Donna Lewis (born August 1959) is a Welsh singer. She is best known for the 1996

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

hit single "

I Love You Always Forever "I Love You Always Forever" is the debut single by Welsh singer Donna Lewis from her debut album, '' Now in a Minute'' (1996). Written by Lewis and produced by Lewis and Kevin Killen, it was released as the album's lead single in the United Stat ...

", which peaked at number five on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and also peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States. In the latter country, the song peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for nine weeks, having been held off the summit by the Bayside Boys Remix of "

Macarena "Macarena" is a dance song by Spanish pop duo Los del Río, about a woman of the same name. The song uses a type of clave rhythm. Originally appearing on the 1993 album '' A mí me gusta'', a subsequent remix by Miami-based producers The Bays ...

" by

Los Del Rio LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

. It also became the highest-charting single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 by a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

artist since

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' a ...

topped the chart with "

Total Eclipse of the Heart "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a song recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler. It was written and produced by Jim Steinman, and released on Tyler's fifth studio album, ''Faster Than the Speed of Night'' (1983). The song was released as a single b ...

" in 1983. Additionally, the single is tied third among songs with the longest runs at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and at second for most weeks at number one on the ''Billboard''

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the U ...

chart. Lewis teamed up with

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's self-titled debut album went triple-platinum in 1987, and his first single, " D ...

on the 1997

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

hit " At the Beginning" for the ''

Anastasia Anastasia (from el, Ἀναστασία, translit=Anastasía) is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning " resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where it was the mo ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

. In 1997, Lewis was nominated for the

Brit Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

for Best British Female Artist.Donna Lewis BRITS Profile
. BRIT Awards Ltd. Retrieved 26 January 2013 After releasing her second album '' Blue Planet'', Lewis left

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most im ...

and independently released albums '' Be Still'' and '' In the Pink''. Her album ''Brand New Day'' was produced by

David Torn David M. Torn (born May 26, 1953) is an American guitarist, composer, and producer. He is known for combining electronic and acoustic instruments and for his use of looping. Background Torn has contributed to recordings by artists as diverse ...

and featured Ethan Iverson,

Reid Anderson Reid Anderson (born 15 October 1970) is a bassist and composer from Minnesota. He is a member of The Bad Plus with drummer Dave King, saxophonist Chris Speed, and guitarist Ben Monder. The original lineup of The Bad Plus first played together ...

and Dave King.

Biography

There are conflicting accounts regarding Lewis's birth date. According to her biography on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' and

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

websites, written by employees of

Rovi TiVo Corporation, formerly known as the Rovi Corporation and Macrovision Solutions Corporation, was an American technology company. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company is primarily involved in licensing its intellectual property ...

, and her BBC page, she was born on 6 August 1973. The following information is consistent with all sources: Lewis was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

. She began playing the piano at the age of six. Her father, an amateur jazz pianist and guitarist lent encouragement, and at 14, she began composing original songs. Her formal training was at the

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama , image_name = Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.jpg , image_size = , motto = , established = 1949 , type = Public , staff = , vice_chancellor = , students = 779 (2017/18) , undergrad ...

in Cardiff, where she majored in classical composition for piano and flute. Lewis then went on to teach music for a year in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

before moving to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

to sing in a bar band. During that time she set up a home studio and began recording demos. She became a popular live attraction and circa 1993 began sending her demos to record labels.

signed her in 1994. An article in ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

'' from November 1996 presents a different timeline of these events. It states that Lewis's graduation from the Royal Welsh College took place in 1979 and that she played in piano bars throughout Britain and Europe for a period of five years, so like many people in the public eye, there may have been attempts to make her age appear younger than she really is. In November 1996, she had been married for ten years to her road manager and "

ave ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...

her age as in her 30s". This information, if correct, would imply that she was born between 1957 and 1966. This is roughly consistent with a statement Lewis made in an interview in 2015: "When I was in the pop world .. I wasn't a 19 year old—I was 30 or something like that." The context suggests that this refers to the time when she got her Atlantic record deal. The biography on Lewis's own website does not date events prior to 1996. An article in ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' from September 1996 states that Lewis "won't reveal her age—she and her husband/manager, Martin Harris, have been married for nine years, so 'you know I'm not 21'". According to Companies House records for 'Donna Lewis Limited', of which both Donna Lewis ('Singer Songwriter') and her husband Martin Harris ('Business Manager') were directors, she was born in August 1959. In 1996, Atlantic Records released Lewis's first single, "

", a love song which was a hit on VH1. It was also successful on U.S. radio, staying at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for nine consecutive weeks, and spending 13 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the airplay chart. It exceeded one million "

spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally ...

s" on radio, to claim its place in music industry history as the most-played single up to that point. The single reached No. 5 on the

in 1996, and spent 14 weeks in the chart. It helped her debut album, '' Now in a Minute'', to No. 31 in the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart, and No. 52 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. It was certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

in the U.S. Lewis recorded " At the Beginning" with

for the 1997 film ''

''. Her second LP, '' Blue Planet'' (1998), won critical acclaim, but it was largely overlooked by the public. Although it produced a minor hit in continental Europe and Asia, "

I Could Be the One "I Could Be the One" is a song by Swedish DJ Avicii and Dutch DJ Nicky Romero, which features uncredited vocals from Swedish singer Noonie Bao. The song was released as a digital download in Sweden and the Netherlands on December 26, 2012. It p ...

", and a U.S. No. 1 dance single, "Love Him", Lewis parted ways with

and independently produced her third LP, '' Be Still'' (2002), which featured her on an almost entirely acoustic set. During the early 2000s, Lewis was featured as a guest vocalist on several

trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes. Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minut ...

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

recordings. Her fourth LP, '' In the Pink'', was released in 2008; its first single was "Shout," which was included in the soundtrack to the Marian Quinn film ''

32A ''32A'' is a 2007 drama film directed and written by Marian Quinn. It was shot principally in Dublin, with additional footage in Roscommon and Sligo. The script won the inaugural Tiernan McBride Award for screenwriting, as well as Best First Featu ...

''. Lewis also sang lead vocals for her side project, Chute, which released their debut EP in April 2010. In March 2015, she released '' Brand New Day'', her first full-length LP in nearly a decade.

Personal life

Lewis is married to Martin Harris, who is also her business manager. She resides in

Boiceville, New York Boiceville is a hamlet in the town of Olive, Ulster County, New York, United States. Located at the intersection of New York State Route 28 and New York State Route 28A, Boiceville is within Catskill State Park. Boiceville was named for Lemuel Bo ...

and has one son, Archie.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Featured singles

Collaborations

* ''

The Seduction of Claude Debussy ''The Seduction of Claude Debussy'' is the fifth and final studio album by Art of Noise, released in June 1999 in the United Kingdom and the United States, and December 1999 in Japan. It features a line-up of Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley, Paul Mor ...

'' –

Art of Noise Art of Noise (also The Art of Noise) were an English avant-garde synth-pop group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and mus ...

uest vocalist(2000) * ''Take Me Over'' – Dino Lenny uest vocalist(2001) * ''When the Rain Comes Down'' – uest vocalist(2001) * ''Dancing Angel'' –

Ryan Farish Ryan Farish is an American artist, composer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentist. Hailing from Norfolk, Virginia, and based in Los Angeles, California, Ryan is known for his downtempo electronica, chillout, and uplifting dance music. ...

uest vocalist(2010) * ''Chute'' (EP) – ead singer(2010) * "Running Up That Hill" – David Baron ocals(2019) * "Distance" - Michael Whalen ocals(2022)

Awards and nominations

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Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

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" , Airplay Hit of the Year , , - , rowspan=2,

ASCAP Pop Music Awards The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

, rowspan=2, Most Performed Song , , , - , 1999 , ,

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Donna Living people Alumni of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Atlantic Records artists British women record producers Palmetto Records artists Singers from Cardiff Welsh pop pianists Welsh pop singers Welsh record producers Welsh singer-songwriters Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century pianists 21st-century Welsh women singers 20th-century Welsh women singers 20th-century women pianists 21st-century women pianists Whirlwind Recordings artists