The Bright Side of LIFE - Vel Lewis

Around 1968, a Philly vocal group, the Naturals, were looking for a fresh bunch of musicians to back them up on live shows. A local band found out about this and made contact with the singers. Thus the Soul Crusaders and the Naturals teamed up to form an 11 strong ensemble. There were already a number of recording groups using the name the Naturals and so their managers came up with an appropriate new name for them; the FUTURES. Life & their career progressed for the Futures & after 4 years, the group were signed up by Gamble & Huff. Now Gamble & Huff had the use of the best musicians in the land in 1972 and so the musicians section of the group was now surplus to requirements (the guys had all played on the group's earlier Amjo / Avalanche tracks). So they went off and found useful employment backing the Delfonics on live shows.

But this didn't fully satisfy the guys, so they went into the recording studio in their own right and cut a song they had developed in their section of earlier live performances. A deal was struck and soon after the Reprise 45 "Tell Me Why" hit the record shop shelves -- this record being credited to LIFE. The 45 got lost in the shuffle in late 73 / early 74 coz so much other great soul music was around at the time. Disheartened, a member of the group drifted off to find other work, the remaining members relocating to LA to find their fortune. Time passed & the guy left behind began to miss his old life. So in 1978 he too 'went west' and teamed up once more with his old bandmates. Live work kept THE LIFE GROUP busy and as their reputation grew, they came to the notice of some figures in authority. As a result of this, they were signed up by the United Services Organisation (the corporation that sourced entertainment for US military personnel based overseas). LIFE were signed up and undertook a trip to Asia in 1983 where they played Korean US military bases, undertaking 21 shows in all. The group impressed all their audiences and not long after they returned to the US, the Department Of Defence booked them yet again (this time to play bases in Germany, Austria & Italy).

Back from these tours, the group felt ready to go into the recording studio once again. Their line-up had evolved since 1973 as they had added a female lead singer -- Juanita Dickens. The result of their studio work was enough decent tracks to fill an album. But by 1983, record companies were dealing with a different world.  They were now turning out product to please a whole slew of musical genres for which charts were compiled; rock. adult contemporary, disco, black, latin, jazz, blues, gospel, country. The type of music LIFE had made was the style that could feature on the adult contemporary chart, the disco chart and the black chart. But major labels execs were totally confused about what product to license for release at the time but by then, those majors just about monopolised what was being played on black radio stations. With product from independents standing little chance of being heard over the airways, potential exposure & sales were limited unless a major put out your stuff. All the majors passed on LIFE's efforts and the group's future instantly got less promising.

Things moved on and LIFE member Vel Lewis wanted to stay in the music biz, so he adapted to suit current circumstances. Being a versatile keyboard player he found session work in both the soul and jazz worlds. He participated on a number of other artists recording sessions and was generally kept busy. He even toured the UK as a backing musician with Dionne Warwick. In 2005, under the name of Shady Grady, he stepped back into the spotlight and put out an album of his own. Tracks on this album reflected both his current work and past work. He took one of the 'unissued' LIFE GROUP tracks ("Let It Ride") and cut a new version of the song. His album was well received and led to him getting enough exposure to enable a new chapter of his musical career to blossom. He relocated again and eventually found himself living and working in Houston. He kept cutting & releasing new recordings but also became aware of the 'life' his old 1973 recording had taken on. Taking advantage of the opportunity the popularity of "Tell Me Why" had attained to travelling to Vegas to perform the song for those soulies assembled there for Soul Trip 2018.

Still finding live work at venues such as the 'House of Blues' Vel's career was still ticking away. He couldn't help wonder what he might have achieved in earlier times if the 'chips had fallen differently'. A Brit made contact with him (me) to obtain the full facts on his long musical career in order to write an article about him. During the exchange of information, that Brit (me) sent him an e=-mail titled 'AN OBVIOUS QUESTION'. The obvious question was of course .. had the master tapes of the 'unissued' 1983 album survived. Vel didn't know but set about finding out the answer. He contacted other members of his old group and a search was undertaken. Weeks passed but eventually digital copies of those tapes were unearthed. Feelers were put out and some interest was forthcoming from soulies with involvement in releasing 45's that (through no fault of their own) remained unissued back in the day. Lots of steps still have to be taken and negotiations started and concluded. BUT HOPEFULLY, a good outcome will result for Vel and his old colleagues in LIFE.