Jamshedpur : Popularly known as Lezz, Leslie Lewis today said, “Music is my passion, performing music comes naturally to me but after years of doing it now I have got a motive, and that is to re-kindle patriotism in our new generation.”
On his future plans Lewis said, “I am tired of making music for others, now I am going to work for myself. I am writing lyrics, composing music and also doing the playback for the same. Basically, I want to have fun with my music before I die.” He said that Jamshedpur is no less than any other city and there is no dearth of talent.
Leslie Lewis inherited his artistic inclinations from his father P. L. Raj. His father is a choreographer for films.
Later, at St Mary’s High School,Mount Abu,Rajasthan (boarding school), Lezz was exposed to the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. With these diverse musical influences, Lewis soon began plucking guitar chords at the Cafe Royal, Oberoi Towers.
Later, he had the opportunity of recording with renowned film music directors such as Kalyanji Anandji, Laxmikant Pyarelal, R. D. Burman and Louis Banks. In 1987, Lewis launched a music company and began carving out a career in jingles composing.
He composed for some of the leading television networks and picked up nominations for the awards handed out annually by the Indian Academy of Advertising Film Art (IAAFA). After four consecutive nominations, in 1989, Lezz bagged the award.
Lewis’s other musical credits include doing the remix job for Asha Bhosle’s Rahul and I album and writing the musical scores for the legendary diva’s Janam samjha karo album. He also composed and produced the music for Suneeta Rao in “Paree Hu Main”, Alisha in “Bombay Girl” and for KK in Pal.