Tony Lewis, Singer and Bassist of the Outfield Dead at 62
Today the rock world mourns the loss of Outfield singer and bass player Tony Lewis. He died yesterday in his London home at the age of 62. The cause of death has not been revealed.
Lewis’ death was announced by publicist Bari Lieberman who posted the following statement, “It is with deep sadness and sorrow to report that Tony Lewis singer of the ‘80s rock band the Outfield suddenly and unexpectedly passed away yesterday.
“Tony’s music touched people around the globe for decades. (His) legacy will live on forever through his beautiful family and his legendary music,” the statement went on to say.
Lewis was born Dec. 21, 1957 in a working class neighborhood in London. He co-founded the Outfield with drummer Alan Jackman and singer/guitarist John Spinks in 1984. A year later the band became wildly successful with their release of the album “Play Deep” which featured their biggest hit single “Your Love”. The album sold 3 million copies and reached the top 10 on the United States Billboard 200 charts.
“Your Love” was written by Lewis and Spinks. Spinks had the original concept for the song but Lewis helped him develop it in a songwriting session. Reportedly the song was completed in just 20 minutes.
Those 20 minutes would pay off in spades as “Your Love” went on to become one of the most recognizable anthems of the 80’s. It was sampled more than 1,000 times by artists including Katy Perry, Bruno Mars and B.o.B. It averages 2 million streams on Pandora weekly and 1 million views on YouTube and Spotify.
Although “Your Love” was the Outfield’s biggest hit, they released other songs since then that saw their share of success. Some notable ones included “Sing You’ve Been Gone”, (not to be confused with the Rainbow song of the same name), “Voices of Babylon” and “No Surrender”.
Ironically, the band enjoyed more commercial success in America then they did in their homeland of England. They gained a lot of popularity due to the release of “Your Love” but success began waning in the early 90’s and drummer Alan Jackman left the band.
They briefly disbanded following Jackman’s parting but reunited as a two piece in 1998 releasing two live albums and the studio album “Any Time Now”. In 2011 they rejoined forces with Alan Jackman and released their final album “Replay”. They remained active until John Spinks died of cancer in 2014 at the age of 60.
On March of 2018, Lewis went on to release a solo album called “Out of the Darkness” which came out on Madison Records.
In addition to enjoying a successful career, Lewis also led a rich family life. He is survived by his wife Carol, his two daughters and his three grandchildren.
