TONY LEWIS- 50 YEARS OF MUSIC

1975 – I had left the California suburbs in March, and my guitar and I had been hitchhiking around Europe since.  Adventures too many and too varied to put down here, but I’ll mention a couple.  

Standing in a parking lot in central Bologna, slowly coming to the panicked realization that the kind gentleman who had picked me up hours earlier in Firenze at the entrance to the freeway had just driven off with everything I owned, including my constant traveling companion (my Ovation guitar), and leaving me with literally nothing but the clothes on my back.  

As often happens, fate twists, and that episode forced me into my first job playing music (with a borrowed guitar) in a hotel bar in Zermatt, Switzerland.  It was the beginning of a life-long calling that allowed me to travel the world, make records, and generally have a hell of a good time.

I count 15 November, 1975 as the real beginning of my musical career.  It was then that I performed for the first time in a concert setting and felt that thrill of people actually coming out, buying a ticket, and paying full attention while I poured my 19-year-old heart out in Cat Stevens and James Taylor covers.

The venue was the Kornhaus Theater in Baden, Switzerland, and although I was just the first act on a bill with a well-known Australian folk singer, I was hooked.

So, fifty years on, after thousands of gigs in over 30 countries, 6 albums, and all the gains and losses that make up life, I’m still here.  I’m not expecting a gold watch- I would be more than satisfied with a golden sunset over the western Alps from my perch above Lake Geneva.