Linda Lewis

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Linda Lewis (* 27. September 1950 as Linda Ann Fredericks in West Ham , London ) is a British singer-songwriter .

Career

Linda Lewis started her career in show business as a young girl. She was seen in small roles in the drama A Taste of Honey (1961) and in the Beatles adventure A Hard Day's Night (1964). You Turned My Bitter Into Sweet was their debut single on the Polydor label in 1967, without success .

In the 1970s, Lewis first worked as a background singer for artists such as David Bowie , Cat Stevens , Rod Stewart , Al Kooper and the group Family . In parallel, she released very different records stylistically. Her early works for the Reprise label were heavily influenced by the singer-songwriter movement of those years. Elements from folk, jazz and pop were also used on the commercially modestly successful albums Say No More (1971), Lark (1972), Fathoms Deep (1973) and Heart Strings (1974). Lewis celebrated her first hit in 1973: Rock-A-Doodle-Doo reached number 15 in the UK charts.

Two years later, Lewis landed her only top 10 hit in Great Britain with a disco remake of Betty Everett's hit It's in His Kiss (6th place). The accompanying LP Not a Little Girl Anymore was the only one of her career to hit the UK charts (# 40). In 1975 Lewis was a guest singer alongside Roger Daltrey and Paul Nicholas on Rick Wakeman's soundtrack for the film Lisztomania .

Two years later, Lewis worked on the disco-heavy album Woman Overboard with, among others, Cat Stevens . He wrote and produced the song Bonfire for her and also took over the production of Come Back and Finish What You Started . In the same year, Stomu Yamashta hired her for the album Go Too . With a lavishly arranged version of I'd Be Surprisingly Good for You , Lewis was able to land another Top 40 hit in Great Britain in 1979 (40th place). For the accompanying LP Hacienda View , Lewis worked with producer Mike Batt , who contributed the song My Aphrodisiac Is You to the project. In 2003 he re-recorded the song with Katie Melua for her debut Call Off the Search .

At the beginning of the 1980s things slowly calmed down around Lewis. The pop LP A Tear and a Smile (1983) recorded for Epic was not a success, but with Destination Love it contains one of the first compositions by Diane Warren to be released on sound carrier , which would later write many world hits. A dance remake of You Turned My Bitter Into Sweet (1984), which was released together with Class / Style (I've Got It) , was also barely noticed.

After taking a break for a few years, Lewis released the comeback CD Second Nature in 1995 with jazz and Latin elements. This CD was particularly successful in Japan. The following year she released a live album recorded in Japan. Other successful works there followed with Whatever ... (1997) and Kiss of Life (1999). With these albums, she continued her phase at the beginning of the 1970s, as she again appeared increasingly as a singer / songwriter.

In 2007 Lewis worked with the house duo Basement Jaxx . She also performed in London at a tribute concert for Marc Bolan ( T. Rex ).

Lewis is still active as a live artist and in 2010 worked with Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher , among others .

Private

Linda Lewis is the older sister of singer Shirley Lewis , who had a minor hit in the US in 1989 ( Realistic , 84th place).

She is not to be confused with the musician Linda Gail Lewis , sister of Jerry Lee Lewis .

Discography

Albums

Recapitulation
  • 1971: Say No More
  • 1972: Lark
  • 1973: Fathoms Deep
  • 1974: Heart Strings
Arista
  • 1975: Not a Girl Anymore
  • 1977: Woman Overboard
Ariola
  • 1979: Hacienda View
Epic
  • 1983: A Tear and a Smile
Turpin
  • 1995: Second Nature
  • 1996: Born Performer (also released as Live in Japan )
  • 1997: Whatever ...
  • 1999: Kiss of Life
Market Square
  • 2006: Live in Old Smokey

Compilations

  • 1976: 2 Originals of Linda Lewis ( Lark and Fathoms Deep as 2LP)
  • 1996: Best of (Camden)
  • 2002: Reach for the Thruth: The Reprise Years 1971-1974 (Rhino)
  • 2003: The Best of Linda Lewis (Camden, other tracklist)
  • 2005: Legends (Sony BMG, 3-CD box)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Linda Lewis in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  2. ↑ a b Linda Lewis, short biography Verlag Taurus Press
  3. ↑ Linda Lewis in the Official UK Charts (English)
  4. ↑ Rick Wakeman - "Lisztomania" at Discogs.com
  5. ↑ Scans of the Woman Overboard album with credits at Discogs.com
  6. ^ Marc Bolan The Celebration Concert 1947 - 1977 - 2007. Official Linda Lewis website, news page 2008 ( Memento of July 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ News Archive June 2007. Official Linda Lewis website ( Memento of October 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Official Linda Lewis Website, News Page 2010, February ( Memento of September 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Top R&B Singles 1942–1995 by Joel Whitburn, Record Research 1996, page 266, ISBN 0-89820-115-2
personal data
SURNAME Lewis, Linda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fredericks, Linda Ann (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British singer-songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH West Ham , London , United Kingdom