Rob Lewis

Official Biography (courtesy of Rob Lewis)  

Rob Lewis is a well-established music arranger, music composer, record producer, musical director, film composer, keyboardist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. In his 15 years in the music industry, Lewis has worked on several Grammy Award winning singles and albums. His production and arranging has been featured on #1 albums, gold and platinum albums, films, and live productions. Rob Lewis got his ‘big break' in 1995 with Brian McKnight as his keyboardist. Rob worked with Brian McKnight for 5 ½ years, during which time he became his musical director.

Rob is best known for his musical direction. He has been musical director for pop superstars like Christina Aguilera, New Kids On The Block, The Pussycat Dolls, Leona Lewis, Toni Braxton, and Jessica Simpson, as well as R&B artists Brian McKnight, Eric Benet, Deborah Cox, and Fantasia, and iconic artists like Patti LaBelle, and Babyface.

He is well known in the Gospel genre for his early work with the group Here II Praise. With their great vocals and artistic capabilities, their debut album won the Bobby Jones Excellence "Best Urban Contemporary Choir" award and was nominated for a Stellar Award.

His extravagant and emotion-filled string and horn arranging has gotten him much notoriety for his work on Fall Out Boy's "Thnks fr th Mmrs", Christina Aguilera's "Oh Mother" and "Understand", Jamie Foxx's "Heaven", Chrisette Michele's "Best of Me" and "Your Joy" (which Lewis also co-wrote with Babyface and Chrisette Michele), Grammy Award winning gospel producer Donald Lawrence, and singer Tonex's O2 album. Along with arranging, he is also known for his scores and songs with film maker/playwright and NAACP Image Award winner David E. Talbert.

Since 2006, Lewis has produced, written songs, and arranged on several #1 albums including Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics, Diddy's Press Play, Fall Out Boy's Infinity on High, and Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable.

Lewis has also traveled and collaborated with Christina Aguilera as her musical director on her 2006-07 Back to Basics Tour and the tour DVD, Back to Basics: Live and Down Under, and has also served as her vocal producer. His production work with Aguilera helped to earn a Grammy nomination in 2006 for Herbie Hancock's album Possibilities (Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, for "A Song for You"), and Lewis was the vocal producer for Aguilera's hit "Ain't No Other Man", which won a 2007 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance.

As a writer Lewis has songs on three Billboard #1 albums: Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics (song: "Without You", co-written with Christina Aguilera and Kara Dioguardi), Diddy's Press Play (songs: "Claim My Place", "Crazy Thang", co-written with Sean "Diddy" Combs), and on Def Jam recording artist Chrisette Michelle's I Am (song: "Your Joy", produced and co-written by Babyface). Lewis has also written songs for India.Arie, Kelly Rowland, Deborah Cox, Patti LaBelle, Usher, Brian McKnight, and Jessica Simpson for special projects, movie scores, and tours.

As a vocal coach and producer, Lewis was featured on MTV's Making the Band with Diddy and pop girl group Danity Kane. He is also responsible for putting the music production together for Toni Braxton's "Revealed" Flamingo Hotel show in Las Vegas.

He continues to work closely with Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, as a writer, string arranger, producer, and musical director and was an integral part of his album Playlist. Lewis was a vital part of the creation of a new master songwriting class at Berklee College of Music titled "The Music of Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds", in homage to Babyface's work in the music industry.

Lewis served as a LA Chapter Governor for The Recording Academy where he has worked hard to create opportunities to educate up and coming music professionals and makes a difference in the ailing music industry. As a part of The Recording Academy, Rob Lewis has been a part of special events and panels and has done workshops for Grammy Career Day, Grammy Soundchecks, and Grammy U.

Lewis has his own production company, Blacktrak Entertainment, Inc, that is the umbrella for his live productions, film composers, and his publishing company, Blacktrak Publishing. Rob Lewis has also started a label, Ladybug&Darling Music, with Sasha Allen, an acclaimed vocalist and Broadway star of the musical "HAIR", working on her debut album due out Spring 2009.

Lewis continues to be an entrepreneur and philanthropist, spearheading "THE MOVEMENT ORCHESTRA", his own school, "MISOMA" (The Movement Institute, School of Musical Advancement) and clothing line "The MISOMA Collection"- representing music education. His most recent project is The Rob Lewis Foundation, a foundation dedicated to providing care and help to the less fortunate using music as the medium to give hope and inspire lives. While on the road with various artists, Rob Lewis creates "Live Sessions", in which he raises money, and sponsors shelters and food banks in selected cities. He has also created "MISOMAdigital"-the youtube school, and "MISOMAMobile", where he goes to high schools and colleges to lecture, encouraging youth to continue dreaming, to stay focused, and to work hard to be successful- not only in music, but in life.

In September 2007, Lewis was awarded the "Distinguished Alumni Award" from Berklee College Of Music in recognition of his career accomplishments.

Recently, Lewis was seen as the keyboardist and musical director of The New Kids On The Block most recent tour. He plans to release his debut album, Orchestrator of a Renaissance, set to drop in Fall 2009. The debut album chronicles the rebirth (renaissance) of his own spirituality and consciousness, and through his musicianship, arranging, song writing and production, he presents a work of art reminiscent of the soul days with hopes of contributing to the revival of orchestration and conscious music. His first single, "Brokenhearted", is a soul record that deals with love that's lost because of one's own faults, was released on July 28, 2009.

You can now watch Rob Lewis on MTV's television series "Making His Band" where Lewis uses his musical directing skills to assist Diddy in finding young, up and coming artists to create Diddy's new band for his forthcoming tour.