John Lewis

Reginald 'John' Lewis was a Canadian-born British electronic music and experimental composer and musician who worked on multiple projects during the 1970s and 1980s.

Early life Lewis was born in the town of Davidson, Saskatchewan, Canada, on 26 July 1944. He was the youngest of two boys, with his brother David five years his senior, born to parents David Reginald Lewis and Minnie Anne Bigg. Lewis studied for a bachelor in Fine Art - Music at St. Stephens College at the University of Alberta in the mid-1960s. During this time, Lewis became the prize composition student of associate professor Violet Archer, a renowned Canadian composer. In December 1977, Hodgson, upon invitation returned to the Radiophonic Workshop and left the Electrophon studio in Lewis's hands. Frontman Robin Scott stated "John Lewis's contribution from my point of view was unique. Unwittingly he was a musical catalyst to a classic recording in 1979" Lewis' score for the first episode was included on the DVD release.

Sexuality Lewis made no secret of his sexuality, but he was not known to make it obvious that he was a gay man. He always lived in and around the Kensington and Chelsea borough of London and rented a flat on Elsham Road, near Earls Court before purchasing the flat above the one he rented. He was a keen swimmer and regularly worked out at the fitness centres. He was handsome, well-groomed and in good shape.

Lewis was noted for wearing a bunch of keys on his belt loop, often used as a code along with the handkerchief to signify homosexual preference, and John is seen wearing his keys on his left hand side in an appearance on Top of the Pops for Pop Muzik.

Death One day in the Electrophon studio, Lewis shared his concern with Hodgson about a rash that had appeared on his arms from his wrists to his elbows. It later became known that this was a sign of seroconversion of HIV. Close friends of Lewis started to see, as he himself had noticed, that he was increasingly unable to fight off or was taking longer to fight off common infections such as cold and flu.

Around mid-1984 Lewis was admitted to London's Middlesex Hospital with what was diagnosed as a form of pneumonia. Additional tests after admission revealed an HIV/AIDS diagnosis. Hodgson and friends visited Lewis in hospital and upon his discharge all agreed to relocate the studio from Covent Garden to a small cottage in Bristol. While Lewis and his friends hoped for a treatment or cure, they felt the fresh country air would do him good. Hodgson recalled that naturally, electronic equipment gathers dust by static so they cleaned the studio equipment before sending it off to the cottage in Midford, Bristol.

Within a matter of weeks, Lewis fell ill and was admitted to the isolation hospital, Ham Green near Bristol. His father having died in 1976, his mother Minnie made the journey from Edmonton, Canada to be by her son's side. Lewis spent Christmas 1984 in a room on the isolation ward, known as T-Ward with two other men who were also suffering from AIDS and AIDS-related complications. The rooms were separated by a wall with a window.

John Lewis died on 3 February 1985 at Ham Green Hospital, near Bristol. His cause of death was (1a) a Pulmonary Embolism, (1b) Cryptococcal meningitis (an AIDS-related meningitis), and (2) HTLV-3 virus infection (now known as HIV/AIDS).

He was cremated at Haycombe Crematorium, Bath on 12 February 1985 in an intimate service and his ashes were interred in the garden of remembrance.

UK AIDS Quilt For World AIDS Day 2025, a panel measuring 3ft by 6ft was created in memory of John Lewis alongside seven other panels commemorating individuals lost to HIV/AIDS; including Leigh Bowery, and when stitched together the eight panels form a 12ft by 12ft quilt, which was formally presented to the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt.

John’s quilt is set on a navy cotton background split symbolically: the left bears half of the Canadian maple leaf in red, the right completes the motif with the other half rendered as the Union Jack, both trimmed with ruby red diamantés, marking his birth in Canada and his death in the United Kingdom. Centrally placed near the top is a portrait of John, flanked by red epaulets trimmed with gold fringe; his preferred name, John Lewis, glitters in gold diamantés, with his full name beneath in gold vinyl and in a stylish script his profession of ‘Composer’ immediately below. At the lower centre a retro fabric television is appliquéd, displaying a headshot still of John with Robin Scott on Top of the Pops, while a scatter of vinyl covers of his works sitting either side, memorialising his professional identity, sadly cut short by AIDS.