Bunny Lewis
Encyclopedia
Bunny Lewis was a London
based manager, record producer
and composer
, whose songwriting
abilities were used in a number of film
s. Sometimes this coincided with involvement in films of artists
whom he personally managed, most notably the actor
and singer
, Craig Douglas
. He also co-composed the song, "Cara Mia
". Authorship was accredited to 'Tulio Trapani and Lee Lange'; Lee Lange was the pseudonym
for David Whitfield
's producer, Lewis, and Tulio Trapani was the nom de plume of the song's other co-writer and arranger
, Mantovani
.
, London
, he served in World War II
in the Black Watch
and was awarded the Military Cross
.
After being demobbed in January 1946, Lewis worked at Decca Records
. His major work was connected to three late 1950s and early 1960s productions; Expresso Bongo
(1959), The Frightened City
(1961), and also It's Trad, Dad!
(1961), which co-starred Douglas.
Other film credits included work on A Change of Heart (1962), The Painted Smile (1962) and One Too Many
(1950).
Lewis managed Doug Sheldon
, Christine Quaite and Douglas, giving the singer previously known as Terry Perkins, the name under which he would become famous. Sheldon was discovered by Lewis while acting
on stage, and was offered a recording contract
with Decca.
As a composer, Lewis contributed the song
, "A Voice in the Wilderness", to the Cliff Richard
film, Expresso Bongo. Lewis also wrote a handful of songs that figured in the repertoire of early 1960s UK
pop
star
Helen Shapiro
; specifically "Kiss 'n' Run", "Let's Talk About Love", "Little Miss Lonely", and "Marvellous Lie". Craig Douglas' cover version
of "Oh Lonesome Me
" (1962) was produced by Lewis. As well as Lee Lange, Bridges also wrote and produced his songs under the pseudonyms of Johnny May and Emile Reisdorff.
Lewis' record production tally extended to David Whitfield's "Cara Mia
" and "Answer Me
"; Eden Kane
's "Well I Ask You
"; plus Craig Douglas' version of "Only Sixteen". All of these songs were number one
hits
in the UK Singles Chart
. Lewis' UK chart-topping effort of four production credits exceeds those notables such as Phil Spector
, Mickie Most
, Denny Cordell
, Phil Coulter
and Albhy Galuten
, all of whom only managed three such Number Ones.
In 1999 Lewis was presented with a Gold Badge award by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters (BACAS).
Lewis died in Westminster
, London, in September 2001, at the age of 82.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
based manager, record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, whose songwriting
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
abilities were used in a number of film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s. Sometimes this coincided with involvement in films of artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
whom he personally managed, most notably the actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, Craig Douglas
Craig Douglas
Craig Douglas is an English pop singer, who was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
. He also co-composed the song, "Cara Mia
Cara Mia
"Cara Mia" is a popular song published in 1954 and became a hit for English singer David Whitfield in 1954 and a #4 hit by the American pop group Jay and the Americans in 1965. The title means "my beloved" in Italian....
". Authorship was accredited to 'Tulio Trapani and Lee Lange'; Lee Lange was the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
for David Whitfield
David Whitfield
David Whitfield was a popular British male tenor vocalist. This operatic-style tenor had a formidable and predominantly female fan base in the 1950s.-Life and career:...
's producer, Lewis, and Tulio Trapani was the nom de plume of the song's other co-writer and arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
, Mantovani
Mantovani
Annunzio Paolo Mantovani known as Mantovani, was an Anglo-Italian conductor and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book British Hit Singles & Albums states that he was "Britain's most successful album act before The Beatles .....
.
Biography
Born Bridges George McGibbon Lewis, in KensingtonKensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, he served in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in the Black Watch
Black Watch
The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The unit's traditional colours were retired in 2011 in a ceremony led by Queen Elizabeth II....
and was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
.
After being demobbed in January 1946, Lewis worked at Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. His major work was connected to three late 1950s and early 1960s productions; Expresso Bongo
Expresso Bongo
Expresso Bongo, a 1958 West End musical and a 1959 film, was a satire of the music industry. It was first produced on the stage at the Saville Theatre, London on 23 April 1958. Its book was written by Wolf Mankowitz and Julian More, with music by David Heneker and Monty Norman, also the...
(1959), The Frightened City
The Frightened City
The Frightened City is a 1961 British film about extortion rackets and gang warfare in the West End of London. It stars Sean Connery, who plays a burglar called Paddy Damion. He is lured into a protection racket by oily mobster Harry Foulcher , in order to support his partner in crime , who is...
(1961), and also It's Trad, Dad!
It's Trad, Dad!
It's Trad, Dad! , known in the U.S. as Ring-A-Ding Rhythm, is a musical comedy. The film was one of the first films put out by predominantly horror company Amicus Productions, and one of director Richard Lester's first films.-Plot:...
(1961), which co-starred Douglas.
Other film credits included work on A Change of Heart (1962), The Painted Smile (1962) and One Too Many
One Too Many
One Too Many, also known as Killer With a Label, Mixed-Up Women, and The Important Story of Alcoholism, was an exploitation film produced by Kroger Babb in 1950...
(1950).
Lewis managed Doug Sheldon
Doug Sheldon
Doug Sheldon was an English pop singer, actor, and novelist.Sheldon was born into a family of carnival businesspeople, and he worked as a barker while receiving training in acting. After completing military service, he landed a role in the 1961 film The Guns of Navarone and worked in small theatre...
, Christine Quaite and Douglas, giving the singer previously known as Terry Perkins, the name under which he would become famous. Sheldon was discovered by Lewis while acting
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
on stage, and was offered a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with Decca.
As a composer, Lewis contributed the song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
, "A Voice in the Wilderness", to the Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
film, Expresso Bongo. Lewis also wrote a handful of songs that figured in the repertoire of early 1960s UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
star
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
Helen Shapiro
Helen Shapiro
Helen Kate Shapiro is an English singer and actress. She is best known for her 1960s UK chart toppers, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness".-Early life:...
; specifically "Kiss 'n' Run", "Let's Talk About Love", "Little Miss Lonely", and "Marvellous Lie". Craig Douglas' cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Oh Lonesome Me
Oh Lonesome Me
"Oh Lonesome Me" is a popular song written and recorded by Don Gibson with Chet Atkins producing for RCA Victor in Nashville in 1958. The song topped the country chart for eight non consecutive weeks, in addition to reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100...
" (1962) was produced by Lewis. As well as Lee Lange, Bridges also wrote and produced his songs under the pseudonyms of Johnny May and Emile Reisdorff.
Lewis' record production tally extended to David Whitfield's "Cara Mia
Cara Mia
"Cara Mia" is a popular song published in 1954 and became a hit for English singer David Whitfield in 1954 and a #4 hit by the American pop group Jay and the Americans in 1965. The title means "my beloved" in Italian....
" and "Answer Me
Answer Me
"Answer Me" is a popular song, originally written by Gerhard Winkler and Fred Rauch. The English lyrics were written by Carl Sigman in 1952....
"; Eden Kane
Eden Kane
Eden Kane is an early 1960s British pop singer.-Life and career:Like Cliff Richard, Pete Best, and Engelbert Humperdinck, Eden Kane was born in India, but returned to Britain as a child...
's "Well I Ask You
Well I Ask You
"Well I Ask You" is a song by Eden Kane.Recorded in 1961 as the follow-up to his debut single, "Hot Chocolate Crazy" , "Well I Ask You" was also issued as a single in the UK and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in August 1961...
"; plus Craig Douglas' version of "Only Sixteen". All of these songs were number one
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. Lewis' UK chart-topping effort of four production credits exceeds those notables such as Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
, Mickie Most
Mickie Most
Mickie Most was an English record producer, with a string of hit singles with acts such as The Animals, Arrows, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group often issued on his own RAK Records label....
, Denny Cordell
Denny Cordell
Denny Cordell was an English record producer. He is notable for his late 1960s and early 1970s productions of hit singles for The Moody Blues, The Move, Procol Harum and Joe Cocker.-Career:...
, Phil Coulter
Phil Coulter
Phil Coulter is an artist with an international reputation as a successful songwriter, pianist, music producer, arranger and director. His success has spanned four decades and he is one of the biggest record sellers in Ireland...
and Albhy Galuten
Albhy Galuten
Albhy Galuten is a Grammy Award-winning American record producer, composer, musician, orchestrator and technology executive.He produced 18 number 1 singles with songs and albums selling over 100,000,000 copies...
, all of whom only managed three such Number Ones.
In 1999 Lewis was presented with a Gold Badge award by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters (BACAS).
Lewis died in Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
, London, in September 2001, at the age of 82.