Ephraim Lewis

Ephraim Lewis was born on 27 November 1967. He was an English soul/neo-soul and R&B singer and songwriter whose career was cut short after releasing only one album.

Lewis was the youngest of eight children (five brothers and two sisters) in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. He came from a family of talent, his father, Jabez, encouraged the siblings to pursue music as a family vocal group, the Tremetones, but that dream ended with the death of Lewis’s mother in 1984. Ephraim, keen to pursue his dreams, eventually left home at age 16.

He was discovered by the owners of Axis Studio in Sheffield, who dubbed him the “British Michael Jackson”. The song "captured" was dedicated to his long time girlfriend. Lewis signed with Elektra Records in 1992, and his debut album, Skin was released that year. The album sold fewer than 200,000 copies, and its two singles, "Drowning in Your Eyes" and "It Can’t Be Forever", only fared respectably on the U.S. charts.

The record company sent Lewis to Los Angeles, California, to work with prolific songwriter and producer Glen Ballard.

On 18 March 1994, Los Angeles Police allegedly responded to reports of a "naked black man acting crazy” at 1710 Fuller Avenue, the apartment where Lewis was living.

The Police reported Lewis tried to escape the Officers and began climbing the outside balconies. When he reached the top floor there was an altercation. While on the top balcony, the police had used a taser on Lewis three times.[1] Police claimed this had "no apparent effect", although according to reports it was applied directly to Lewis's skin. Lewis fell from the balcony and landed on the courtyard below, suffering extensive head injuries.

After being kept alive on a ventilator for several hours, the decision was made to end life-sustaining measures, acting on the advice of the hospital. Lewis died at the hospital that night. The coroner assigned by the LA police department ruled the death as a suicide. It took a month for his body to be returned to the UK.

The following month, hundreds of people gathered at the Darlington Street Methodist Church in Wolverhampton for his funeral. His manager, David Harper, covered most of the funeral expenses and the cost of returning Lewis’s body to England, but did not attend the service.

Lewis was laid to rest on 21 April 1994.

Naomi Hobbs, Lewis's cousin, who is a barrister, said:[1]

Ephraim was murdered by the police. Words fail me as to why they used a stun gun on someone standing on a balcony. They didn't just use it once but three times and as soon as they used that gun Ephraim was bound to fall and bound to die. It was so reckless

Kevin Bacon, whose Axis Studio discovered Lewis, said:

Ephraim had the qualities to be a massive star... This was somebody so brilliant at what he did he never thought about it. Most singers have tremendous egos based around their insecurity about their own singing. Ephraim didn’t have that kind of ego because it never occurred to him there was anything he couldn’t do.

Naomi Hobbs challenged the Police department's account of events. To date an investigation is yet to be carried out.

• Ephraim Lewis discography at Discogs
• Ephraim Lewis at Find a Grave