Ramsey Lewis, a well-known jazz composer and pianist from the United States has died in his sleep at home in Chicago on Monday, September 12, 2022. He was 87 years old.
He was married twice in his lifetime, first to Geraldine Taylor from 1954 to 1989 and then Janet Tamillow Lewis from 1990. He had seven children with his wife.
Ramsey Lewis’s Wife
Ramsey Lewis was a jazz composer, pianist, and radio personality who recorded over 80 albums. He also received five gold records and three Grammy awards in his career. He died on 12 September 2022 at his home in Chicago, Illinois.
He was born in Cabrini Green, a housing project in Chicago, and took piano lessons as a child. His mother, a cleaning lady, and father, a maintenance man, were big fans of Duke Ellington and Art Tatum, and they took him to jazz concerts.
Lewis forged his own path in music. He blended cocktail-smooth jazz with funky riffs, and his style was unique. He made commissioned works like the multimedia “Proclamation of Hope” for the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and the full score for the Joffrey Ballet. He also founded Ravinia’s jazz mentors and scholars program and its Steans Music Institute jazz residency. He appeared at Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall on several occasions. His work spanned six decades and earned him many accolades, including three Grammys.
Ramsey Lewis’s Cause of Death
A famous jazz pianist, Ramsey Lewis has an estimated net worth of $8 million. He started his career in music as a child, taking piano lessons at four years old. He then joined a local band called the Clefs, where he learned to blend jazz and R&B. After the members of the group were drafted into the military, Lewis formed his own trio with bassist Eldee Young and drummer Redd Holt. They recorded their first album in 1956 on Chess Records. The trio climbed the charts with their songs “The In Crowd” and “Hang on Sloopy.”
During his lifetime, Lewis has made more than 80 albums. He also hosted a popular radio show and toured around the world. He has been married twice and has seven children from his first marriage. He was a longtime host of Chicago WNUA’s “Legends of Jazz” and the “Ramsey Lewis Morning Show.” Lewis was also active in charitable work, supporting programs that helped bring jazz to young people.
Ramsey Lewis’s Net Worth
At the time of his death, Ramsey Lewis had over $8 million in assets. He was a pianist and radio personality who hosted the weekly syndicated Legends of Jazz show from 1990 to 2007 on Chicago’s smooth jazz station WNUA-FM.
Born in Chicago, Lewis began taking piano lessons at the age of four and later accompanied his church’s choir. He played in Wallace Burton’s Cleffs band, but his career really took off when the group splintered and he formed the Ramsey Lewis Trio with bassist Eldee Young and drummer Isaac Holt. Their 1965 album The In Crowd reached the top of both the R&B and pop charts and became a hit.
He went on to release a number of other albums, including 1974’s Sun Goddess and the more experimental electric jazz-funk album Taking Another Look in 2011. Throughout his career, he also worked as an educator in his hometown of Chicago, helping to found the Ravinia Jazz Mentor Program. He was also one of the torch bearers who carried the Olympic flame through Highland Park, Illinois during the 2002 Winter Olympics.
