† In Memory - Oct 7: **1966 – Smiley Lewis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1913) Smiley Lewis (July 5, 1913 – October 7, 1966) 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 Dominos backwash. 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. His mother died while he was a child, and later Lewis named a song 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. Although Lewis Imperial singles never sold more than 100,000 copies individually, they often lent themselves success to other artists. Gale Storms pop version of I Hear You Knocking found its way into the top five on the charts. In the 1970s, Dave Edmunds covered the song as his first hit. Elvis Presleys 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. 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, Dave Edmunds cover of the song reached number one in the UK and peaked at number four in the U.S. His (Dave Edmunds) version of the song lyrics actually names Lewis (alongside Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Huey Smith). 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 Rays 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.................... O:) From 1955, THE Original version of I Hear You Knockin.. youtube/watch?v=IoMDD-PEKiU I Hear You Knocking (or I Hear You Knockin) is a rhythm and blues song written by Dave Bartholomew and Earl King (using the pseudonym Pearl King). It was first recorded by New Orleans rhythm and blues artist Smiley Lewis in 1955.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 02:25:44 +0000
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