We recently connected with Vel Lewis and have shared our conversation below.

Vel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My parents kept me busy with music instruction and academic studies, which in turn, kept me out of my neighborhood. My mother told me to play an instrument. My father made me study math and other school work, and always told me that I would need these “tools” to fall back on in case a career in music is not successful. Because of the controls they placed on my life while growing up, I was able to realize a successful career in both music and in business as a corporate officer.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

“Award-winning Hammond ® organist/keyboardist and international recording artist Vel Lewis has performed on the same concert stages with Frankie Beverly and Maze, The O’Jays, Grover Washington Jr, The Spinners, The Whispers, The Stylistics, and The Supremes. He also toured with Dionne Warwick for three years before embarking on his own solo career.”

I got into the music industry because of my mother – a former tap dancer and acrobat who introduced me to the famous tap dancer Bill Bailey at the early age of 7. She told me I must learn how to play an instrument, which I did. I began singing and playing flute at age 10. I switched to organ a year later, and kept on until now. The first song I wrote “Tell Me Why” by Life released on Warner Bros. Reprise label in 1974. It became a huge dance hit in the U.K., and it has been remastered and released by Warner Bros. on three different compilation albums between 2004 – 2008. My current single “Forever More” is on a Smooth Top Ten chart in the U.K. right now. It landed on this chart within 30 days of its release date of September 6, 2021, and is still on this Smooth Top Ten chart as of last Sunday (03/20/2022). Another new single entitled, “PlayTyme” will release worldwide on April 15, 2022.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My debut CD/DVD needed quite a bit more marketing & promotion dollars that I didn’t have at the time. Therefore, the project didn’t sell as well as I anticipated. However, it was never in my agenda to quit and give up on my career in music even though many people suggested I do just that. Music has been a strong force in my life ever since I can remember. My mother pushed me to do the best I could all the time. A neighbor told me, “Your name will be in lights. I may not be here to see it, but I know you can (and will) do it!” I made a promise to God and myself to never let these words die. I continued praying for success daily, and I still continue to do the same. Perseverance, faith in God, believing in yourself and the gifts that God provided to each one of us is what we have to latch on to.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I believe the peer-to-peer concepts of companies such as Napster drastically changed how music is appreciated. I understand that the concept made it easier for people to listen to music, but our society must understand that a few things about the music business have not changed: 1) Many people don’t realize that it takes thousands of dollars to create a song that ends up on radio or streaming platforms. The costs for studio time rental, mixing tracks, mastering the tracks, and pressing CD’s is the same as it was in the 70’s – literally a few hundred dollars per hour. In my experience, producing a mastered single song costs on average $3,000 – $5,000, even if I do some of the work myself. Now, imagine how much it costs to make an album! 2) To pay $0.99 to download a song is ludicrous in my opinion. What makes it worse is that most people rarely download music. I’ve heard reasons like, “I don’t like putting my credit card on the Internet”. But, if a person wants to order something from Amazon (and nearly everybody buys from Amazon!), a card will be used. The pandemic more or less forced us to pay for things online with a debit/credit card. 3) Lots of people listen to music for free these days because many streaming platforms are available to everyone. Streaming royalties amount to less than a penny per stream. So, what can be done? Support artists by downloading copies of music, and buying tickets to live concerts. Streaming should be used to preview an album or a particular track, in my opinion. If everyone built their own digital library, similar to what we used to do when we went to record stores and bought 45’s, albums, CD’s, etc., and patronized live music venues more regularly, many independent artists could do much better in their career.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vellewis.com
• Other: https://www.thesundialagency.com/vel-lewis

Image Credits
Lena Ringstad Photography. Barry Henry