Rhythm and blues singer Bobby Lewis is best known for the hit "Tossin' and Turnin'", which reached Number 1 on the Billboard charts in the summer of 1961. He was born as "Robert Alan Lewis" in Indianapolis, February 9, 1925. A pianist since the age of six, he grew up in a Detroit orphanage, from which he escaped at the age of fourteen. Gifted with a powerful voice, he performed at parties and carnivals before joining the Leo Hines Orchestra. After a series of jobs, he signed with the Spotlight label, recording "Mumble Blues" in 1952. Bobby Lewis then moved to New York, where he sang at the Apollo in Harlem and knocked on the door of the independent Beltone label, where he met composer Ritchie Adams, who suggested he record "Tossin' and Turnin'." Released at the end of 1960, the song slowly made its way up the Billboard charts, where it stayed for seven weeks at the top of the sales charts, sold an estimated three million copies, and led to the release a full album with new tracks, including the Top 10 hir "One Track Mind." Bobby Lewis was unable to replicate this success, either for the Beltone label (which folded in 1963) or for ABC-Paramount (for whom he recorded "Stark Raving Mad"). After retiring in 1980 and moving to Newark, New Jersey, the singer, who had become virtually blind, died of pneumonia on April 28, 2020, at the age of 95.
