Blake Lewis

Blake Colin Lewis (born July 21, 1981) is an American musician and actor who was the runner-up on the sixth season of American Idol. His major label debut album A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) was released on December 4, 2007, through 19 Recordings and Arista Records. On October 30, 2007, his first single "Break Anotha" was released. The album landed on number ten on the U.S. Billboard 200 as its highest peak position with 97,500 copies sold in its debut, and has sold over 350,000 copies. After the release of his second single "How Many Words", which peaked at number eight on the U.S. Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs, Lewis was dropped by Arista Records. Lewis eventually signed with Tommy Boy Records.

His second album, Heartbreak on Vinyl, was released on October 6, 2009. The first single "Sad Song" was released on July 21, 2009. The album charted at number 135 on the U.S. Billboard Billboard 200, number twenty on the Billboard Independent Albums, and number seven on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums with over 4,000 copies sold in the first week.

His third album, Portrait of a Chameleon, was released on May 20, 2014. This was his first independent record and includes the single "Your Touch".

His fourth album, Wanderlust Unknown, was released in February 2020. Dinah is a former rocker who still sings and plays guitar. He is an only child and is of Welsh, Swiss, German and Irish descent. He attended Kenmore Junior High and later Inglemoor High School in Kenmore, Washington. In high school, Lewis participated in many high school state competitions . He also took part in numerous musicals, as well as comedy and rap videos with his friends. In many of these videos, he portrayed his alter ego, Jimmie Walker Blue, the character he introduced during the semi-final round of American Idol.

Lewis started beatboxing at seventeen. He picked up this talent purely by ear, listening to CDs of beatboxing, after he was inspired by Matthew Selby, a former member of the Los Angeles-based a cappella group M-Pact, of which fellow American Idol semi-finalist Rudy Cárdenas was a member. Aside from singing and beatboxing, Lewis plays the guitar, keyboard, drums and has written many songs such as "She Loves the Way", "Emotional Waterfalls", "Dumpty Humpty" and "Jealousy". He describes himself as an improv musician and often uses devices such as loop pedals and the Kaoss Pad to layer beatboxing, instruments, vocals and effects to create a song live on stage.

Being a member of the a cappella group Kickshaw for four years after graduating from high school in 1999, Lewis worked with the group on a 10-track album titled Put It in the Microphone, but he quit the group in 2002 to become a solo musician going by the stage name Bshorty, which was basically inspired by the nicknames of the members of 311 and "aggressive inline-skate videos during the 1990s", "doing drum and bass shows, and conscious hip hop shows, singer-songwriter stuff, and electronica and hip hop". He made connections with various musicians by performing regularly in many venues in Seattle such as Nectar Lounge in Fremont, SeaMonster Lounge, Lo-Fi Performance Gallery, Jet Deck in Everett (now in Mill Creek) and hosted shows like The Digital Lounge shows at ToST. Before Idol, he was working on a solo album with a number of tracks finished.

American Idol

Overview

Though he initially found American Idol unappealing, Lewis auditioned for it in Seattle with "Crazy" by Seal and an off-screen rendition of "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5. Introducing himself as the local beatboxing champion in the audition, Lewis beatboxed along with his teammates, including Chris Sligh, Rudy Cárdenas and Tom Lowe, to "How Deep Is Your Love" by Bee Gees in the Hollywood's Week. The memorable performance received a standing ovation from the audience and Paula Abdul, who commented "that brought down the house". In an early episode of the United Kingdom edition of American Idol, Lewis recalled his first solo performance in the Hollywood's Week was "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" by The Temptations. When later he sang it in front of the other finalists, Phil Stacey felt that it was the best performance he has seen from Lewis.

Lewis ended up the last male contestant standing, despite Simon's first impression that the singer was a bit "over the top" adding "I don't know if you're as good as you think you are". But soon afterward, the judges began predicting Lewis' "front runner" status. In an exclusive interview with X17Online on March 4, 2007, Simon Cowell foresaw Lewis' chance to take the crown. After Lewis' performance of "Lovesong" by The Cure/311 on March 27, Paula Abdul said that she would love to see him in the finale. Cowell further confirmed that Lewis was the front runner of male contestants on American Idol. Lewis, upon entering the top 2 on May 16, 2007, he thus became the first ever contestant from the Northwestern United States (specifically, Washington) to compete in the finale. I've tried to stay true to myself this whole entire time, and I think I've represented myself as creatively as I could with what I got on the show. — Blake Lewis, interview with MTV.com

Several original versions of songs Lewis performed re-entered Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart shortly after the show. Lewis' first performance on-stage, "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane, re-entered the chart at number 26 (number 19 on Hot Digital Tracks chart); "Time of the Season", a The Zombies' hit in 1968, reached number 67; Ryan Adams's "When the Stars Go Blue" hit number 39 (number 37 on Hot Digital Tracks chart); Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" shot up to number 29; "This Love" and "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5 jumped to number 41 and number 45 respectively. Maroon 5's album Songs About Jane had re-entered the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart at number five on June 2, 2007, as well.

On May 11, 2007, Lewis visited his hometown, Seattle, Washington for the traditional Idol Top 3 hometown visits. He made numerous appearances at radio stations and then played a concert in Seattle at Westlake Center, including a performance of "Baby Got Back" with Sir Mix-a-Lot. He also visited the top of the Space Needle. Fans followed him to Bothell for a parade and concert at the Sammamish River Park. Afterwards, he proceeded to Safeco Field to sing the national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", for the Seattle Mariners's Game.

Lewis claimed 311 as his all-time favorite band after his performance of "All Mixed Up". Responding to a viewer question on March 13, 2007, he had also confessed his love of "underground hip hop, electronic music" such as Common Market and Panda Conspiracy, with an addition of The Mob Law, which in Lewis' opinion, "should be signed to a major label".

While being the last two contestants waiting for the results on May 2, Lewis and Chris Richardson answered Ryan Seacrest's question about their close relationship, saying that they are best friends. Lewis has "Chris Sligh, Rudy Cárdenas", contestants from the sixth season of American Idol, listed as his own "American idols" on his profile on American Idol official website, while Sligh and Cárdenas also have Lewis on their lists. Furthermore, Lewis claimed in an interview with The Blaker Girls that besides Richardson, Cárdenas and Sligh, his best friends on the show were Brandon Rogers, Jordin Sparks and Gina Glocksen.

Jimmie Walker Blue, his alter ego was introduced in the middle of the Idol.

Performances and results Lewis was saved first from elimination. Due to the Idol Gives Back performance, the Top 6 remained intact for another week.

Post-Idol Lewis's songs from American Idol have been on sale at the iTunes Store and the American Idol official website as Blake Lewis - EP (called a "bundle" on Idol official website) shortly after the finale of Idol, along with other songs that did not make the EP's cut that are being sold as individual singles. Figures from SoundScan which were posted on USA Today indicated that Lewis' "You Give Love a Bad Name" was "the biggest-selling download of the season", with 192,000 copies sold.

After the finale of Idol, Blake Lewis has made several appearances on television shows. He performed Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet (combined with a snippet of U2's "With or Without You"), The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly and The Early Show. In the episode of The View on June 14, 2007, he sang "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane. On July 4, 2007, Lewis performed "God Bless America" and "America the Beautiful" on Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular with Sparks and Melinda Doolittle.

Lewis took part in the "American Idols LIVE! Tour 2007" from July 6 – September 23, 2007, along with other contestants in the top ten. He revealed on The View on June 14, 2007, that all the male contestants on the show would be playing musical instruments on the tour (for the first time ever), "doing like a folk band," and that he would bring along his loop pedals for his beatboxing.

Lewis was named number five in the list of the ten sexiest Idol contestants ever on the website during the running of the sixth season of American Idol and was ranked number 21 in the list of music's 21 sexiest single men on June 11, 2007, on AOL.com. Later in the issue of People magazine on June 15, 2007, the brand-new runner-up of Idol appeared on its list of "Hottest Bachelors of 2007". He has also made a cut on the list of 50 hottest guys on Elle Girl.

Career

2007–2008: A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream)

On March 6, 2008, he performed "How Many Words", from his album A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream), on the American Idol result show.

On the release of his second single, Blake Lewis spent much of his time promoting the single "How Many Words" at various radio stations. While Blake Lewis parted with his label, Arista Records, in June 2008, he will begin his national tour starting on the East Coast at the end of September with the help of 19 Recordings and will be playing songs from A.D.D. as well as new songs. Details about the tour can be found at Blake Lewis's Myspace page

Upon his record deal with Arista Records/19 Recordings which was announced officially on August 24, 2007, A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream), Lewis' "electro-funk-soul-pop" first studio album, was released on December 4, 2007. In fact, the singer has been recording his album in the studio "for all night long" since June 18. "Break Anotha", the first single from A.D.D., was released to radio on October 30, 2007, and on iTunes Store on November 13.

Blake's second single, "How Many Words" was released on March 10, 2008. A.D.D. has been made available at iTunes and includes his music video for his first single "Break Anotha". On June 25, 2008 Entertainment Weekly officially announced that Lewis was dropped by his label, Arista, but will remain on Idol creator Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings roster.

Lewis has said he's already written four songs for his second album, which he's working on with his band's drummer, KJ "Quantize" Sawka. The pair will be co-producing the effort, which Lewis describes as "Massive Attack meets Zero 7 – drum-and-bass with a little pop influence."

It was reported that Lewis has collaborated with his friends on the band, Project Lionheart at a track called "My Eyes" and "Hell Yeah". Aside from that, he also collaborated with Common Market's "Trouble Is", where he contributed backing vocals. Blake says who is currently producing his record with his drummer, KJ Sawka. Blake also recorded a track at 311 frontman Nick Hexum's house for the next album. Blake finished a charity song called "Selfless" with Darude for Dance4Life. In September, Blake was featured on a song for BT's album, which he says is a "throwback to Flock of Seagulls.". Blake has also been in Darude's song "I Ran" which hit the charts and is on local radio stations constantly.

2009–2012: Heartbreak on Vinyl

On April 30, 2009, Lewis performed at the 2009 Congressional Clubs' First Lady's Luncheon to Honor Michelle Obama. He performed three songs including a beatbox version of "America the Beautiful".

His second album, Heartbreak on Vinyl, was distributed under Tommy Boy Records – a dance/hip hop/electronic label whose catalog includes albums by Africa Bambaataa, Biz Markie and De La Soul. He signed a deal on Tommy Boy Entertainment to record an electronica album.

The first single from the album, "Sad Song", was released on July 21, 2009. The album was released on October 6, 2009.

2013–2015: Portrait of a Chameleon

On February 25, 2013, it was announced that Lewis has signed with Republic Records. He was going to release his third studio album Portrait of a Chameleon in spring 2013 and the first single "Your Touch" premiered on February 26, 2013, on a commercial for Internet Explorer 10. The song was released to iTunes on March 4, 2013.

On February 17, 2014, Blake Lewis officially announced that his new album would be released May 20, 2014, on his own record label, Audio Day Dream Records.

In 2018, Lewis released a remix album featuring unreleased tracks and new remixes of former releases. The album includes mixes from KJ Sawka and Alex Greggs.

Lewis released his fourth studio album, Wanderlust Unknown, on January 24, 2020, featuring lead singles "Pot of Gold" and "Trouble". The album featured collaborations with fellow American Idol alum Elliott Yamin and new recording artist Olivia Kuper Harris. Blake also served as co-writer and producer for Olivia Kuper Harris' Juicy, and for Olivia Ryan's "New Warriors."

Voice acting Lewis made his voice acting debut in the English dub of the anime series Durarara!!, in which he voiced Kasuka Heiwajima; however, he was replaced by Vic Mignogna in the show's second season. Lewis had also voiced a character named Thump on one episode of Generator Rex.

Philanthropy Lewis has been supporting cancer research at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle by donating 50% of the proceeds from the merchandise of The Blaker Girls. He chose to put his support behind this organization after a best friend of his as well as his friend's girlfriend were diagnosed with lymphoma. In 2010 Lewis competed on Don't Forget the Lyrics to raise money for the Seattle Children's Hospital, a charity that he has worked with for over ten years.

Discography

Albums Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales US USIndie USDance A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) Released: December 4, 2007 Label: Arista Format: CD, digital download 10 — — US: 309,000 Heartbreak on Vinyl Released: October 6, 2009 Label: Tommy Boy Format: CD, digital download 135 20 7 US: 10,000 Portrait of a Chameleon Released: May 20, 2014 Label: Audio Day Dream Format: CD, digital download — — — Wanderlust Unknown Released: January 24, 2020 Label: Audio Day Dream Format: CD, digital download — — — "—" denotes album that did not chart or was not released.

Extended plays Title EP details Peak chart positions Sales USComp. USDigital Blake Lewis1 Released: May 22, 2007 Label: 19 Entertainment, Fox Interactive Media 30 3 US: 46,000

Notes: 1 Since Blake Lewis was available exclusively through the iTunes Store, it was not eligible to chart on the Billboard 200.

Singles Year Title Peak chart positions Album US US Pop US Dance GER UK 2007 "You Give Love a Bad Name" 18 15 — — — Blake Lewis 2008 "Break Anotha" — 85 — — — A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) "How Many Words" — — 8 — — 2009 "Sad Song" — — 11 — — Heartbreak on Vinyl 2010 "Heartbreak on Vinyl" — — 1 — — "Till We See the Sun" — — — — — 2013 "Your Touch" — — — 32 38 Portrait of a Chameleon 2014 "Retro Romance" — — — — —2019 "Pot of Gold" — — — — —Wanderlust Unknown "Trouble" — — — — — "—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

As featured artist Year Title Album 2012 "Stay in the Moment" (Daniel Wanrooy featuring Blake Lewis) Non-album single

Postmodern Jukebox Year Title Album2015 "Radioactive" Swipe Right for Vintage "Thong Song" Top Hat on Fleek 2017 "Mr. Brightside" 33 Resolutions Per Minute 2024 "Superman"

Notes: 1 While Jordin Sparks, the winner of the sixth season of American Idol, had "This Is My Now" as her official single, Lewis did not announce his choice of single officially, despite the fact that "You Give Love a Bad Name" was the highest-charting track among his "bundle" of songs available for downloading. "You Give Love a Bad Name" entered a number of charts. ² Unlike the debut songs of previous winners and runners-up of American Idol, all five songs that appeared on Blake Lewis (EP) were released digitally only, not physically. "Emotional Waterfalls" "Give It to Me" (duet with Laura Blue) "My MySpace" (featuring The Sampler)

Guest vocals 2003: Unexpected Arrival, "Julie" (featuring Blake Lewis); "Take Control" (featuring Blake Lewis) Both chorus's written by Blake 2007: Caleb Cunningham and K-Tone, "My Eyes" (featuring Blake Lewis) 2007: KJ Sawka, "Brotherhood of the Drum" (featuring Blake Lewis); "Move On" (featuring Blake Lewis); "WTO" (featuring Blake Lewis) (from the album Cyclonic Steel) 2008: Darude, "Selfless" (featuring Blake Lewis); "I Ran (So Far Away) (featuring Blake Lewis) 2009: DJ Dan, "Operator" (featuring Blake Lewis)

Cameos 2006: The Sampler, "The Chuck Norris Rap, The Harry Potter Rap, Snakes on a Plane Rap" (music video) 2007: Jordin Sparks, "Tattoo" (music video) 2018: Blair St. Clair, "Irresistible" (music video)