Singer-songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist Linda Lewis passed away suddenly on Wednesday. She was 72. No cause of death has been released.
I must confess that I was completely unfamiliar with Lewis until I read about her in June Millington's autobiography Land of a Thousand Bridges: Island Girl in a Rock 'n Roll World. Lewis was signed to Reprise Records as was Fanny and the two acts shared the same bill several times in Lewis' native U.K. as well as in New York.
June likened Lewis to Minnie Ripperton. I'd go a step further. Think of a Minnie Ripperton who could play guitar like Nick Drake and you've got Linda Lewis.
She recorded 10 solo albums, the bulk of them between 1971 to 1979 having most of her success in the U.K. with singles like "Rock a Doodle-Doo" and her cover of "It's in His Kiss" first made famous by Betty Everett. Lewis also toured extensively with Cat Stevens and was romantically involved with him for a time before his conversion to Islam. She also collaborated with Stevens as a backing vocalist and did the same with David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Al Kooper and Joan Armatrading among others. Earlier this year, Lewis contributed vocals to "Earthling" by The Paracosmos.
June was particularly fond of "Reach for the Truth" which appeared on her second album Lark. I leave you with her performing it on British TV. R.I.P.
No comments:
Post a Comment