For every winner, there are usually quite a few losers. We all know the winners, but the losers are generally forgotten, at best a footnote in the history books. So, it is good to realise that sometimes it is just a question of luck whether we win or lose.
Overton Amos Lemons was unlucky!
Lemons was born in DeQuincy, Louisiana, on 5th July, 1913. His mother died while he was still a child. In his teens, he decided to adopt the adventurous approach and seek a lucky break in the big city. He had obviously watched a few B-movies and listened to some old Blues numbers, because his chosen escape route was the old traditional one of jumping on a passing train. So it was that Lemons found himself in New Orleans, hoping to earn his fortune with his guitar.
He began playing clubs in the French Quarter, often introducing himself as Smiling Lewis, the surname of the family he was boarding with. For a while in the mid-1930s he was a member of Thomas Jefferson’s Dixieland band, but the band broke up and Lemons went back to playing local bars.
During World War II, he joined Kid Ernest Molière’s band, the house band at the Boogie Woogie Club. Then, after the war, he formed a trio with the drummer Herman Seals and pianist Isidore “Tuts” Washington and began playing clubs in the French Quarter and along Bourbon Street.
The trio was invited by David Braun to record a session for his DeLuxe Records in 1947, which produced Lewis’s debut record, “Here Comes Smiley” but there was no break-through. Smiling Lewis had become Smiley Lewis, but the name change didn’t change his luck.
Then, at last, there was a real chance of success. The trio received an invitation from Dave Bartholomew, who was a New Orleans-based producer with Imperial Records, to attend a recording session in March 1950, at which they recorded the song “Tee Nah Nah”. Lewis was duly signed to Imperial and had his first national hit with “The Bells Are Ringing” in 1952.
Two years later he recorded Bartholomew’s song “Blue Monday” and in 1955 he achieved his biggest sales yet with “I Hear You Knocking” (written by Bartholomew and Pearl King, who was Bartholomew’s wife), with Huey Smith playing the piano. With luck, his career would have taken off at this point. Bartholomew’s songs, with their slow, rocking boogie beat, suited Lewis well and there was definitely a market for them. Altogether, Lewis released eight songs with Imperial over seven years, including “One Night Of Sin”, which reached number eleven on the R&B Singles Chart.
Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Smiley Lewis. Fats Domino had joined Imperial in 1950 and had also been working with Dave Bartholomew, releasing singles steadily over five years, until in 1955, he released three singles in a row that topped the R&B charts. The following year saw the release of “Blueberry Hill” and, just to rub salt into the wound, a version of Smiley’s single “Blue Monday”. Of course, both topped the R&B charts. In 1961 Fats Domino also released his version of “I Hear You Knocking”. There is little to choose between the Fats Domino versions of these songs and Smiley Lewis’ originals, but Domino had the luck.
Lewis tried to avoid the competition by recording songs that were more pop and country than R&B, but sales were poor, and he was released by Imperial. In the early 1960s he was still in New Orleans, still performing, providing a support act for up-and-coming artists such as Lee Dorsey, Irma Thomas, and Ernie K-Doe.
In 1966, on 7th October, Lewis died after surgery.
Fats Domino wasn’t the only singer to benefit from Smiley’s legacy. Elvis Presley did a cover of “One Night” (he took the sin out), which was number one on the UK chart and number four in America. Dave Edmunds covered “I Hear You Knocking” and his single also went to number one in the UK and number four in the USA.
Life isn’t always fair. Smiley Lewis helped to put New Orleans R&B music on the map and he deserved a lot more success than he found.
