Bobby Lewis

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Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Tossin 'and turnin'
  US 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 04/22/1961 (23 weeks)
One track min
  US 9 08/26/1961 (10 weeks)
What a walk
  US 77 11/18/1961 (3 weeks)
I'm tossin 'and turnin' again
  US 98 07/28/1962 (1 week)

Robert Alan "Bobby" Lewis (born February 17, 1933 in Indianapolis , Indiana , † April 28, 2020 ) was an American rock and roll and R&B singer. His most famous song is the number one hit "Tossin 'and Turnin'" .

biography

Bobby Lewis grew up in an orphanage in Indianapolis. He received piano lessons at the age of five, and his singing was encouraged at school. He was adopted at the age of twelve and came to Detroit , Michigan , where he ran away at the age of 14 and made his way as a doorman, ice cream seller, truck driver and hotel helper. However, he aspired to a career as a musician. Influenced by blues musicians and later by early rock 'n' roll, he sang in a Detroit nightclub. It was here that he met Jackie Wilson , and through Wilson's manager he got his first recording . "My Love Is Solid as a Rock" was his first, in 1952 on the Chicago label Parrot released single .

He appeared regularly in vaudeville - TV show by Soupy Sales up in Detroit. In 1958 he brought his second single "Mumbles Blues" onto the market, which was as unsuccessful as its predecessor. At the behest of Jackie Wilson and his wife's insistence, Lewis went to New York . Although he suffered a few setbacks with applications there in the beginning, he did not give up. He sang again in different clubs; Among other things, he had a one-week engagement in the Apollo Theater in 1960 , where he met the Doo Wop band The Fireflies .

He met the Fireflies singer Ritchie Adams again a few weeks later when he was auditioning for Beltone Records . Adams and the label owner, Joe Rene, listened to some of Lewis' songs; then they asked him to perform a title they had written - "Tossin 'and Turnin'" . Lewis got a record deal, and Beltone released the song in late 1960. It was not until July 10, 1961, however, before the single climbed to number one on the Billboard charts . It stayed at number one for seven weeks before being replaced by Joe Dowell's " Wooden Heart " . The song also climbed to the top in the R&B charts and stayed there for ten weeks. More than three million copies of the single have been sold; it was the best-selling single in the US in 1961. The success convinced Beltone Records to release for the first (and only) time a long-playing record by one of their artists.

Lewis could never repeat the success of "Tossin 'and Turnin'" . The follow -up single “One Track Mind” became a top 10 hit with a top rating at number 9. Both recordings were accompanied by the Joe Rene Orchestra. After that, two more songs, “What A Walk” and “I'm Tossin 'and Turnin' Again,” hit the lower reaches of the Hot 100. However, Bobby Lewis remained a popular star in his homeland, toured and was more regular Guest on television shows such as Dick Clark's American Bandstand . He was active in the studio until the 1970s and on stage for even longer.

The hit single "Tossin 'and Turnin'" was used on the 1978 soundtrack for National Lampoon's Animal House . There are some stylistically very different covers , such as the UK-successful version of the British band The Ivy League , which reached number three in the UK charts in 1965, a version by folk singer Steve Goodman and one by KISS drummer Peter Criss on his solo album the year 1978.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charts US
  2. ↑ Bobby Lewis death news
  3. ↑ On this title see Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 94
  4. ↑ US catalog number Beltone 1002
  5. ↑ US catalog number Beltone 1012
  6. ↑ What A Walk (Beltone 1015) reached number 77, I'm Tossin 'And Turnin' Again (Beltone 2023) in July 1962 number 98
personal data
SURNAME Lewis, Bobby
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American rock and roll and R&B singer
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Indianapolis , Indiana
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 2020