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“Writing a song is like taking dictation from the heart.” — Harry Lewis With gifted showmanship, songwriter/singer Harry Lewis weaves a compelling musical tapestry. By living philosopher Joseph Campbell’s credo—Follow your bliss—he writes songs that emphasize the importance of being a decent human being in an increasingly un-decent world. Though he’s had a love affair with music ever since he started taking piano lessons at the age of nine, it would take four decades for Lewis to perform his own songs on the stage. “I wanted to write commercials and jingles,” he admits. Which he did for some of Toronto’s top ad agencies…until he bumped into a songwriter who wanted to collaborate with him. It didn’t take long for him to change his tune. “Writing a song is like taking dictation from the heart. When people started responding to my songs with tears, laughter and applause, there was no going back to advertising. I knew that this is what I had to do for the rest of my life.” So in 1990, Lewis committed to taking dictation full-time. The musical Ragtime Rosie and CD 15 Songs In Search Of Broadway followed in short order. The show Postcards From The Heart came next, which prompted Toronto Star critic Richard Ouzounian to declare, “Harry Lewis writes the kind of songs that make you feel like you’ve known him for years, hummable tunes with touching lyrics…I’d go anywhere to hear Harry Lewis sing some of his break-your-heart ballads…” Which one of his songs most clearly defines him? “Stone by Stone,” Lewis says. “It makes caring fashionable!” When Lewis performs his intimate, sometimes irreverent songs, this unabashed sentiment—his caring for others, revealed through the wit and craft of his lyrics—raises the bar on concert excellence. |
Harry Lewis |
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