Alan Lewis (1945 – 23 June 2021) was a British music journalist and editor. He began his career on local newspapers, before starting work as production editor at ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' in 1969. From there, he helped found '' Black Music'' magazine in 1973,Allan Jones, "Obituaries: Alan Lewis", ''Uncut'', No.292, September 2021, p.110 and in the late 1970s became the editor of '' Sounds'' magazine, where he encouraged such writers as Jon Savage, Sandy Robertson,

Sylvie Simmons Sylvie Simmons is a London-born, California-based music journalist, named as a "principal player" in Paul Gorman's book on the history of the rock music press '' In Their Own Write'' (Sanctuary Publishing, 2001). A widely regarded writer and roc ...

, Vivien Goldman and

Geoff Barton Geoff Barton (born July 1955) is a British journalist who founded the heavy metal magazine ''Kerrang!'' and was an editor of ''Sounds'' music magazine. He joined ''Sounds'' at the age of 19 after completing a journalism course at the London Col ...

. Phil Alexander, "RIP Alan Lewis: Kerrang! founder and British publishing legend", ''Kerrang!'', 24 June 2021
Retrieved 13 July 2021 In 1979, he was responsible for coining the term " New Wave of British Heavy Metal" (NWOBHM), as a headline for an article by Barton."Not Forgotten: Alan Lewis", ''Record Collector'', No.521, August 2021, p.42 In 1981, he founded '' Kerrang!'' magazine, initially as an offshoot of ''Sounds'', with Barton as its editor. It later became a regular monthly, and then weekly, magazine. Lewis left journalism for some time to run a pub, but returned to edit pop music magazine '' No.1'' in 1983, and then as editor of '' NME'' in 1987. There, he recruited journalist

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

, who later became ''NME'' editor, as well as writers including Stuart Maconie and Steve Lamacq. Lewis became responsible for both ''NME'' and ''Melody Maker'', and launched the magazines '' Vox'' and ''Muzik''. He also assisted Brown in founding and establishing '' Loaded'' magazine in 1994. In 1997, Lewis oversaw the launch of ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'', another music magazine, as editor-in-chief. He won the British Society of Magazine Editors' Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. After leaving

IPC IPC may refer to: Computing * Infrastructure protection centre or information security operations center * Instructions per cycle or instructions per clock, an aspect of central-processing performance * Inter-process communication, the sharin ...

, he became editor of '' Record Collector'' magazine from 2003 until retiring to his home in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

in 2011. "Kerrang! founder Alan Lewis to retire later this month", ''Press Gazette'', 21 March 2011
Retrieved 13 July 2021 He died in 2021, aged 75, after suffering from Parkinson's disease and cancer.Patrick Clarke, "Tributes paid to former NME editor and Kerrang! founder Alan Lewis", ''NME'', 24 June 2021
Retrieved 13 July 2021

References

1945 births 2021 deaths British music journalists British magazine editors {{UK-journalist-stub