This article appeared in the Feb. 19, 2003 Cambridge Chronicle

A hallelujah time this Thursday at Squawk Coffeehouse

By Susie Davidson

CORRESPONDENT

Though Shirley Lewis has built a formidable career as a blues singer, gospel is her lifelong passion. Raised in New Jersey, she began singing with her father and brothers in early childhood and, though she became an accountant, eventually returned to the music, and never left. In 2001, she received the 2001 Melrose-based Blues Trust Productions' Lifetime Achievement Award, bestowed each September at the Hatch Shell during the Boston Blues Festival in recognition of an individual”s contributions to American music. This Thursday, she”ll lead an entire evening of gospel music at Squawk Coffeehouse, in the Harvard-Epworth Methodist Church at 1555 Mass. Ave. in Harvard Square, in honor of Black History Month.

“Shirley is being solely featured, and will bring selected members of her church choir to do a special program of all gospel music at Squawk,” said coffeehouse proprietor Jessa Piaia. “It”ll be black people doing black music,” she added.

“I will be singing gospel, the music I love to sing and was raised up singing,” concurred Lewis, who turns 66 this month and is often referred to as the Regal Queen of the Blues. “We will be singing, rejoicing and praise dancing in a coffeehouse setting, and have a glorious time in a gospel revival mode.”

Her heartfelt, genuine style is characteristic of Jersey and Philadelphia R&B singers. “My whole family sang as the Lewis Gospel singers in our formative years, at church fairs, schools, picnics and many outdoor ballgames,” she recalled. The family was chosen to appear on Philadelphia's nationally-televised Ted Mack amateur hour just before it was usurped by the Ed Sullivan show.

At Squawk, Lewis will bring United Methodist Church Choir of Newtonville”s organist Ryan Vigil, who will be playing piano, singers Faa and Melissa, with whom she sings every Sunday, and Richard Malcolm, her drummer for the past three years, who has also played with Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson.

Following her childhood in New Jersey as a member of the Lewis Gospel Singers (her father performed in vaudeville shows, and her mother had taught school before marriage), and the subsequent accounting stint, Lewis traveled to Mexico, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. In 1972, she based herself in Vancouver. B.C., while continuing to tour throughout Canada. In 1985, she moved to Boston to be near her family.

“We will be singing, rejoicing and praise-dancing in a coffeehouse setting, and will have a glorious time in the gospel revival mode. I look forward to singing the gospel and having a hallelujah time.

Lewis takes great pride in all facets of her life. “I still sing gospel, even though I make a living singing the blues. I am proud to be a senior; I know I look young and hope I can stay looking that way for a long time,” she said.

“I have traveled thoughout Canada, the U.S. and parts of Mexico singing and entertaining people of all cultures, and enjoyed every minute of it,” she concluded. “I wouldn't change it for anything; it is my soul and balance for my songwriting, poetry and short stories. I raised two daughters singing my music and writing my songs and poetry as a hobby all along the way.”

Squawk Coffeehouse presents A Night of Gospel Music with Shirley

Lewis & Friends, in honor of Black History Month, on Feb. 20 at 9 p.m. The coffeehouse is open every Thursday evening from 9-midnight at the Harvard-Epworth Church, located between Harvard and Porter Squares at 1555 Mass. Ave., next to Harvard Law School's Pound Hall. Squawk is a no-smoke, no-drink venue. For info, visit https://www.angelfire.com/music/squawk/ or call 617-868-3661.