RIP Tony Lewis

Submitted by Kevin13 on October 20th, 2020 at 7:15 PM

Lead singer for the Outfield died at the age of 62. Loved their debut album Play Deep. 

GoBlueBill

October 21st, 2020 at 5:20 PM ^

I didnt think this necessitated its own thread, and If i had posted this at the bottom of this thread , no one would have seen it .

 The Amazing Randi has just passed away .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi

 He was a great performer, Magician , Skeptic , author .

He worked with Penn & Teller for a long time 

He also offered 1 Million dollars to anyone who could prove or  demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Million_Dollar_Paranormal_Challenge

Toasted Yosties

October 20th, 2020 at 7:21 PM ^

Hearing someone passed away is always sad, but it hits me hard nowadays that so many of my personal heroes, favorite artists, and others I admire and looked up to are passing. RIP.  

Toasted Yosties

October 20th, 2020 at 8:04 PM ^

I’m not a huge Outfield fan, but their hit song “Your Love” is a classic, and one I still hear covered and played all the time. Think of a one-hit wonder song you love, and hearing that singer died. Adam Schlesinger of Fountain of Wayne dying earlier this year hit me the same way. The Outfield had a couple other bigger songs, but people will remember them most for Your Love. They don’t have to all be Bowie or Prince to be mournful, not that you should be feeling the same way I do. I just hate hearing someone passed whose work provided me great memories even if it was mostly through just that one song.

Sparty Doesn't Know

October 20th, 2020 at 9:50 PM ^

Yeah, the Schlesinger passing hit me.  Stacy's mom, God knows why, is one of my favorite songs to this day.  And yes, Your Love is a great song.  A lot of those 70's and 80's songs are great but I have no clue who sings them.

I get your memories point 100%.  It's magical how you feel when you hear certain songs unexpectedly.

The Deer Hunter

October 20th, 2020 at 8:04 PM ^

There are:

As usual, there are usually narrow exceptions made for major breaking news of regional or national importance and a few other things and that’s what we mean here. Those are just a few examples of “allowable OT”. I realize some people would prefer a hard stop, but this is a community and we’ll consider things that might be of note to the community, even during the “non-OT” months. Such threads should be an EXCEPTION, and the onus is on the blogger to justify it.

multiple subjective words/phrases here, none of which covers the importance of one RIP post over another. 

darkstar

October 21st, 2020 at 8:55 AM ^

1985-1986.  Arguably more than one.  Your Love for sure.  But Say It Isn't So also had its moment. (And two other songs I don't remember as much - All the Love and Everytime You Cry - I'm sure if I heard them they would be familiar.)

Edit:  And the other songs I forgot mentioned below like Since You've Been Gone.

1989 UM GRAD

October 20th, 2020 at 8:25 PM ^

Saw them in 1985 at Harpo's in Detroit.

Was obsessed with them my freshman year at Michigan.  Played the album over and over in my dorm room.  Not sure why they resonated so much with me...but alas it was the '80's.

Mike Damone

October 20th, 2020 at 9:03 PM ^

From front to back - "Play Deep" is an absolutely terrific 80's album.  They just couldn't follow up with anything memorable past that, outside of a song or two (eg - "Voices of Babylon").

But Tony Lewis and The Outfield created something wonderful and memorable with "Play Deep", and many artists play music their whole lives without such a memorable album.

RIP Tony...

Swayze Howell Sheen

October 20th, 2020 at 9:20 PM ^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N1iwQxiHrs

A great song! Something about those opening notes and words and the slow build. 

Watching this ancient video really fills me with a sense of nostalgia and of time going by all too quickly. Look at those young people singing this song! They are not thinking of death and the end of their time on earth. 

Dust in the wind, I suppose.

BornInA2

October 20th, 2020 at 9:35 PM ^

I met him after his show in Seattle last August. It was NOT the regular meet and greet thing where the artist is looking at the line and his phone and not at the person in front of him. He looked me in the eye, heard what I said (which was that I was very grateful to hear him live after waiting 30+ years), asked me questions, signed a CD, and told me what I'd said to him choked him up.

He was warm, kind, and appreciative, aside from still having a rocking set of pipes and putting on a great show.

A couple months ago he did a live stream on Facebook. His daughter was in the chat and kept trying to tell him he was looking at the wrong camera....just like most people that age would be and just like most of their daughters would be doing. He posted an apology the next day for not looking at the right camera. Humble. Engaged with and appreciative of his fans, and a regular guy.

The world needs more people like him, not less. I am very, very sad today. 62 is too young, especially for a guy like Tony Lewis.

uferfan

October 20th, 2020 at 10:03 PM ^

I've loved Since You've Been Gone since I was a kid. Great song. Time to go and give it another listen.

RIP Tony.


Also- interesting fact. Of the Billboard Top 100 songs of 1986, the singer or lead singer on 20 of those songs is now deceased. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago.....

uminks

October 20th, 2020 at 11:26 PM ^

OK, now I know who he was. Yeah, I liked some of their songs from the 80s but this one jogged my memory.  Wow, now people in my favorite decade are passing away! '81 HS grad, '85 UM grad, '89 grad school grad. 80s were busy working and going to school. Only think I wished was that I had more money to enjoy the 80s.

 

rob f

October 21st, 2020 at 12:28 AM ^

RIP Tony Lewis. What a wonderful voice he had, very memorable.  I remember my ex buying me that "Play Deep"  cassette tape way back when...all I know is I either lost track of it many years ago or maybe the cassette player ate it.

Until now when I finally looked  up the complete lyrics, I really didn't even know all the words to "Your Love". I just remember how much I liked the tune back when it came out. 

It kind of surprises me, looking back, that he and his band "The Outfield" weren't really around very long. 

GoBlueBill

October 21st, 2020 at 10:38 AM ^

My first thought when I saw this was, who is Tony Lewis ?

 Only one I could think of was the guy from The Outfield .

Im pretty surprised it was him . Loved the  Play Deep album and they had many other good songs that came out after that . 

Voices of Babylon is stuck in my head now 

I also remember he was being mentioned as a replacement in The Police for Sting, since he was a lead singing ,  bass player . Couldnt find any links to it ,to verify ,  but he replied when asked . Paraphrasing - Why would I want to  do that , I am already in a band . The Outfield

RIP