Joey Lewis at the Margarita Blue

Saturday, 7 May 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka born singer and songwriter Joey Lewis, will be performing at the Margarita Blue of the Galadari Hotel from 7 May.

Joey who will be stopping over in Colombo on his return to the UK, after performing in Australia at a charity show organised by Sri Lankan promoter Bertie Ekanaike.

He will be performing with Sri Mirage. Two of the members of the band, Benjy and Donald were founder members with him and Tony Silva, of the pop/rock band “Amazing Grace” which is a group that has left a lasting footprint in the western music industry of the country.

Joey is an unwitting Neil Diamond sound-alike and is a big draw when he does his “Neil Diamond” shows.

It was his manager in the UK in the early 80’s who pushed him to acknowledge and exploit this talent and he soon became one of the highest paid performers in the club circuits there at that time, singing the music of the great man. It is said that, after hearing him sing at an industry party, Sheila Ferguson of the “Three Degrees” had said that he was nothing short of fabulous and that Neil Diamond had written a whole lot of good songs for Joey to sing. It was of course a very courteous gesture of kindness, Joey always hastens to add. The late Leslie Crowther, a legendary TV personality and the father-in-law of “Thin Lizzy’s” Phil Lynott said that it was an extraordinary experience to listen to Joey sing, as if you did not see him you would expect no one else but Neil Diamond to be up there on the stage.

What of course was really significant about all this, is that all this happened before sound-alike’s and lookalikes came to be a business, so it is possible that Joey was one of the pioneers of that side of the music business, which is now a huge industry in its own right.

His career crossed over from music to acting and he appeared in many successful TV shows in the UK, getting the chance to work with some of the greats.

Joey has been associated with some of the great names in the music and television business in the UK and is very proud of the success of his once keyboard player, who he nurtured in the UK. Eric Caudieux, who went from strength to strength, working with Trevor Horn from the ‘Buggles’ to Guns ‘n Roses is now with the legendary Joe Satriani.

Joey recently wrote a song for one of the great sons of the nation Murali, titled Murali 800 (King Of spin), The ringtone of the song has been released and is available in Sri Lanka through operator networks.

Visiting his mum, the famous Jazz Singer, Myfanwy Pompeus-De Silva, in Sri Lanka and being able to spend his birthday there, in May after nearly 15 years, Joey is really looking forward to performing at the Galadari Hotel and meeting up with all his friends.