Linda Lewis – Turning bitter into sweet
Disco diva, Northern Soul icon, hippy singer-songwriter, reluctant stage show brat. Linda Lewis has been all of these and more. Terry Staunton hears tales of a true survivor.
It’s been nearly 40 years since Linda Lewis made her first record, a song which has endured as a Northern Soul classic. An East End teenager with an unhappy stage school history, she may seem an unlikely dance icon, but it was just the first step in a surprising career littered with an equal number of highs and lows.
She appeared on screen with The Beatles, jammed with John Lee Hooker, and chilled out in a hippy commune, breaking bread with the likes of Marc Bolan and Elton John. She sang back-up for David Bowie, and then became a hitmaker in her own right in the 70s. But her initial success came at a price, and Linda had her fingers burned by the music industry more than once.
Today, with a new live album recorded at Ronnie Scott’s in London about to hit the shelves, she’s at her most content for years, and is able to look back on her extraordinary life and times with a healthy dose of humour. “Everything that happened to me led to where I am now, and where I am now is a pretty good place to be,” she says. “I can laugh about it now, but I’ve been pretty down at one time or another. I dunno, maybe it was all for a reason, maybe that’s why I reckon I’m such a strong person now.” To paraphrase the title of her first landmark single, Linda has managed to turn her own bitter into …
by Terry Staunton
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