Jean Ethel "Jeannie" Lewis (born 8 January 1945) is an Australian musician and stage performer whose work covers many different styles such as folk, jazz, Latin, blues, opera, rock and fusion.
[12] In February 1970 Lewis sang with progressive rockers, Tully, in a performance, Love 200, which used two vocalists, a light show by Roger Foley-Fogg a.k.a.
[2][11] Created by Peter Sculthorpe,[11] it was written to commemorate the bicentenary of Captain Cook's journey to plot the transit of Venus in 1770, which led to his "discovery" of Australia's east coast by the British explorer.
[1] In March 1972 Love 200 was staged in Adelaide, where Lewis performed with Fraternity, fronted by Bon Scott, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
[14] In 1972 Lewis performed songs, including the title track, for an Australian B-grade rock musical, science fiction-fantasy, film Shirley Thompson vs. the Aliens,[1][11][15] directed by Jim Sharman.
[11][17] According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, "[it] included a breathtaking array of material like Graham Lowndes' 'Till Time Brings Change', Gulliver Smith and Jeremy Noone's 'It's Up to You' and Billy Green's adaptation of the Dylan Thomas poem 'Do not Go Gentle'.
[19] With John Bell and Jon English, she worked in a rock musical, The Bacchoi, written by Bryan Nason and Ralph Tyrrell based on the story of Euripides.
McFarlane described how it features, "[her] renditions of songs by Ray Davies ('Celluloid Heroes'), Dory Previn ('Scared to Be Alone'), Stephen Sondheim ('Ladies Who Lunch'), Graham Lowndes ('The House Is Burning') and the Rev.
[18] The project was partly inspired by Pablo Neruda's poem, "Tears of Steel", and the Mexican celebration, Day of the Dead, which includes the use of calaveras – mock skeletons paraded through the streets.
[1][18] Alongside Lewis in the show were Carlos, Reid, Dave Ellis, Roger Frampton, Phillip Godden, Mike McGurk and John Sangster.
[18] In 1975 Lewis was awarded a study grant of A$8000 from the Australia Council for the Arts to travel overseas from February 1976;[18] she spent almost three years in Central and South America and returned late in 1978.
[1][5] She later explained to Clive Simmons of The Canberra Times, how she was, "shocked and appalled by the grinding poverty she saw there, and by the cruelty and barbarity of the military dictatorships which governed those nations.
[1][2] Lewis devised a cabaret show, Krazy for You, using material by Noël Coward, Nick Lowe, and Bruce Springsteen,[1] which she performed during 1979–80.
[1][22][23] In November 1981 Lewis took the role of Low Dive Jenny, a world weary hooker, in the State Theatre Company of South Australia's production of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera.
[24] The Canberra Times' theatre critic, Ken Healey observed, "the best way to describe, and praise, the singing is to recall that [Lewis] was the best but not the only singer on stage.
Ethel had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and Lewis "would sing the golden oldies to her — what I call the left-wing hit parade — in the hope that they would bring her something.
The Green Left Weekly's Angela Matheson described the next project, People Like Us, at the Seymour Centre in March 1991: "A female quintet which includes Margret RoadKnight and Jeannie Lewis provides an aural chorus drawing upon a history of music ranging from Hildegard Von Bingen to Cambodian folk songs".
[29] Also in 1993 she received an Australia Council for the Arts Grant to study Extended Voice Techniques at Roy Hart International Theatre Centre in France and the tango in its sung form in Buenos Aires.
[30][31] Also in 1995 the singer performed in, Viva Diva, a series of concerts featuring original work and music from Greece, Tibet, Beijing, South Africa, Argentina, the Netherlands, Corsica and France.
[32] Lewis performed with Annie Deller-Peterson, Leah Cotterell, Bronwyn Calcutt, Katrina Alberts and Alison St Ledger, in Women in Voice 7 in Brisbane in July 1997.
[33] Lynda Hansen of Green Left Weekly described her as, "a long-time international performer and writer, delighted the crowd with excerpts from her new show The Baglady Hits Out.