Jennifer Diane Lewis[1] (born January 8, 1976)[2][1] is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She was the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and keyboardist for the indie rock band Rilo Kiley.
Lewis gained prominence in the 1980s as a child actress, appearing in the films Troop Beverly Hills (1989) and The Wizard (1989) and the television series Brooklyn Bridge (1991–93). In the mid-1990s, Lewis semi-retired from acting to focus on her musical career, and formed Rilo Kiley in 1998 with fellow former child actor Blake Sennett. Rilo Kiley released four albums before they disbanded in 2014.[3]
Lewis was born in Las Vegas.[1] Her mother, Linda, was a professional singer, and her father, Eddie Gordon, was a member of the Harmonica Gang.[5][6][7] Lewis is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.[8]
In 1998, Lewis and friends Pierre De Reeder, Dave Rock, and then-boyfriend Blake Sennett formed the band Rilo Kiley. (Rock was eventually replaced by Jason Boesel.) In an interview with NPR's All Songs Considered, Lewis remarked that she wanted to name the group Love's Way (after her parents' lounge act in Las Vegas), but Sennett "didn't go for it."[14] Originally asked to sing back-up vocals by Sennett, Lewis refused to join the band unless she was able to sing lead vocals.[15]
Beginning with a country sound, Rilo Kiley gravitated toward a downbeat indie rock sound, gaining the attention of Warner Bros., who signed the band (via its own imprint, Brute/Beaute Records) for the release of their 2004 album More Adventurous, which gained the band some success. Critics such as Pitchfork attributed this to the "wise" decision to emphasize Lewis's voice and presence more so than in previous albums.[16] The song "Portions for Foxes" was a hit. Rilo Kiley's 2007 album Under the Blacklight was released directly by Warner Bros.
In 2011, Sennett hinted that Rilo Kiley had disbanded.[17] Lewis confirmed the band's split in 2014.[18]
A retrospective of Lewis's career by Jessica Roy in 2016 commented that Lewis was a style icon to a certain type of music-loving young people in the 2000s. Roy commented:
For a particular brand of suburban girl who fancied herself cooler than her peers, Jenny was a fire-haired figure of worship. With her endless supply of cool sunglasses, vintage dresses, and hats ... she was a beacon of hope for introspective teens ... as a microgenerational sad-girl touchstone, many of us have our own Jenny Lewis Anecdote, our lives touched by her magnificent tweeness in different ways.[19]
In 2008, Lewis released a second solo album, this time without the Watson Twins, titled Acid Tongue.
On July 29, 2014, Lewis released The Voyager. The album took five years to complete and is a reflection on Rilo Kiley's break-up and the death of her father.[25] The release of the album was preceded by the single "Just One of the Guys".[26] The music video for "Just One of the Guys" was released on July 15, 2014, through GQ and stars Lewis, Anne Hathaway, Kristen Stewart, Brie Larson, and Tennessee Thomas, former drummer of The Like (now disbanded).[27] Lewis also directed the music video.
On January 23, 2019, Lewis announced the release date of her new album On the Line would be March 22, 2019.[28] The lead single "Red Bull & Hennessy" garnered positive acclaim.[29]
On June 9, 2023, Lewis released a new album, Joy'All. She'd started writing for Joy'All while on tour to promote her previous album On the Line (2019), shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Work resumed on the album in early 2021, when Lewis participated in a virtual songwriting workshop hosted by Beck.[30] The album was produced by Dave Cobb, who Lewis met while visiting Lucius at RCA Studio A in Nashville, Tennessee.[31]
Other projects and collaborations
In 2002, Lewis was asked to contribute vocals for the band The Postal Service. Lewis performed in the video for "We Will Become Silhouettes", and toured with the band in 2013 and again in 2023.
In 2003, Lewis contributed vocals to several tracks on the Cursive album The Ugly Organ.
In 2006, Lewis made a cameo in Episode 25, Season 1 of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, and six of her songs (three with the Watson Twins and three with Rilo Kiley) were featured in various episodes of the show.
In 2007, Lewis contributed vocals to various songs on Johnathan Rice's album Further North, and she appeared in the music video for "We're All Stuck Out In The Desert (And We're Gonna Die)". She provided vocals for a track on Dntel's Dumb Luck LP.
Later that year, Lewis voiced the role of the assistant director for Walt Disney Pictures' animated film Bolt (2008), and she also provided the song "Barking at the Moon".[32]
Jenny Lewis at The Postal Service Goodbye in Lollapalooza 2013, Chicago
In March and April 2009, Lewis traveled to Australia for the first time, as an act for the V Festival, as well as a supporting act for Snow Patrol and performing one solo Sydney show.
Lewis makes an appearance on the track "Hard Enough", taken from the 2010 album Flamingo by fellow Las Vegan Brandon Flowers.
In 2013, Lewis created the music score for Tribeca Film's feature Very Good Girls. She provided original music and also included older music from her previous band, Rilo Kiley, such as the song "Go Ahead".[34]
In 2014, Lewis contributed an exclusive track to HBO's Girls, in collaboration with Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij titled "Completely Not Me". The song was featured in the Season 3 premiere "Females Only". The song is the second track on Girls Volume Two: All Adventurous Women Do.[35]
In 2016, Lewis contributed to She & Him's second Christmas album, Christmas Party, appearing on the track "Winter Wonderland".[36]
On June 25, 2019, Lewis performed "Wasted Youth" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.[37]
^Battaglia, Andy; Christopher Bahn; Jason Heller; Josh Modell; Keith Phipps; Kyle Ryan; Marc Hawthorne; Nathan Rabin; Noel Murray; Scott Gordon; Sean ONeal; Steven Hyden (December 19, 2006). "Best Music Of 2006". The Onion A.V. Club. Retrieved May 21, 2009.
