Lewis Gerald Storey (born February 11, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He was nominated for Top New Male Vocalist of the Year by the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller (songwriter), Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris ...

, won several

Songwriters Guild of America The Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) is an American organization created to "advance, promote, and benefit" the profession of songwriters. It was founded in 1931 as the Songwriters Protective Association by Billy Rose, George W. Meyer and Edgar L ...

awards, and has collaborated with

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

acts like

Pam Tillis Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the eldest child of country singer Mel Tillis. After recording unsuccessful pop material for Elektra Records, Elektra ...

Rosanne Cash Rosanne Cash (born May 24, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of country musician Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Cash. Although Cash is often classified as a country artist, her music draws f ...

and

John Jorgenson John Richard Jorgenson (born July 6, 1956) is an American musician. Although best known for his guitar work with bands such as the Desert Rose Band and The Hellecasters, he is also proficient on the mandolin, mandocello, Dobro, pedal steel g ...

. His most recent album, ''Storey Road'', was released in August 2015.

Biography

Storey was born in Casa Grande, a farming community in southern

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, to parents Jerry Storey and Ida Mae Storey. After getting kicked out of high school, he earned his GED and studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

. Here he helped plan and performed in the first Mill Avenue street festivals. After graduating, he and his wife Jane Storey joined the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

and carried out their service in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. In the early 1980s while performing around the

American Southwest The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

with the Storey-Richards Band, a

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

-based repertoire agent spotted and contacted Storey. He was offered a record deal with CBS/Epic Records (later becoming

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

) and had a couple of charting singles, the highest being "Ain't No Tellin'" which peaked at No. 48 in 1986. In 1987, he was nominated for the Top New Male Vocalist Award by the

, along with

Tom Wopat Thomas Steven Wopat (born September 9, 1951) is an American actor and singer. He first achieved fame as Lucas K. "Luke" Duke on the long-running television action/comedy series ''The Dukes of Hazzard''. Since then, Wopat has worked regularly, ...

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album ''Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerable s ...

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, and Michael Johnson, but lost to Dwight. Later he was hired by PolyGram Records as a full-time staff songwriter and returned to Arizona. This led to collaborations with musicians like

on the

8 Seconds ''8 Seconds'' is a 1994 American contemporary Western biographical drama film directed by John G. Avildsen. Its title refers to the length of time a bull rider is required to stay on for a ride to be scored. The film stars Luke Perry as Americ ...

movie. Even though recognized as part of "the rising Nashville elite" in the 1980s, Storey's time in

and Latin America has given rise to a style often described as border music. He also spent several years teaching music-oriented courses at Casa Verde High School and

Central Arizona College Central Arizona College (CAC) is a public community college near Coolidge, Arizona. CAC serves the population of Pinal County. History and campus Central Arizona College was founded in 1969. With five campuses and three centers located thr ...

where he was distinguished as an award-winning instructor before retiring in 2012. He currently resides in

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ), known locally as Flag, is the county seat of Coconino County, Arizona, in the southwestern United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 76,831. Flagstaff is the principal city of the Coconino Cou ...

, where he creates most of his music.

Discography

Albums

* 1995: ''Crazy Heart'' * 2013: ''Roots and Wings'' * 2015: ''Storey Road''

Singles

Chart Singles written by Lewis Storey

The following is a list of Lewis Storey compositions that were chart hits.

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Storey, Lewis 1950 births Living people People from Casa Grande, Arizona