R.I.P.: Tony Lewis, Lead Singer for The Outfield

Tony Lewis (December 21, 1957 – October 19, 2020) 
(courtesy of Mike McCann Tauss, NYC)

Tony Lewis, the bassist and singer for the Outfield who scored a major Eighties hit with “Your Love,” has died. He was 62, reports Rolling Stone.

Lewis’ death was announced on his website and social media pages. A cause of death was not given, though the note said he died “unexpectedly.” It continued, “He was a beautiful soul who touched so many lives with his love, his spirit, and his music. He loved his fans dearly and enjoyed every opportunity he had when meeting all of you. Please respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”

Per a bio on his website, Lewis was born and raised in London’s East End, and became enamored with music after hearing the Beatles on the radio as a nine-year-old. While in school, Lewis linked up with drummer Alan Jackman, and several years later they put an ad in a London music paper searching for a guitarist and met John Spinks.

The Outfield’s first single, “Say It Isn’t So,” was a solid rock hit in the U.S., but their follow-up, “Your Love,” was a Top 10 smash, peaking at Number Six on the Billboard Hot 100. The track propelled the Outfield’s 1985 debut album, Play Deep, to Number Nine, while the band scored additional radio hits with “All the Love and “Everytime You Cry.”

Though the Outfield never produced another song as big as “Your Love,” they were a reliable staple on rock radio throughout the rest of the decade with songs like “Since You’ve Been Gone,” “Voices of Babylon” and “For You.” While Jackman left the band after 1989’s Voices of Babylon, Lewis and Spinks continued to release albums on a fairly regular basis through the Nineties and early 2000s. In 2009, they reunited with Jackman and two years later released what would become the Outfield’s final studio album, Replay.