Ramsey Lewis, a three-time Grammy award winner and acclaimed jazz musician of over 60 years has died. He was born on May 27, 1935 and died Monday September 12, 2022. he was 87 years.
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Lewis was married twice and had seven children; Dawn Lewis, Frayne Lewis, Ramsey III Lewis, Kevyn Lewis, Denise Lewis, Robert Lewis, Kelly Lewis.
Lewis’ death was announced by one of his sons, Bobby Lewis.
“He was just at peace,” Bobby Lewis told the Associated Press on Monday night.
“Most people say when they met dad that he was a class act. He was that way even through his last breath.”
Lewis is revered in jazz circles for 1960s hits like “The ‘In’ Crowd,” “Hang on Sloopy” and “Wade in the Water.” He earned three Grammy awards and seven gold records.
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Lewis also hosted radio shows in the 1990s and 2000, including “The Ramsey Lewis Morning Show,” on WNUA-FM and the syndicated “Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis.”
In 2007, he hosted “Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis,” a weekly program that aired on public television stations nationwide.
In January 2007, the Dave Brubeck Institute invited Lewis to join its Honorary Board of Friends at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
Lewis was an Honorary Board member of the Chicago Jazz Orchestra and a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.
In May 2008, Lewis received an honorary doctorate from Loyola University Chicago upon delivering the keynote address at the undergraduate commencement ceremony
Lewis also served on the board of trustees for the Merit School of Music, a Chicago inner-city music program and The Chicago High School for the Arts, the public arts high school in Chicago established in 2009.
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