Musical director, music arranger, record producer, music composer, pianist
Years active
1995–present
Labels
19 in the 4th Creative Collective.
Musical artist
Robert Lyndel Lewis (born March 17, 1976) is an American music arranger, music composer, record producer, musical director, film composer, musician, entrepreneur, and impresario. Lewis has worked on several Grammy Award winning singles and albums, and his production, songs, and arrangements have been featured on #1 albums, gold and platinum albums, films, live productions, and television shows.
With a career that spans over 25 years, Rob Lewis is a premier name in the music industry for music direction and music show production, producing and arranging the music for world tours, television performances, and several Grammy Award winning singles and albums with superstars like Christina Aguilera, New Kids on the Block, Babyface, Toni Braxton, and many more. Lewis' production, songs, and arrangements have been featured several times on The Grammy's, American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, The Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic, Rockin' New Years Eve, The People's Choice Awards, television theme songs, #1 albums, gold and platinum singles, films, and in theaters and arenas across the globe.
In 2018, Lewis arranged, scored, and remained musical director for Christina Aguilera's sold-out Liberation Tour, played musical sidekick on the hit WNYC podcast "Late Night Whenever" with Michelle Buteau, which Time Magazine dubbed as one of the "Best Podcasts of 2018",[2] was a featured musician and composer in the Netflix original special "Bumping Mics" with Jeff Ross and Dave Attell, and arranged Christina Aguilera's performance for Dick Clark's "New Year's Rockin' Eve" which was viewed by more than eight million people.[3] Lewis is also a co-writer of Anderson Paak's first single Tints, featuring Kendrick Lamar, from his album Oxnard, produced by Om'Mas Keith and Dr. Dre.[4] Lewis served as the music supervisor and principal arranger for Christina Aguilera's Vegas residency show The Xperience and as her principal arranger for her sold-out shows at Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic.
In 2021, Lewis founded 19 in the 4th Creative Collective to focus on developing talent and launching new music and visual projects, live performance platforms, and more.
Early life
Lewis was born on the south side of Chicago, the youngest child of Anna Lewis, a school teacher, and Robert Samuel Lewis (both deceased). Wanting a life better for her son, Anna enforced education early on. Lewis' mother put him in piano lessons at 5 years of age with acclaimed pianist Tom Stevens.[5] Until 9, Lewis began learning the techniques of reading music and of the piano, although he didn't favor classical music. Later in life, Lewis would acknowledge that his objection to classical music at that age was probably because "it had rules, with very little freedom to express anything different". Upon arriving to Mr. Stevens' home early one week, Lewis heard Mr. Stevens practicing a different style of piano, and when he went upstairs for his lesson, he asked Mr. Stevens to show him what he had been playing. This was Lewis' first discovery of jazz, and where Lewis found a love for the piano. So Lewis' mother extended his lesson time from one half-hour to an hour: a half-hour on classical, and half on jazz.
Lewis' mother was heavily involved in church. Lewis, his mother, and his sister, Samantha (deceased), began attending Christ Way Baptist Church under the strict guidance of Rev. Consuella York (who was the first African-American woman to be ordained a Baptist minister in Chicago, and was also the first female chaplain of the Cook County Jail.) Lewis played for all of the services during the week, guided by York's son and Minister of Music, Thomas Alvin Keel, and often played solos. Because Lewis' mother taught school on the north side of the city, she would drop Lewis off at the church early in the morning, and Lewis would stay there until it was time for school, everyday practicing on the church's Steinway and Sons grand piano. At age 10, Lewis then transferred to the Allen Studio Of Music, under the training of Mrs. Lorraine Allen and her son, Ernie Allen, Jr., who was a masterful Hammond organ player. Lewis learned how to play the Hammond organ, although his legs weren't quite long enough to reach the pedals, and by age 12, was teaching at the school. Lewis was looked at as a child prodigy, simply because of how he applied his classical techniques on the Hammond Organ, and because he was teaching choirs at such a young age.
For years, a young Lewis made money as a musician, whether playing for various churches, or for weddings and funerals. He attended the De La Salle Institute for high school, and was the first to get a scholarship for music to the school, because he played for all of the liturgical services at the school. Lewis was involved with the school band as a drummer, and won numerous awards for his talents and 1st place in jazz band competitions around the city. It was Lewis' high school band teacher, Larry Pawlowski, that told Lewis that he had the skills to pursue a career in music, and encouraged Lewis to leave Chicago and apply for Berklee College of Music in Boston, Ma.. Lewis was voted "Most likely to become famous" by his peers in the Senior yearbook.
Musical career
Lewis left Chicago in August 1993, and went to be educated at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, with a dual major in Music Production and Engineering and Music Business. But after 2 years, because of the financial strain, Rob was forced to drop out of school. Lewis got his 'big break' in 1995 when Brian McKnight, whom Lewis met when he was at Berklee, decided to take him on the road for his tour. Lewis' first encounter with McKnight was when his teacher, jazz saxophonist Walter Beasley brought McKnight to Berklee for a clinic in 1993. Almost two years later, after impressing McKnight's musical director, guitarist Jeff Lockhart, a young Lewis was given the opportunity to go on tour with McKnight. Rob worked with McKnight as his keyboardist for years, and also under McKnight in the studio, and later as his musical director. Under McKnight, Lewis learned the art of writing, producing, and arranging. McKnight's influence on Lewis' music is strong, and Lewis acknowledges his time under Brian McKnight as the most influential in his musical journey, because of his admiration of McKnight's writing style, arranging, and vocal production on his own records.
Lewis worked with superstar Toni Braxton on several tours, and was responsible for putting the music production together for Toni Braxton's "Revealed" Flamingo Hotel show in Las Vegas.[13] He is well known in the gospel genre for his early writing and production with the group Here II Praise, who was signed by gospel legend Daryl Coley and Jenell Alexander Coley through a deal with Verity Records. With their harmonic and artistic capabilities, their album "Giving You Nothing But Praise" debuted on Billboard's Gospel charts in the Top 20 in Sept. 1998,[14] The choir, led by Lewis, won the "Bobby Jones Excellence Award" for "Best Urban Contemporary Choir of the year" at the Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA) in 1998, and was nominated for a Stellar Award in 1999.[15] Lewis is a self-taught string arranger, and Grammy Award winning gospel producer Donald Lawrence employed his arranging talents for several projects in the late 1990s including Lawrence's Christmas album "Hello Christmas", and for Bishop TD Jakes's "Sacred Love Songs",[16] A few years later, Lawrence introduced innovative singer and producer Tonex to Lewis to do arranging for Tonex's O2 album ("The Beautiful Place" and "Even You").[16] Along with arranging, he is also known for his scores and songs with film maker/playwright and NAACP Image Award winner David E. Talbert, who assigned him the moniker "Young Q", referring to Lewis as a "young Quincy Jones" (who Lewis always refers to as the "greatest musical role model" because of Jones' incredible wide range of abilities to arrange, compose, and produce music.) Lewis has written the scores for Talbert's theatrical plays "Love Makes Things Happen" featuring the music of Babyface, "The Fabric of a Man", "He Say She Say, But What Does God Say", and Lewis wrote the original songs and score for "Love on Layaway" starring Deborah Cox and Cassie Davis. For Talbert's feature film First Sunday, starring Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan, Lewis wrote and produced the song "Live Again" which played during the end credits.
Rob Lewis Co-hosting the American Music Awards Red Carpet Pre-Show
Early work with Christina Aguilera
Lewis began touring with Christina Aguilera in 2002, following the release of her second album "Stripped". Lewis was Aguilera's co-musical director, under Rickey Minor, and traveled as her musical director during the co-headlining "Justified/Stripped Tour" with Justin Timberlake in 2003. In 2004, Lewis was contracted by Aguilera to arrange her Grammy performance of "Beautiful", which featured a 21-piece string orchestra, the Roger Wagner Chorale, and her band.[17] That night, "Beautiful" earned Aguilera the Grammy for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance".
In addition, Lewis was very involved in Aguilera's 2006 Back to Basics album as a vocal arranger and producer, string arranger, horn arranger, and was a co-writer on "Without You" (co-written by Christina Aguilera, Kara DioGuardi, and Mark Ronson),[18] Lewis also traveled and collaborated with Aguilera as her musical director and arranger on her 2006-07 Back to Basics Tour and the tour DVD, "Back to Basics: Live and Down Under",[19] and has also served as her vocal producer on numerous occasions and on records including "Tell Me", the lead single from Diddy's 2006 "Press Play" album. Lewis' vocal production work with Aguilera helped to earn a Grammy nomination in 2006 for Herbie Hancock's album Possibilities (Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, for "A Song for You")[20] and Lewis was a vocal producer for Aguilera's hit "Ain't No Other Man", which won a 2007 Grammy Award for "Best Pop Performance".[21]
In 2012, Lewis received vocal production and co-writing credits on her album "Lotus" (Sing For Me), and he remains her pianist, arranger, and musical director for all of her live performances today. Additionally, he arranged Aguilera’s 2015 NBA All-Star game New York-inspired opening performance.
Lewis also served as the musical director for Aguilera’s critically acclaimed first tour in a decade in 2018, Liberation Tour in support of her sixth album, Liberation, and for her Vegas residency The Xperience.
Early work with Babyface
Lewis worked closely with Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, as a writer, string arranger, producer, and musical director, and started touring with Edmonds in 2005. Edmonds used Lewis' skills as an arranger on albums with Jamie Foxx ("Heaven"), Fall Out Boy ("Thnks Fr Th Mrms"), and made him an integral part of his covers album Playlist,[22] and is featured on Edmonds' "Grown and Sexy" DVD. While in Boston for a performance with Edmonds, Lewis took Edmonds to Berklee College of Music to talk with some students, and while there, surprised Edmonds with the creation of a new master songwriting class at Berklee College of Music titled "The Music of Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds", in homage to Babyface's work in the music industry.[23][24] Together Lewis and Babyface have written and arranged songs including "Your Joy" with Chrisette Michele for her debut album "I Am", and "Loving You" for Vanessa L. Williams' 2009 album "The Real Thing".,[25] and Lewis co-produced the music for the song "Heaven" from Jamie Foxx "Unpredictable" album. Lewis considers Babyface to be one of the greatest influences in his career as a writer and producer, and considers his time under Edmonds as "the greatest school ever".
Early work with Diddy
In 2006, Christina Aguilera brought Lewis into the studio to work with her to arrange and produce the vocals for music mogul Diddy's lead single "Tell Me". While working on the song, Diddy noticed Lewis' work ethic and style when producing vocals and had such a regard for Lewis' skills as a vocal producer and arranger, he told Lewis that he was going to put him "on TV". Shrugging the notion off Lewis didn't give it much thought, until he received a call from MTV stating that Diddy wanted him to be a part of the series Making the Band. As a vocal coach and producer, Lewis was featured on MTV's Making the Band, Season 3 with Diddy and pop girl group Danity Kane.[26][27] Diddy also enlisted Lewis to work on most of his album, where Lewis did vocal production for "Come to Me" working with Nicole Scherzinger, "Tell Me", working with Christina Aguilera, "Making It Hard" working with Mary J. Blige, string arranging for "Thought You Said" featuring Brandy, and co-wrote two songs with Diddy, "Crazy Thang" and "Claim My Place". In 2009, Rob Lewis was commissioned by Diddy once again to be on MTV's television series "Making His Band" where Lewis used his musical directing skills to assist Diddy in finding young, up and coming artists to create Diddy's new band for his forthcoming tour.[28][29]
Early work with New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys/Boyz II Men/98 Degrees/TLC
In 2008, Lewis was enlisted as musical director for New Kids on the Block's highly anticipated reunion tour. Working closely with Donnie Wahlberg, Lewis has been musical director and arranged the music for the last five tours, and they continue to work together on tours and television projects. Wahlberg has featured Lewis on his reality shows Wahlburgers and Donnie Loves Jenny. Lewis was the musical director/arranger for the highly successful mashup 2011-2012 World Tour for New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys (NKOTBSB), and also for the NKOTB's 2013 sold out arena tour "The Package" with Boyz II Men and 98 Degrees, where Lewis served as musical director and arranger for all three acts. In 2015, Lewis served as musical director for "The Main Event" tour with New Kids on the Block featuring TLC and Nelly. In 2017, Lewis was commissioned to create the musical arrangements for the Total Package Tour, with New Kids on the Block, Paula Abdul, and Boyz II Men.
Lewis was an on-air personality, dubbed the "One Man House Band", for the last three seasons of the VH1 television show Big Morning Buzz Live, when 98 Degrees frontman Nick Lachey became the host. The morning show aired on VH1 five days a week and featured celebrity guest interviews, live music performances, and musical skits. Brought in by longtime friend and television director Rik Reinholtsen, Lewis was introduced to the show's executive producer- four-time Emmy-award winning television producer Shane Farley.
Lewis' original role on the show was to appear once a week in a segment called the "Remix Rewind"- a segment where Lachey and Lewis would perform a song that would chronicle the highlights of the week, always co-written with producer Devin Delliquanti (The Daily Show). Farley expanded Lewis' role on the show as the seasons continued, making Lewis an everyday on-camera personality, utilizing his arranging and musicianship for the musical skits and bumpers, conducting interviews, and even gave Lewis a reoccurring segment called "Rob Lewis Presents", where Lewis was able to highlight his own alliance of singers and performers. The show was cancelled in 2015.
Philanthropy
In 2009, through an entity created by Rob Lewis- "The Dreamers Movement", fans were instrumental in helping to provide new pots and pans, clothing, and financial contributions to the Create Young Adult Boys Shelter in New York, and for Christmas, Lewis orchestrated a coat drive for the Turning Point Young Women Shelter in Brooklyn, NY. All residents at the shelter received brand new coats and accessories for Christmas from all over the world, through generous donations and support from NKOTB fans, affectionately known as "Blockheads". 2014 marked the sixth consecutive year for The Dreamer's Movement's coat drive. Lewis' current dream effort is working to build his own music education facility in New York, "MISOMA" (The Movement Institute, School of Musical Advancement), a facility where music education and the arts are brought to the inner city, and where young kids and young adults can learn and experience the arts without cost. "The Dreamers Movement",[30] is dedicated to providing awareness, care, and help to the less fortunate, using music and the patronage of his supporters to give hope and inspire the lives of homeless young adults. While on the road with various artists, Rob Lewis creates live jam sessions, in which he raises money and sponsors shelters and food banks in selected cities.
Awards
In September 2007, Lewis was awarded the "Distinguished Alumni Award" from Berklee College of Music in recognition of his career accomplishments. In 2022, Lewis was given the "Distinguished Visiting Artist and Producer" award in recognition of his five years as an Artist-In Residence at Berklee College of Music, and as a producer of his original series "The Show". Lewis holds Grammy certificates as "Vocal Producer" for Christina Aguilera's "Back To Basics" album (nominated), her lead single from the album "Ain't No Other Man" (winner), and for Aguilera's work on "A Song For You" from Herbie Hancock's "Possibilities" album (nominated).
Christina María Aguilera is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Recognized as an influential figure in music and having received widespread public interest, she is noted for her four-octave vocal range extending into the whistle register, artistic reinventions, and incorporating controversial themes into her music. Referred to as the "Voice of a Generation", she was also named a Disney Legend, in recognition for her contributions to The Walt Disney Company.
The 44th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 27, 2002, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The main recipient was Alicia Keys, winning five Grammys, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'". U2 won four awards including Record of the Year and Best Rock Album, while opening the show with a performance of "Walk On".
Kenneth Brian Edmonds, better known by his stage name Babyface, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has written and produced over 26 number-one R&B hits throughout his career and has won 13 Grammy Awards. He was ranked number 20 on NME's 50 of The Greatest Producers Ever list.
Christina Aguilera is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Christina Aguilera. It was released on August 24, 1999, by RCA Records. After recording "Reflection", the theme song for the 1998 Disney film Mulan, RCA laid the foundation for the album immediately and started presenting Aguilera with tracks for her debut album, which they originally decided would have a January 1999 release. Primarily a dance-pop and teen pop album, its music incorporates bubblegum pop, R&B, soul, hip hop, as well as ballads. Contributions to the album's production came from a wide range of producers, including Johan Åberg, David Frank, Ron Fair, Guy Roche, Robin Thicke, Matthew Wilder and Aaron Zigman.
Stripped is the fourth studio album by American singer Christina Aguilera. It was released on October 22, 2002, by RCA Records. Looking to transition from the teen pop styles of her self-titled debut album (1999), Aguilera took creative control over Stripped, both musically and lyrically. She also changed her public image and established her alter ego Xtina. Musically, the record incorporates pop and R&B with influences from many different genres, including soul, rock, hip hop, and Latin music. Lyrically, most of the album's songs discuss the theme of self-respect, while a few other songs talk about sex and feminism. As an executive producer, Aguilera enlisted numerous new collaborators for the album.
Back to Basics is the fifth studio album by American singer and songwriter Christina Aguilera. It was released on August 9, 2006, in the United States by RCA Records as a double album. Serving as executive producer, she enlisted a wide range of producers, including DJ Premier, Rich Harrison, Rob Lewis, Mark Ronson, and Linda Perry. Recording sessions took place between February 2005 and April 2006 at several studios in the United States and the United Kingdom.
"Ain't No Other Man" is a song recorded by the American singer and songwriter Christina Aguilera from her fifth studio album Back to Basics (2006). Aguilera co-wrote the song with Kara DioGuardi, Charles Martin Roane, Harold Beatty and its producer DJ Premier. "Ain't No Other Man" is a pop, funk and R&B song that incorporates elements of soul, blues and jazz music. Lyrically, the song was inspired by her marriage to Jordan Bratman in 2005.
Danity Kane is the debut album by American girl group Danity Kane. It was first released by Bad Boy and Atlantic Records on August 22, 2006 in the United States. After winning the third installment of the reality talent contest Making the Band in late 2005, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Bad Boy vice president Harve Pierre consulted a wide range of high-profile hip-hop and R&B musicians to work with the quintet, including Timbaland, Danja, Bryan Michael Cox, Rami, Ryan Leslie, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Scott Storch, and Jim Jonsin, as well as Bad Boy inhouse producers Mario Winans and D-Dot. Recorded mainly within five weeks, the making of the album was tracked by the second half of Making the Band 3's third season.
"Tell Me" is a hip hop song by American rapper and producer P. Diddy from his fourth studio album, Press Play (2006), featuring guest vocals from American singer Christina Aguilera. The song was written by Combs himself, Stephen "Static Major" Garrett, Ryan "Royce" Montgomery, Elizabeth Bingham, Shannon Jones, Jack Knight, Shannon Lawrence and Leroy Watson, with production held by Just Blaze. The song was originally meant to be on Danity Kane’s debut album. It is the second single from the above-mentioned album. According to All Access, the single hit radio stations on November 7, 2006.
"Oh Mother" is a song by American singer Christina Aguilera from her fifth studio album, Back to Basics (2006). The song was released on August 13, 2007, by RCA Records as the fourth and final single from the album in European territories, while "Slow Down Baby" was serviced as the final single in Oceania. It was written by Aguilera, Derryck Thornton, Mark Rankin, Liz Thornton, Christophe Barratier, Bruno Coulais and Kara DioGuardi. Production was done by Big Tank and Q, with L Boggie credited as co-producer and Aguilera serviced as additional producer.
Sasha Sierra Allen is an American singer and actress. Born and raised in Harlem, New York, she began her career in the music industry as a backing vocalist for Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Leona Lewis, and Usher. In January 2016, she joined the Rolling Stones touring band. In May 2020, she joined The Pussycat Dolls touring band.
Claude Kelly is an American record producer, songwriter, and singer. A four-time Grammy Award nominee, and he has been credited on commercially successful releases for artists such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Christina Aguilera, Adam Lambert, Jennifer Lopez, Kesha, Brandy, Keke Wyatt, Tori Kelly, and One Direction. He is one-half of the duo Louis York, which he formed with Chuck Harmony in 2015; the two also co-founded the record label Weirdo Workshop that same year.
Burlesque: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the film of the same name, released by Screen Gems, Inc and RCA Records on November 19, 2010. The soundtrack consists of ten songs sung by the film's stars, American singers Christina Aguilera and Cher; Aguilera sang eight of the tracks, while Cher performed the remaining two. The album is inspired by jazz music style, in style with Aguilera's fifth studio album Back to Basics (2006), but contrasting to her then-recent release Bionic (2010), which was recorded concurrently with Burlesque. Burlesque served as Cher's first album since the release of Living Proof nine years earlier.
Keith Harris is an American record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
Dapo Torimiro is a Nigerian songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer. Born in Lagos, he has worked in the music industry in the US for several years writing and producing music for artists' album projects, touring with numerous artists, as well as scoring various television and film projects. He is based in Los Angeles.
Heather Noelle Holley is an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, vocal producer, composer, pianist, and Pro Tools engineer, whose credits have yielded combined sales of over 29 million albums. She specializes in artist development and is known for her role in launching Christina Aguilera's career. She and Elicit Productions partner Rob Hoffman, wrote and produced the recordings that led to Aguilera's signing to RCA Records.
Ezequiel "Cheche" Alara is a Grammy and Latin Grammy-winning music composer, producer, music director, conductor and keyboardist.
Paul Boutin is a French-born American music mixer, audio engineer and a long-time collaborator with producer/songwriter/artist Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.
Liberation is the eighth studio album by American singer Christina Aguilera. The album was released on June 15, 2018, through RCA Records. It is Aguilera's first studio album in six years, following her seventh studio album Lotus (2012). The album was Aguilera's last album under RCA Records as she parted ways in 2024. The singer started recording the album in late 2014, and throughout 2015 and 2017, Aguilera collaborated with a handful of producers and songwriters to reach her desired sound; Pharrell Williams and Linda Perry were in the studio in early stages and ended up not being on the album, while new collaborators such as Anderson .Paak, Kanye West, Che Pope, Mike Dean and Tayla Parx were confirmed to be on the album. It features collaborations with Demi Lovato, Keida, Shenseea, GoldLink, Ty Dolla Sign, 2 Chainz, and Lewis Hamilton under the pseudonym "XNDA".
Aguilera is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera. It was released through Sony Music Latin on May 31, 2022, as the follow-up to her first Spanish-language album, Mi Reflejo (2000), and her previous release, Liberation (2018). Titled after her Spanish surname, Aguilera created the album as a means to pay tribute to and connect herself and her children to their Latin American heritage. Aguilera is a trilogy album, consisting of three separately-released parts: La Fuerza, La Tormenta and La Luz. Each part deals with one of the album's central themes of empowerment, vulnerability, and healing.
↑ "Archived copy"(PDF). www.berklee.edu. Archived from the original(PDF) on 29 December 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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.
