About The Songwriter

Lewis Samuels

Lewis Samuels — keyboardist, songwriter, producer and arranger — was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1959. At the age of 15, he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, with his family. By the age of 17, he was well on his way to becoming a key player on the West Coast music scene.

Lewis' big break came when he was 22. Stonebolt, a Canadian pop group, asked him to replace John Webster as keyboardist for their album, Juvenile American Princess. After recording the album, Lewis joined Stonebolt on a concert tour throughout North America and Japan. They also toured with The Beach Boys and Burton Cummings.

When the touring ended, Lewis was determined to accomplish his goal of writing and producing an album of his own. However, he felt that some formal training was in order, so applied to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He was awarded scholarships in arranging and composition, and completed the two-year diploma course with the highest academic grade point average.

After graduating from Berklee, Lewis wrote and co-produced his own album, Diamond in the Rough, using various top session players, including himself as keyboardist. The album was released on Virgin Records and spawned three hit singles. 'Where Is Love' was the 14th most-played song in Canada from 1989-1990. The ballad, 'I Wish There Was A Way,' was number six for 10 weeks.

In 1990, Lewis met Neil James Harnett, a local musician, who shared Lewis' passion for writing and producing. Together they wrote and produced Times Like These, an album combining their different, yet complementary music styles. In the following year, Neil was nominated for the "Most Promising Male Vocalist" Juno award. In 1990, Neil and Lewis (as band leader) opened for three highly successful acts, The Beach Boys, The Doobie Brothers, and The Jeff Healey Band.

In his quest to become a successful songwriter, Lewis has recently attracted the attention of, and written with, some world-class songwriters, including:

• Dean McTaggart (Amanda Marshall, Mila Mason, Wynona)
• Jim Weatherly (Gladys Knight, Bryan White, etc.)
• Bobby Whiteside (Barbra Streisand, Charlie Pride, Nana Mouskori, etc.)
• Eddy Schwartz (Mike & The Mechanics, The Doobie Bros., Joe Cocker, Pat Benatar, etc.)
• Daryl Burgess (Patty Loveless, Mark Chestnut, Jamie O'Neal, etc.)
• Steve Diamond (Eric Clapton, Heart, etc.)
• Bruce Miller (Reba McIntyre, Dixie Chicks, etc.)
• Patricia Conroy, John Capek (Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Joe Cocker and more)

Lewis has also co-written and/or performed with the following successful artists & producers:

• Bill Buckingham (winner of five consecutive annual BC Country Music Awards for engineering and production)
• Neil James Harnett (Juno nominee for Best Male Vocalist on an album produced by Lewis)
• David Wills and Ray Roper (both formerly of RCA recording artist, Stonebolt)
• Saffron Henderson (a well-known BC entertainer and the daughter of Bill Henderson of the band, Chilliwack);
• Barry Mathers and Curtis Tulman (of Juno-nominated country artist, The Cruzeros)
• John Riley (lead singer and songwriter for British recording group, Boy on a Dolphin).

Lewis has performed and/or worked with some of British Columbia's most prominent entertainers & engineers, including:

• Bobby Taylor (former Motown recording artist)
• Howard Rissin (studio engineer for recording artists Rita MacNeil, Boulevard, Idle Eyes, Diamond in the Rough, and Farron)
• Matthew Gerard (formerly of BMG recording artist, Regatta)
• Lovena Fox (well-known BC recording artist and actress)
• Kim Kuzma (popular Vancouver vocalist and performer)
• Ron Irving (Vancouver songwriter)

Northwood, a Canadian television production, utilized many of Lewis' songs, some of which are still receiving international airplay.

At present, a song that Lewis co-wrote with John Reilly, of the group Boy On A Dolphin, is enjoying airplay in the UK. Most recently, the British Figure Skating Champion skated to the single, 'Arrow.' As well, Vancouver artist, Mike Behm, released a CD entitled, Accidental Magic, on which Lewis played keyboards and co-wrote the title track, 'Accidental Magic'. As well, Stonebolt recently released another album containing the single, 'Let's Go Back,' which Lewis also co-wrote.

Recently, Lewis performed with the Catherine St. Germaine band in a successful Canada Week concert appearance in Taipei, Taiwan, after which he was invited back to Asia to produce a single on an album for one of Asia's top recording artists. The artist is Jo Wahl Jin and the single is 'Separate Lives' which is being played throughout Asia.

Lately, Lewis branched out into producing soundtrack music for videos. TELUS, for one, hired him to score original music for four major promotional videos, one of which already won a production award for TELUS.

Recently, Lewis was commissioned by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to write and produce a radio spot that would appeal to a younger demographic. Jann Arden did the voiceover, and proved again that Lewis is a versatile and accomplished writer.

Lewis has completed an album featuring one of Vancouver's top vocalists, Troy Reid. Ten of these songs will be featured on their upcoming CD. The CD project entitled, "Jado" "As It Should Be," will also feature some of Vancouver's finest musicians and should garner considerable airplay, as did Lewis' first album, Diamond In The Rough.

Lewis recently traveled to England, where he was press-ganged into performing a benefit concert which included the likes of Def Leppard, Paul Carrack, John Parr, and a host of British stars.

In August of 2007, Lewis composed and scored his first film. Lovin Loretta has been licensed to the CBC and is the beginning of what Lewis hopes will be a career in the film industry.