Shaznay Lewis

Shaznay Lewis
Lewis performing in concert
Background information
Birth name	Tricia Marie Lewis
Born	(1975-10-14) 14 October 1975 Islington, London, England
Genres	R&B, hip hop, soul
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, actress
Years active	1993–present
Labels	London Records
Associated acts	All Saints

Tricia Marie "Shaznay" Lewis^[1] (born 14 October 1975 in Islington, London) is an English singer, songwriter, and member of girl group All Saints. Lewis has co-written most of the group's songs, including number one singles: "Bootie Call", "Pure Shores", "Black Coffee" and international smash hit single "Never Ever".

Lewis launched a short solo career in 2004 with her debut solo album, Open, and singles "Never Felt Like This Before" and "You". She currently writes for other artists such as Stooshe, co-writing their hit single "Black Heart" and co-writing for Mutya Keisha Siobhan.

Career

1993-01: All Saints

At a party, Lewis was introduced to Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot of Curiosity Killed the Cat by her friends who took her to the Metamorphisis recording studios on All Saints Road, London, and started doing backing vocals.^[2] It was at the Metamorphosis recording studios where she met Melanie Blatt in 1993 and they proceeded to record together. Together with Simone Rainford they formed the group All Saints 1.9.7.5., which was later renamed All Saints. Soon after Rainford left the group and Nicole and Natalie Appleton joined.

In 1997, All Saints experienced international success with BRIT Award-winning single "Never Ever", which is co-written by Lewis and topped the charts in the United Kingdom and Australia. The single sold over 1.2 million copies in the United Kingdom, being certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. The same year the group released their debut album All Saints, most of the songs were co-written by Shaznay and the album reached number two in the United Kingdom. It was eventually ceritified platinum five times for sales of 1.5 million copies sold. In 2000 the group released their fourth number one single "Pure Shores", written by Lewis and William Orbit the single was certified platinum by the BPI for sales of 600,000 copies sold. The group released their fifth number one single "Black Coffee", was certified silver for sales of 200,000 copies sold.

In early 2001 All Saints broke up, and Lewis later explained that the catalyst for the break-up was a disagreement over who would wear a certain jacket for a photoshoot: "I would never in a million years have put money on the group ending over a jacket incident. But when that incident happened, it fired up so strong, it had to be over. And the way I was then, the state we'd got into then, there was no way she was getting that stupid jacket."^[3] The same year she won the Ivor Novello Award for best songwriting.

2002-04: Open

In 2004, it was reported that Lewis would release her debut solo single "Never Felt Like This Before" on 5 July, which would precede her untitled debut solo album on which she'd worked with numerous writers and producers including: Basement Jaxx, Biz Markie, K-Gee, Bacon and Quarmby and Trevor Jackson.^[4] The single reached no. 8 in the United Kingdom.^[5] On 19 July she released her debut album Open, and it reached no. 22 in the United Kingdom.^[6] Later that year she released new single "You", which peaked at no. 56 in the United Kingdom.^[7]

Lewis has also appeared in several films. In Bend It Like Beckham (2002) she played Mel. She also played a role in Hideous Man (2002). On 14 November 2004 Shaznay was involved in the Band Aid 20 re-recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas".^[8]

2006-07: All Saints reunion

On 24 January 2006, it was announced that All Saints had reformed with a new recording contract and would release a new album, Studio 1 on 13 November 2006.^[9] She performed with All Saints on live television for the first time since reforming on the British light entertainment program Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on 21 October 2006. All Saints' comeback began well, with their single, "Rock Steady", reaching no. 3 in the UK Singles Chart. They followed this with the release of their comeback album Studio 1. It peaked at no. 40 in the UK Albums Chart. Parlophone Records then released their second single "Chick Fit", but this failed to reach the chart. All Saints then parted company with their record label.

2008-13: Songwriting career

In January 2008, Lewis featured on the Wideboys track, "Daddy O".^[10] The single was released on 5 May 2008. Lewis is currently writing songs for other projects. She is credited as songwriter in Westlife's track "Reach Out", which was featured on their 2009 album Where We Are, the CocknBullKid track "Distractions" from her 2011 album Adulthood and the Stooshe single "Black Heart", released as a single in 2012.^[11] In August 2012, it was reported Lewis was in the studio with original Sugababes line-up Mutya Keisha Siobhan, writing new material for their debut album.^[12]

2014–present: Second All Saints reunion

In 2014, All Saints reformed to support the Backstreet Boys for five dates across the UK and Ireland in 2014.^[13] On 27 January 2016, it was confirmed that All Saints will release their fourth studio album Red Flag on 8 April 2016. The lead single from the album, "One Strike", preceded the album on 26 February 2016.^[14]

Personal life

Lewis was born in Islington to Barbadian father and Jamaican mother.

Lewis made three appearances for Arsenal L.F.C. when she was a teenager.^[15] On 21 August 2004, Lewis married dancer Christian "Storm" Horsfall. They had their first child, a son named Tyler-Xaine, in February 2006. In November 2009, Lewis and her husband had their second child, a daughter named Tigerlily.

Discography

• Open (2004)

Filmography

References

External links

• Shaznay Lewis at the Internet Movie Database