Lewis | |
Birth Name: | Randall A. Wulff |
Alias: | Lewis Baloue, Randy Duke |
Origin: | Canada |
Instrument: | Guitar, vocals |
Years Active: | 1980s–present |
Label: | Light in the Attic |
Randall A. Wulff, better known by his stage name Lewis, and also known as Lewis Baloue and Randy Duke, is a Canadian singer and musician. He released a number of albums in the 1980s, but did not become widely known until they were re-released in 2014.
Lewis' family live in British Columbia but he is estranged from them; in August 2014 his brother stated that he had not seen Lewis since 2007.[1] His father and uncle had lost touch with him some years previously.[2]
During the recording process of his 1980s albums Lewis worked as a stockbroker,[3] and lived in Calgary.[2] He lived with his girlfriend in an apartment with all-white furniture.[2] [3]
Lewis recorded two albums in 1983 and 1985 (L'Amour and Romantic Times) that were mostly forgotten until a record collector discovered L'Amour in an Edmonton flea market. They were both re-released by Seattle-based record label Light in the Attic in 2014.[1]
L'Amour was recorded in Los Angeles in 1983.[2] [4] Lewis disappeared soon after the photoshoot by Edward Colver for the album cover, after his cheque to Colver bounced.[1] [3]
Romantic Times was originally released in 1985 under the 'Lewis Baloue' pseudonym.[5] An original copy of the album sold on eBay in 2014 for $2,000.[6]
Two further albums - Love Ain't No Mystery (recorded under the 'Randy Duke' pseudonym) and Hawaiian Breeze were also released by different record labels in 2014 and 2015 respectively.[7] [8]
Under a different pseudonym, Lewis is also believed to have recorded a number of "very soft, religious music" albums in Vancouver in the mid-2000s which were never released.[1] [3]
In 2014 Lewis stated that he was continuing to perform music, but that he was not interested in his earlier releases.[9]
In 2022, a short film concerning Lewis, entitled I Thought the World of You directed by Canadian filmmaker Kurt Walker, toured the film festival circuit and garnered praise: ″Walker’s film perfectly captures the hauntology of dollar-bin, vanity-pressing gold. He recreates the edges of Lewis’s life with a lush romanticism, following his white convertible down tree-lined highways, spying him through the window of his recording booth. All the while, Walker keeps Lewis turned away from the camera, reserving him a certain privacy.″ [10]
Original release | Re-release | Title |
---|---|---|
1983 | 2014 | L'Amour |
1985 | 2014 | Romantic Times |
Unknown | 2014 | Love Ain't No Mystery |
Unknown | 2015 | Hawaiian Breeze |