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Smiley Lewis

 
Artist: Smiley Lewis
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Similar Artists:

Ernie K-Doe, Dave Bartholomew, Big Joe Turner, Alvin "Red" Tyler, Huey "Piano" Smith, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Fats Domino, Jimmy Beasley, Frankie Ford, Shirley & Lee, Lloyd Price, Little Richard, Lee Dorsey, Earl King

Followers:

The Neville Brothers, The Meters

Performed Songs By:

Overton Lemon, Pearl King
  • Born: July 05, 1913, DeQuincy, LA
  • Died: October 07, 1966, New Orleans, LA
  • Active: '40s, '50s, '60s
  • Genres: Rhythm & Blues
  • Instrument: Piano, Vocals
  • Representative Albums: "The Best of Smiley Lewis: I Hear You Knocking," "Shame, Shame, Shame," "The Best of Smiley Lewis"
  • Representative Songs: "I Hear You Knocking," "One Night," "Blue Monday"

Biography

Dave Bartholomew has often been quoted to the effect that Smiley Lewis was a "bad luck singer," because he never sold more than 100,000 copies of his Imperial singles. In retrospect, Lewis was a lucky man in many respects -- he enjoyed stellar support from New Orleans' ace sessioneers at Cosimo's, benefited from top-flight material and production (by Bartholomew), and left behind a legacy of marvelous Crescent City R&B. We're lucky he was there, that's for sure.

Born with the unwieldy handle of Overton Lemons, Lewis hit the Big Easy in his mid-teens, armed with a big, booming voice and some guitar skills. He played clubs in the French Quarter, often with pianist Tuts Washington (and sometimes billed as "Smiling" Lewis). By 1947, his following was strong enough to merit a session for DeLuxe Records, which issued his debut 78, "Here Comes Smiley." Nothing happened with that platter, but when Lewis signed with Imperial in 1950 (debuting with "Tee-Nah-Nah") things began to move.

As the New Orleans R&B sound developed rapidly during the early '50s, so did Lewis, as he rocked ever harder on "Lillie Mae," "Ain't Gonna Do It," and "Big Mamou." He scored his first national hit in 1952 with "The Bells Are Ringing," but enjoyed his biggest sales in 1955 with the exultant "I Hear You Knocking" (its immortal piano solo courtesy of Huey Smith). Here's where that alleged bad luck rears its head -- pop chanteuse Gale Storm swiped his thunder for any pop crossover possibilities with her ludicrous whitewashed cover of the plaintive ballad.

But Storm wouldn't dare come near its roaring flip, the Joe Turnerish rocker "Bumpity Bump," or some of Smiley Lewis' other classic mid-'50s jumpers ("Down the Road," "Lost Weekend," "Real Gone Lover," "She's Got Me Hook, Line and Sinker," "Rootin' and Tootin'"). In front of the Crescent City's hottest players (saxists Lee Allen, Clarence Hall, and Herb Hardesty usually worked his dates), Lewis roared like a lion.

Strangely, Fats Domino fared better with some of Smiley Lewis' tunes than Lewis did ("Blue Monday" in particular). Similarly, Elvis Presley cleaned up the naughty "One Night" and hit big with it, but Lewis's original had already done well in 1956 (as had his melodic "Please Listen to Me"). His blistering "Shame, Shame, Shame" found its way onto the soundtrack of the steamy Hollywood potboiler Baby Doll in 1957 but failed to find entry to the R&B charts.

After a long and at least semi-profitable run at Imperial, Lewis moved over to OKeh in 1961 for one single, stopped at Dot in 1964 just long enough to make a solitary 45 (produced by Nashville deejay Bill "Hoss" Allen) and bowed out with an Allen Toussaint-produced remake of "The Bells Are Ringing" for Loma in 1965. By then, stomach cancer was eating the once-stout singer up. He died in the autumn of 1966, all but forgotten outside his New Orleans home base.

The ensuing decades have rectified that miscarriage of justice, however. Smiley Lewis' place as one of the greatest New Orleans R&B artists of the 1950s is certainly assured. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Smiley Lewis
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Smiley Lewis

Smiley Lewis
Background information
Birth name Overton Amos Lemons
Born July 5, 1913(1913-07-05)
Origin DeQuincy, Louisiana
Died October 7, 1966 (aged 53)
Genre(s) Blues, New Orleans
Occupation(s) musician, songwriter
Instrument(s) vocals, guitar
Years active 1940s-1960s

Smiley Lewis (July 5, 1913 – October 7, 1966[1]) was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues musician. The journalist, Tony Russell, in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, stated "Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans. He hit on a formula for slow-rocking, small-band numbers like "The Bells Are Ringing" and "I Hear You Knocking" only to have Fats Domino come up behind him with similar music more ingratiatingly delivered. Lewis was practically drowned in Domino's backwash".[2]

Contents

Life and career

Lewis was born in DeQuincy, Louisiana, U.S., a rural hamlet near Lake Charles, to Jeffrey and Lillie Mae Lemons, as the second of three sons and given the name of Overton Amos Lemons.[3] His mother died while he was child, and later Lewis named a song[4] and several automobiles after her. In his mid-teens, he hopped onto a slow moving freight train with some friends, who jumped off when the train began to speed up. Lewis alone remained on the train, getting off when it reached its stop in New Orleans. He found boarding with a Caucasian family in the Irish Channel, eventually adopting their surname of Lewis.[5]

He began playing clubs in the French Quarter and "Tan bars" in the 7th Ward, at times billed as Smiling Lewis, a variation of the nickname earned by his lack of front teeth, and often accompanied by pianist Isidore "Tuts" Washington, who he spent the mid-1930s with in Thomas Jefferson's Dixieland band. When the band dissolved, Lewis turned to going from one club to another, playing gigs for only tips.[6]

Lewis married Leona Robinson in 1938, the couple living with her mother until they began having children, when they moved to South Tonti Street while Lewis spent the day time hours working odd manual labor jobs and the nights singing. During World War II, he joined Washington again, this time with Ernest "Kid" Mollier's band entertaining soldiers stationed at Fort Polk outside of Bunkie, Louisiana while also serving as the house band at the Boogie Woogie Club. The two formed a trio with drummer Herman Seals after the war ended, and again began playing the French Quarter and down Bourbon Street.

An invitation by David Braun to record a session with his DeLuxe Records followed in 1947 for the trio and resulted in the release of his debut album, Here Comes Smiley,[7] though Papa John French replaced Seals and played bass. The single "Turn On Your Volume" was a hit in local jukeboxes, but DeLuxe requested no more material and even left two other recorded sides unreleased.

An invitation by Dave Bartholomew, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Lewis and was then beginning a production career with Imperial Records, led the trio to record a session in March 1950 that resulted in the song "Tee Nah Nah". Lewis scored his first national hit song in 1952 with "The Bells Are Ringing" in 1952 and in 1955 his biggest sales with the original recorded version of "I Hear You Knocking" (written by Bartholomew and Pearl King) featuring Huey Smith on piano.[8]

An attempt prompted by Imperial Records president Lew Chudd to attract new record buyers in 1957 saw Lewis recording pop and country music songs; the experiment failed and did nothing to boost Lewis's declining record sales. He was released from the label, and spent the early 1960s as an opening act for new performers, including Lee Dorsey, Irma Thomas, and Ernie K-Doe, the money short and Lewis arriving to gigs via the city bus. His career rounded out with a brief stint at Okeh Records in 1961 that consisted of one single, a 45 producted by Bill "Hoss" Allen in 1964 for Dot Records, and ended with a Loma Records release of "The Bells Are Ringing," remade with record producer Allen Toussaint.

He was hospitalized in 1965 and diagnosed with an ulcer, the operation led to the discovery that Lewis had stomach cancer, and quickly a benefit was organized by Bartholomew at La Ray's on Dryades Street. In the arms of his second wife, Dorothy Ester Lemons, whom he had married only six months prior, Lewis died on October 7, 1966, three days before the benefit.

In some ways, he was all but forgotten outside of his New Orleans home base.[9]

Though Lewis' Imperial singles never sold more than 100,000 copies individually, they often lent themselves success to other artists.[8] Gale Storm's pop version of "I Hear You Knocking" found its way into the top five on the charts.[10] In the 1970s, Dave Edmunds covered the song as his first hit.[11]

Lewis' own song "Blue Monday" was covered by Fats Domino and fared well. Elvis Presley's cover of the Lewis song "One Night" (altering one risque lyric) was #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and #1 on UK Singles Chart.[12] Where Lewis' "I Hear You Knocking" had been too early to break from segregation involved in U.S. Radio at the time of its release,[13] Dave Edmunds' cover of the song reached number one in the UK[11] and peaked at number four in the U.S.[14] His version of the song lyrics actually name checks Lewis (alongside Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Huey Smith).

Lewis' track "Shame, Shame, Shame" appeared on the soundtrack accompanying a dramatic chase through a collapsing attic in the film Baby Doll in 1956. The song failed to find entry to the R&B chart. It was covered by The Merseybeats on their EP On Stage in 1964.[1] Later, Aerosmith included it on their blues album, Honkin' on Bobo.

Key recordings

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Oldies.com biography of Smiley Lewis - accessed January 2008
  2. ^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 178–79. ISBN 1-85868-255-X. 
  3. ^ Mystrands biographial notes
  4. ^ Lillie Mae by Smiley Lewis on Yahoo! Music
  5. ^ smileyl
  6. ^ offBeat :: Masters of Louisiana Music:
    Smiley Lewis
  7. ^ African American Registry: Smiley Lewis, an R&B music pioneer!
  8. ^ a b Smiley Lewis | View the Music Artists Biography Online | VH1.com
  9. ^ Allmusic biography
  10. ^ Gale Storm | View the Music Artists Biography Online | VH1.com
  11. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 179. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
  12. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 434. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
  13. ^ Classic Rockin' RnB 45: Smiley Lewis-I Hear You Knocking
  14. ^ Dave Edmunds

External links


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