One of very few solo singles by Keni Lewis (Kenneth St. Lewis) has been reissued on vinyl 7" by Epsilon. The
pretty obscure "B'ae Brother" (only 3 listed on Popsike and never sold on Discogs) was recorded in Washington D.C, in 1969 as his debut solo single which had vocal and instrumental sides.
As far as I can tell he only released another two solo singles in the
early 70s (both Northern/Modern Soul in-demanders ("Drug Traffic" / "Whats Her Name" 1970 and "What's Your Sign" / "Ain't Gonna Make It Easy" 1973) and another in 1977, "Record City", as Keni St. Lewis.
He was a member of several 60s groups The Dreams (D.C. Sound), The
Cairos, The Enjoyables (both on Shrine) and The Chancellors (Cap City) all
of which had limited success except on Northern Soul
dancefloors.
However, he is best known for his songwriting skills and has 400+ credits
on Discogs, with the most recognisable when teamed with Freddie Perren on
several hits for Tavares e.g. "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel", "Don't Take Away The Music" in the mid 70s. He also penned several songs for artists on Eddie
Singleton's, now legendary, Shrine label in the mid 60s such as
D.C.Blossoms, The Cairos, Shirley Edwards, The Counts and The Cavaliers as
well as established artists like Billy Butler, Gene Chandler, The O'Jays,
The Sylvers, The Coasters and more.
Available now from Epsilon.
Incidentally a superb Northern Soul dancer from him (?), "Not The Marrying Kind", was unearthed on an
unreleased acetate which was bootlegged
in 2016 and also appeared on white test press copies around 2007. Pete
Smith pressed up 150 copies with Mark Lloyd "When I'm Gonna Find Her"
(UK Parlophone 1966) on the flip. He sold approx. 30 and then passed
them on to John Manship to sell (SoulSource). The acetate is believed to have been found/owned by Allan
Kitchener and Rob Thomas and Andy Rix played it out.
To throw in a little curved ball. The song was released by
Federal Green in 2018 as Leroy Taylor (who released a single on
Shrine (another unreleased turned up later) and "Oh Linda" on
Brunswick in 1967). They sound the same to my ears and I heard Richard
Searling say that he believed that it may have been a song written by
Keni Lewis for another artist. So is the singer on the acetate Keni
Lewis or actually Leroy Taylor, I would guess Leroy Taylor is the singer and perhaps
the acetate had the writer's name on it which is why it was originally thought to
be Keni Lewis?
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Northern Soul / Reissue |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | 7" |
| Label: | Epsilon |
| Cat No: | EPS012 |
| Date: | 12/03/2022 |
| Value: | £17.50 (Incl UK P&P) |
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