Blake Lewis
Black Lewis is the singer and beatboxer who gained recognition after being the runner up on the massively popular sixth season of American Idol. Born and raised in Washington State, Lewis is an only child. While he was in high school, he participated in quite a few competitions, as well as performing in musicals and creating rap and comedy videos with his friends. Some of these videos can currently be found on YouTube. These videos also introduced an alter ego known as Jimmie Walker Blue.
When he was seventeen, Lewis first started beatboxing, inspired by performer Matthew Selby. He was a member of the a cappella group KickShaw for four years. He also played guitar, keyboard, and drums. He wrote a number of songs himself, though he has also described himself as an "improv musician."
Lewis originally had no interest in American Idol, but he ended up auditioning in Seattle. The judges were not only impressed with his singing, they were blown away by his beatboxing performance during Hollywood week. He was considered and early frontrunner in the competition. He was especially noted for his performance of "You Give Love a Bad Name" during Bon Jovi week; it included a significant amount of beatboxing, making it sound very different from the original song. He was the last male contestant left on the show and ended up as the runner up to Jordin Sparks in the season finale.
After American Idol, a number of Lewis' songs were released to iTunes with strong sale. In particular, his unique version of "You Give Love a Bad Name" was a very popular buy. He appeared on a number of different talk shows and was voted one of the hottest bachelors of the year by People Magazine. He received a record deal with Arista Records and released his first album, A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) in December of 2007. He also appeared in the video for Jordin Sparks' first single, "Tattoo".
Blake Lewis Official Website
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