Jona Lewie joined his first group, the Johnston City Jazz Band, while still at school in 1963, and by 1968 had become a blues and boogie singer and piano player. In 1969, as a singer/songwriter, he contributed compositions and recordings for the compilation album I Asked for Water She Gave Me... Gasoline on the Liberty/UA label. Other compositions in 1969 were for the album These Blues Is Meant to Be Barrel Housed on the Yazoo/Blue Goose label in New York, still as a solo artist known as John Lewis.
In 1969, he became acquainted with the blues band Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts, which was holding a residency at London's Studio 51 club, joining as a vocalist and piano player. Brett Marvin signed to the Robert Stigwood Agency in 1970, and Jona Lewie, as part of the band, appeared on television in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands, and in 1971 performed in a concert with Son House and supported Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominos on a UK tour. Lewie stayed with Brett Marvin until 1973, its mainstream hit single being "Seaside Shuffle", another Lewie composition, released under the moniker Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs. The record did little on first release in 1971, but in 1972 a re-release reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart, aided by a marketing and distribution agreement for the song between Terry Dactyl's record label, Sonet, and Jonathan King's UK label. A subsequent Lewie-composed Terry Dactyl track "On a Saturday Night" reached 42 in the UK chart in 1973,[2] and a cover version was a hit in Spain. "She Left, I Died" was the third and last Lewie composition he recorded for the Terry Dactyl catalogue in May 1973,[3] just before leaving the band.
After the demise of Terry Dactyl, Lewie had initially looked likely to remain a part of a one-hit wonder group. However, he continued to write and make records, now as a solo artist for Sonet, between 1974 and 1976 including the titles "Piggy Back Sue" and "The Swan", which were both played by BBC Radio London disc jockey Charlie Gillett, who would regularly feature them on his Honky Tonk radio show. At this time, he also helped form the short-lived band the Jive Bombers that played the established London gig circuit at such venues as The Hope and Anchor, Islington, the Greyhound, the 100 Club and the Marquee Club. The band stayed together for six months and was not able to realise any potential recording career, despite Ted Caroll's offer of a record deal on his own label Chiswick Records. The band members included Iain "Thumper" Thompson, who went on to help form the successful chart act Darts, the guitarist Martin Stone and drummer Wilgar Campbell. This period, however, did culminate in some further recordings that achieved chart activity for Lewie in Europe as a solo recording artist, with two of his Sonet singles "Cherry Ring"[6] and "Come Away (Bate O Pe)",[7] leading to solo TV appearances in central and northern Europe.
Despite Lewie's continuing development as a songwriter and recording artist, he did not forget his early roots as a blues and boogie-woogie pianist evidenced by Lewie providing blues piano for albums by American blues singer-guitarists Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (Roebuck Man released on United Artists)[8] and Juke Boy Bonner (Things Ain't Right on Liberty)[9] in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Also he accepted Bob Hall's invitations to the boogie-woogie piano parties that Hall threw in the seventies before he moved away from London. English boogie-woogie players of the period would often drop in to spend time with him, comparing notes and discussing styles. At one such party, Ian Stewart duetted with Bob Hall along with Lewie himself, all three in emulation of the master American triumvirate popular in the 1940s: Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson.
Lewie's career continued to rise when he signed to Stiff Records in 1977. In 1980, following appearances on the Stiff package tours, he...--- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/nmdjpresentsflyonthewall/message
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