Ramsey Lewis was born in
Chicago, Illinois, to Ramsey Lewis, Sr. and Pauline Lewis. Lewis began taking piano lessons at the age of four. At 15 he joined his first jazz band, The Cleffs. The seven-piece group provided Lewis his first involvement with jazz; he would later join Cleffs drummer Isaac "Redd" Holt and bassist Eldee Young to form the Ramsey Lewis Trio.
The trio started as primarily a jazz unit and released their first album, Ramsey Lewis And The Gentlemen of Swing, in 1956. Following their 1965 hit "The In Crowd" (the single reached #5 on the pop charts, and the album #2) they concentrated more on pop material. Young and Holt left in 1966 to form the Young-Holt Trio and were replaced by
Cleveland Eaton and
Maurice White. White was replaced by Maurice Jennings in 1970. Later,
Frankie Donaldson and
Bill Dickens replaced Jennings and Eaton;
Felton Crews also appeared on many 1980's releases.
By 1966, Lewis was one of the nation’s most successful jazz pianists, topping the charts with "
The In Crowd", "
Hang On Sloopy", and "
Wade in the Water". All three singles each sold over one million copies, and were awarded
gold discs. Many of his recordings attracted a large non-jazz audience. In the 1970s, Lewis often played electric piano, although by later in the decade he was sticking to acoustic and using an additional keyboardist in his groups.
In addition to recording and performing, Lewis hosted a morning show on Chicago "smooth jazz" radio station
WNUA (95.5 FM) until May 22, 2009. His weekly syndicated radio program Legends of Jazz, created in 1990, features recordings from artists such as
David Sanborn,
George Duke,
Herbie Hancock,
Charlie Parker,
Dizzy Gillespie,
Kurt Elling,
Al Jarreau and
Miles Davis. The show can be heard in 60 U.S. cities and overseas. In 1994, Lewis appeared on the
Red Hot Organization's compilation album,
Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool, alongside other prominent jazz artists,
Herbie Hancock and
Roy Ayers. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by
Time Magazine.
On December 4, 2006, the Ramsey Lewis Morning Show became part of Broadcast Architecture's Smooth Jazz Network, simulcasting on other Smooth Jazz stations across the country for the first time. However, the show was still based in Chicago until it was cancelled when WNUA switched over to a Spanish format.
In 2006, a well-received 13-episode Legends of Jazz television series hosted by Lewis was broadcast on public TV nationwide and featured live performances by a variety of jazz artists including
Larry Gray,
Lonnie Smith,
Joey Defrancesco,
Dave Brubeck,
Chick Corea,
Kurt Elling,
Benny Golson,
Pat Metheny and
Tony Bennett.
Lewis is artistic director of Jazz at Ravinia (an annual feature at the
Ravinia Festival in
Highland Park, Illinois) and helped organize Ravinia's Jazz Mentor Program. Ramsey also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Merit School of Music, a Chicago inner-city music program and The
Chicago High School for the Arts, the new public arts high school in Chicago. Early in 2005, the Ramsey Lewis Foundation was created to help connect at-risk children to the world of music. As an offshoot of that foundation, Lewis plans to form a Youth Choir and Youth Orchestra. In January 2007, the
Dave Brubeck Institute invited Lewis to join its Honorary Board of Friends at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Lewis is an Honorary Board member of the
Chicago Jazz Orchestra. Lewis is a member of
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. In May 2008, Lewis received an honorary doctorate from Loyola University Chicago upon delivering the keynote address at the undergraduate commencement ceremony.
