Son Lewis (born Andrew Lewis, December 11, 1951,

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer and guitarist. He was nicknamed "Son" or "Sonny" by his family, to differentiate him from his father, Andrew Lewis Sr.

Family

He is the son of former soldier and businessman Andrew Lewis Sr. (whose photo is used on Lewis' "Dignified" CD cover) and his wife, Frances Frano. He has one sister, Michele.

Career

Although not coming from a musical family, he was influenced by his cousin Carl Lewis, who exposed him to

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

and

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

at a very young age. Lewis started playing guitar in 1964, studying under the R&B guitarist Dennis Gorgas, and later with

Danny Kalb Daniel Ira Kalb (September 9, 1942 – November 19, 2022) was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was an original member of the 1960s group the Blues Project. Life and career Kalb was a protégé of Dave Van Ronk and became a solo per ...

, founder and leader of

The Blues Project The Blues Project is a band from the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City that was formed in 1965 and originally split up in 1967. Their songs drew from a wide array of musical styles. They are most remembered as one of the most artfu ...

. During that time, Lewis performed with The Avlons (on bass guitar) and fronted The Strangers and The Love Merchants (vocals and rhythm guitar) performing covers of "Blue-eyed Soul", Motown and STAX hits. By late 1968, Lewis had begun visiting the

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and blues

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of New York City's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. After witnessing a performance by

John P. Hammond John Paul Hammond (born November 13, 1942 in New York City) is an American singer and musician. The son of record producer John H. Hammond, he is sometimes referred to as John Hammond Jr. Background Hammond is a son of record producer and ta ...

Gerde's Folk City Gerdes Folk City, sometimes spelled Gerde's Folk City, was a music venue in the West Village, part of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, in New York City. Initially opened by owner Mike Porco as a restaurant called Gerdes, it eventually began to presen ...

, he was determined to begin performing as a solo acoustic performer. In early 1969, Lewis became a regular fixture at "open mics" and "hootenanys" in and around the New York/New Jersey area, singing and playing acoustic blues guitar in the Delta and Piedmont styles. These performances resulted in several paid gigs as an opening or support act at The Coffeehouse at Fairleigh Dickenson University in New Jersey. During that period, Lewis opened shows for

The Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer is a Grammy award–winning vocal group founded in 1969 that has explored a cappella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues, and pop music. There have been two editions of the Manhattan Transfer, ...

(when they were a folk group), comedian

Chris Rush Chris Rush (born Christopher John Mistretta; February 11, 1946 – January 28, 2018) was an American comedian, writer, actor, radio personality and author. He is best known for his stand-up routines and albums, along with having been a writer a ...

Melissa Manchester Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Since the 1970s, her songs have been carried by adult contemporary radio stations. She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage. Early l ...

, J.F. Murphy and Free Flowing Salt. In 1974, Lewis re-incorporated electric guitar into his repertoire and shortly thereafter formed The Son Lewis Blues Band, which has featured members of

Mink DeVille Mink DeVille was a rock band founded in 1974, known for its association with early punk rock bands at New York's CBGB nightclub and for being a showcase for the music of Willy DeVille. The band recorded six albums in the years 1977 to 1985, afte ...

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, Rockett 88, Impact and The

Ricki Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author. Over the course of a career that spans five decades, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, and jazz. A two ...

Band. Since 1979, he has appeared on numerous albums, primarily for New Jersey's Silk City Records and has appeared on numerous

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s. In 1996, he was selected by The Skyland Blues Society to represent Northern New Jersey in the 'International Blues Competition', held by the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs the ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. He has also appeared on a number of local television programs and has over 25 live radio broadcasts to his credit.

Songwriter

Long considered "an interpreter", Lewis originally wrote

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

s in the late 1960s but refused to perform them in his live performances. He began writing blues and roots-based songs again in 2001, and now focuses extensively on original material for his recorded works. His CD ''Cadillac Rhythm'', released in 2008, featured all original songs written by Lewis, or co-written with his keyboardist John Pittas. Lewis' original material was again featured prominently in his 2011 recording "Laws of Nature". Lewis has also returned to writing in other genres outside of Blues and his instrumental song "For Skylar" has been used by several broadcast radio stations as a music bed for public service announcements.

Movie scores

Son Lewis contributed 19 original jazz compositions to Director Mike Lordi for use in the 2013 independent film ''Love in a Coffeeshop'' and four Blues tunes for Lordi's 2011 film ''The Big Weekend''. He has also contributed numerous pieces for television, radio and internet advertisements.

Narrations, voice overs and stage

Lewis has performed on the stage, appearing in ''John Brown's Body'' (as Clay Wingate), ''Thurber Carnival'' and ''Oh Dad, Poor Dad''. He has done voice overs for various commercial advertising agencies as well as lent his voice to "The Laughing Bunny" Easter Toy. In the 1970s and 1980s, he narrated a number of Classic "Books on Tape", including works by

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

(as Natty Bumppo) and

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

(as Dr. John Watson).

Discography

* ''Live Radio, Son!'' (Bluesong 1974), out of print * ''Solid Son'' (Silk City 1980), out of print * ''Glad You Came'' (Silk City 1988), out of print * ''Roadwork'' (Silk City 1991), out of print * ''Next Train Smokin (Silk City 1996) * ''Borderline: The Ry Cooder Tribute'' (Hattori/Japan 1998) out of print * ''Standing Room Only: Songs from the Last Roadhouse'' (Silk City 1999) * ''Hobo Jungle: Independent Blues Artists'' (Silk City 2000) * ''Santa Has Left The Building'' (Silk City 2003) * ''Red, Hot, Blues'' (Silk City 2004) * ''The Country Blues'' (Silk City 2004) * ''Snake'' (Silk City 2005) * ''Urban Legends of NJ'' (Silk City 2006) * ''Dark Past'' (live album – Silk City 2007) * ''Cadillac Rhythm'' (Silk City 2008) * ''Not Fade Away'' (Silk City 2010) * ''Laws of Nature'' (Silk City 2011) * ''Dignified'' (Silk City 2012) * ''Goin' South To Tampa'' (Silk City 2013) * ''Too Hot'' (Silk City 2014) * ''Stages'' (Silk City 2015) * ''Talking with Ghosts'' (Silk City 2016) * ''From Time To Time'' (Silk City 2017) * ''Live at Van Gogh's Ear'' (Silk City 2018) * ''Hoboken Nights'' (Silk City 2018)

References

External links

*
Silk City Records official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Son 1951 births Living people American blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists Songwriters from New Jersey Singers from New Jersey Musicians from Paterson, New Jersey Guitarists from New Jersey 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters