the same name. The four-person group included two members of Moby Grape, Jerry Miller and Bob Mosley, who also wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on the album. For these reasons, the album is often regarded as a Moby Grape album.

Christopher Paul Lewis was an American writer and film producer, primarily for television.

<i>Moby Grape Live</i> 2010 live album by Moby Grape

Moby Grape Live is a 2010 album, released by Sundazed Records, of previously unissued live recordings of the band Moby Grape. Included are recordings of the band in its prime in 1966 and 1967, as well as 1969 recordings, subsequent to the 1968 collapse and departure of founding member Skip Spence. A particularly notable inclusion is the band's performance at the historic Monterey International Pop Festival. According to critic Mark Deming, "While Moby Grape's studio work might offer a clearer picture of the strength of their songs, Moby Grape Live does a brilliant job of revealing what made them great as a band, and the best tracks here should prompt any serious fan of late-'60s rock to reaffirm Moby Grape's status as one of the finest acts of their time." According to another reviewer, "After the essential debut record, this is the Moby Grape record I would recommend next."

References

  1. ↑ At their 2007 appearance at the 40th anniversary of the "Summer of Love" reunion, Moby Grape opened their set with Lewis' "Fall on You".
  2. ↑ Peter Lewis' tribute to his late mother is accessible here
  3. ↑ Primarily as a writer-producer of "The Loretta Young Show".
  4. ↑ David Lindley's father, Jack Lindley (born John Royal Young; 1914-1997), was a sibling (one brother, two sisters) of Loretta Young. See Interview with Peter Lewis Archived 2008-09-06 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Matthew Greenwald, Peter Lewis Biography; www.allmusic.com.
  6. ↑ "Interview with Peter Lewis". Archived from the original on March 1, 2002. Retrieved 2013-08-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ↑ Images of Peter Lewis, Bob Mosley and Skip Spence playing music together in later years are accessible here
  8. ↑ Interview with Peter Lewis Archived 2008-09-06 at the Wayback Machine
  9. 1 2 Interview with Peter Lewis Archived 2007-09-04 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Bob Mosley commentary in relation to the circumstances ultimately leading to his stabilization and the recording of his album True Blue Oddly though, bankrupt musicians rarely try to find other jobs. Archived 2009-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ Lewis is presumably referring to the Camaldolese Monks of Big Sur Archived 2008-09-08 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ See "interview with Peter Lewis at the Electric Prunes website". Archived from the original on March 1, 2002. Retrieved 2013-08-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. ↑ Interview with Bob Morgan Archived 2011-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ Archived 2008-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ notice of Peter Lewis and David West performing in Chelsea, Michigan in June 2008.
  16. ↑ Raul Hernandez, Live Shots: SXSW Music 2010, Austin Chronicle , March 26, 2010
  17. ↑ News Release, Poet M.L. Lieber and Moby Grape’s Peter Lewis to Perform in Cheyenne, KOWB 1290, February 25, 2011. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  18. ↑ Produced by John McFee of the Doobie Brothers and featuring contributions from Keith Knudsen (Doobie Brothers) and Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival), all of whom at the time were in country rock band Southern Pacific. Multi-instrumentalist McFee, a well-known contributor to the works of others (such as Van Morrison's Saint Dominic's Preview and Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True ) considers this Peter Lewis album to be among the better he has worked. See Biography of John McFee; www.doobiebros.com. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.