Last updated: 4 hours ago
A reasonably interesting second-division soul singer, Jimmy Lewis released almost a dozen singles in the 1960s, including a duet with <a href="spotify:artist:1eYhYunlNJlDoQhtYBvPsi">Ray Charles</a> near the end of the decade ("If It Wasn't for Bad Luck"), and wrote and arranged every track on Charles' 1969 album Doing His Thing; Lewis has also worked with Charles in the 1990s. He recorded for Charles' Tangerine label and wrote material for minor soul stars like <a href="spotify:artist:0vqkz1b2qBkoYrGMj2CUWq">Bobby Womack</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0QYN2PJUwq49cW3T75KXCG">Ted Taylor</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1gdaEBrH99AfhsiQNbaSBp">Z.Z. Hill</a>. He continued to write for <a href="spotify:artist:1gdaEBrH99AfhsiQNbaSBp">Hill</a> during <a href="spotify:artist:1gdaEBrH99AfhsiQNbaSBp">Z.Z.</a>'s most commercially successful period at Malaco Records, and produced one of Malaco's more popular singers, <a href="spotify:artist:0nVQLK3LSM9SFP5xp64D7a">Latimore</a>.
The most widely known of Lewis' own recordings is the 1974 album Totally Involved, if for no other reason than its reissue on CD in the late '90s. It's respectable Southern-styled soul (although Lewis has been based in Los Angeles for his whole career), grittier than the norm at a time when the entire genre was sliding into slickness. Still, you can hear why Lewis didn't become a star; he was at the top of the journeyman level, but didn't have a style that truly stood out, either in terms of his vocal delivery (which sometimes recalled, but did not match, <a href="spotify:artist:6hnWRPzGGKiapVX1UCdEAC">Sam Cooke</a>) or material. The best representation of his legacy is the CD Still Wanna Be Black, which has the entire Totally Involved album and twelve unissued songs from the same era. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
The most widely known of Lewis' own recordings is the 1974 album Totally Involved, if for no other reason than its reissue on CD in the late '90s. It's respectable Southern-styled soul (although Lewis has been based in Los Angeles for his whole career), grittier than the norm at a time when the entire genre was sliding into slickness. Still, you can hear why Lewis didn't become a star; he was at the top of the journeyman level, but didn't have a style that truly stood out, either in terms of his vocal delivery (which sometimes recalled, but did not match, <a href="spotify:artist:6hnWRPzGGKiapVX1UCdEAC">Sam Cooke</a>) or material. The best representation of his legacy is the CD Still Wanna Be Black, which has the entire Totally Involved album and twelve unissued songs from the same era. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
Monthly Listeners
6,842
Monthly Listeners History
Track the evolution of monthly listeners over the last 28 days.
Followers
2,176
Followers History
Track the evolution of followers over the last 28 days.
Top Cities
133 listeners
104 listeners
95 listeners
95 listeners
92 listeners
Related Artists
Soul Children
Eddie Holloway
O.V. Wright
Frank Lucas
Pat Brown
Cool Ricky Blues
Charlie Jones
Poonanny
Stan Butler
