Son Lewis (born Andrew Lewis, December 11, 1951, Paterson, New Jersey) is an American blues singer and guitarist. He was nicknamed "Son" or "Sonny" by his family, to differentiate him from his father, Andrew Lewis Sr.
Although not coming from a musical family, he was influenced by his cousin Carl Lewis, who exposed him to Delta and Chicago blues at a very young age. Lewis started playing guitar in 1964, studying under the R&B guitarist Dennis Gorgas, and later with Danny Kalb, founder and leader of The Blues Project. During that time, Lewis performed with The Avlons (on bass guitar) and fronted The Strangers and The Love Merchants (vocals and rhythm guitar) performing covers of "Blue-eyed Soul", Motown and STAX hits. By late 1968, Lewis had begun visiting the folk and blues clubs of New York's Greenwich Village. After witnessing a performance by John P. Hammond at Gerde's Folk City, he was determined to begin performing as a solo acoustic performer. In early 1969, Lewis became a regular fixture at "open mics" and "hootenanys" in and around the New York/New Jersey area, singing and playing acoustic blues guitar in the Delta and Piedmont styles. These performances resulted in several paid gigs as an opening or support act at The Coffeehouse at Fairleigh Dickenson University in New Jersey. During that period, Lewis opened shows for The Manhattan Transfer (when they were a folk group), comedian Chris Rush, Melissa Manchester, J.F. Murphy and Free Flowing Salt.
In 1974, Lewis re-incorporated electric guitar into his repertoire and shortly thereafter formed The Son Lewis Blues Band, which has featured members of Mink DeVille, Exuma, Rockett 88, Impact and The Ricki Lee Jones Band.
Since 1979, he has recorded ten albums, primarily for New Jersey's Silk City Records and has appeared on numerous compilation albums. In 1996, he was selected by The Skyland Blues Society to represent Northern New Jersey in the 'International Blues Competition', held by the Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee. He has also appeared on a number of local television programs and has over 25 live radio broadcasts to his credit.
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