Stanley Joseph Lewis (July 5, 1927 – July 15, 2018) was an American

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

owner, in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

Biography

Born in Shreveport, Lewis set up Stan's Music Shop there in 1948. The business eventually grew to six retail stores, a nationwide mail-order and distributor service, and multiple record labels. Lewis distributed

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

records from independent labels including

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

and Specialty, and advertised his

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...

business on radio stations KWKH (Shreveport, Louisiana), KAAY (Little Rock, Arkansas), and John R.'s powerful nightly show on WLAC-AM (

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 ...

, Tennessee). Lewis's early customers were the young

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

, and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

. In 1954, Lewis began to produce R&B and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

records; the first was Lowell Fulson's "Reconsider Baby," released on Checker Records. In 1957, Lewis shared co-authorship of the hit song " Susie Q", with Stan's Record Shop employee

Dale Hawkins Delmar Allen "Dale" Hawkins (August 22, 1936 – February 13, 2010) was a pioneer American rock singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist who was often called the architect of swamp rock boogie. Career Hawkins was born in Goldmine Plantat ...

; the song has been cited as a tribute to Lewis's daughter Susan.Ed Hogan, Biography, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 16 July 2018 Hawkins has stated that Lewis actually had no involvement in writing the song.Marty Jones, "Say That You'll Be True", ''Westword.com'', October 12, 2000
Retrieved 17 July 2018 In 1964, Lewis founded and began releasing records on Jewel Records, soon followed by the subsidiaries Paula and Ronn labels. Over the next twenty years, these labels issued over 1,000 releases on a variety of formats (45, LP, reel-to-reel, 8-track, cassette, compact disc) from a variety of genres (R&B, gospel, rock, pop, country, jazz, comedy). This included releases from:

Fontella Bass Fontella Marie Bass (; July 3, 1940 – December 26, 2012) was an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter best known for her number-one R&B hit " Rescue Me" in 1965. She was nominated for a Grammy Award twice. Early life Fontella Bass was bor ...

, Buster Benton, Brady L. Blade, Blind Boys of Alabama, Blind Boys of Mississippi, Charles Brown, Carter Brothers, Bobby Charles, Jimmie Davis, Clay Evans, Clarence Fountain, C. L. Franklin, John Fred and his Playboy Band,

Frank Frost Frank Otis Frost (April 15, 1936 or 1938 – October 12, 1999) was one of the foremost United States, American Delta blues harmonica players of his generation. Life and career Most sources state that Frost was born in 1936 in Auvergne, Jackson ...

Lowell Fulson Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921March 7, 1999) was an American blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. He also recorded for contractual reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, he was the most i ...

, Mickey Gilley, Peppermint Harris,

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin'" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its li ...

, Johnny L. Jones,

Pigmeat Markham Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham (April 18, 1904 – December 13, 1981) was an African American entertainer. Though best known as a comedian, Markham was also a singer, dancer, and actor. His nickname came from a stage routine, in which he declared himse ...

, Oris Mays, Jerry McCain,

Toussaint McCall Toussaint McCall (1934 – August 7, 2023) was an American R&B singer and organist. Biography Toussaint McCall was born in Delhi, Louisiana, but was a long-time resident of nearby Monroe, Louisiana. His father, Rev. D. L. McCall, was a pastor ...

Memphis Slim John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxopho ...

, Willie Morganfield, Dorothy Norwood, Bobby Patterson,

Bobby Rush Bobby Lee Rush (born November 23, 1946) is an American politician, activist, and pastor who served as the U.S. representative for for three decades, ending in 2023. A civil rights activist during the 1960s, Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter ...

, Soul Stirrers, Joe Stampley and the Uniques, Nat Stuckey,

Little Johnny Taylor Little Johnny Taylor (born Johnny Lamont Merrett; February 11, 1943 – May 17, 2002) was an American blues and soul singer. He made recordings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and continued public performances through the 1980s and 1990s. Bi ...

, Ted Taylor, Traveling Echoes,

Big Joe Turner Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him". Turner's greatest fa ...

Ike & Tina Turner Ike & Tina Turner was an American musical duo consisting of husband-and-wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by the Kings of Rhythm and backing vocalists, the Ikettes. ...

, Violinaries, Justin Wilson, and Young-Holt Unlimited. The most successful release was in 1968 with "

Judy in Disguise (With Glasses) "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" is a song that was a No. 1 hit for the Louisiana-based John Fred & His Playboy Band in late 1967. It was jointly composed by Fred and bandmate Andrew Bernard. ''Billboard'' magazine noted that it was recorded no ...

" by John Fred and His Playboy Band from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. By 1973, Lewis's business had grown so large that ''Billboard'' music magazine cited it as the largest freight user, largest telephone user, and greatest customer of the Post Office Department in this part of the nation. The work was accomplished through the help of over 200 employees. At this time, Lewis handled distribution for more than 600 record labels to other record stores. During 1972, he sold over 2.5 million singles and 470,000 albums. In 1983, Lewis declared bankruptcy. In 1999, EMusic.com purchased the master recording rights of the Jewel family of labels, and Lewis retained his personal songwriting copyrights.

Honours

Lewis received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 from ''Offbeat'' magazine, was inducted into the

Louisiana Music Hall of Fame The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (LMHOF) is a non-profit hall of fame based in Baton Rouge, the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana, that seeks to honor and preserve the state's music culture and heritage and to promote education about the sta ...

in 2009, and was honored with three Stan "The Record Man" Lewis festivals hosted annually from 2014 to 2016 by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council. He continued to live in Shreveport until his death in July 2018, aged 91.Matt Parker, "Local Legend Stan 'The Record Man' Lewis Has Died", ''710KEEL.com'', July 15, 2018
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References

External Links

* * 1927 births 2018 deaths People from Shreveport, Louisiana American music industry executives {{US-business-bio-1920s-stub