Political Quotes

“Today I rise to honor a legend of R&B sound who hails not from a musical capital like Detroit, Chicago, or New York, but from a small town in Michigan's Seventh District, South Lyon. Barbara Lewis was born into a powerful legacy as the great- granddaughter of Civil War veteran John W. Lewis. She was also born with a musical heritage, as her bandleader father played trumpet, her mother and uncle played sax, and her aunt was a music teacher. Surrounded by the symphony of sound, it was no surprise that Barbara began playing piano, guitar, and harmonica at an early age, writing songs at the age of 9, and singing lead vocals at family jam sessions in her teens. While Barbara told her friends and family that she had no intention of pursuing music as a career, a meeting with Ollie McLaughlin, an Ann Arbor deejay-turned-producer and manager, changed all that and changed the course of her life. Impressed by her talent and her original songs, he signed Barbara on the spot. In 1962, she recorded her first two singles, one of them a peppy, upbeat piece called ``My Heart Went Do Dat Da,'' and was, according to Barbara, written on her upright piano while she was babysitting one night while still attending South Lyon High School. Lewis holds the distinction of being the first Michigan artist to record for Atlantic Records.…”