Michelle Lewis (singer-songwriter)

Michelle Robin Lewis (born July 14, 1968) is a singer-songwriter from United States who has released two solo albums. She has since worked as a songwriter for artists including Cher, Shawn Colvin, Hilary Duff, Kay Hanley and Kelly Osbourne. Michelle Lewis was born in New York City to saxophonist Morty Lewis and Annette Sanders (née Benbasset), a session singer for radio and TV jingles. As a child, she was a jingle singer and also a regular on Sesame Street. She was raised in River Vale, New Jersey. Lewis began performing with emerging downtown NY bands such as Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors while she attended Columbia University as a religion and psychology major. After graduation, Lewis was hired by jazz label GRP Records as a production coordinator; she then signed a publishing deal with BMG Music in 1994 for songs she was writing for her band, The Jazzhole, which was signed to Bluemoon/Atlantic Records in 1994. While with BMG, she also wrote singles for other artists including Amy Grant and Todd Terry. "Deeper Shade of Love," a song she co-wrote for Trinidadian singer Camille Rodwell, earned a Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 1996, and Australian pop star Deni Hines won an ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist for Lewis' song "It's Alright" at the 1996 ARIA Music Awards. Lewis signed with Giant Records as a solo artist and released her debut album, Little Leviathan, in 1998. The single "Nowhere and Everywhere" charted in Billboard and was featured on the soundtrack of the film Practical Magic. In the summer of 1998, she appeared on some dates of the Lilith Fair tour. Lewis' second album, Letters Out Loud, was released in 2001 on Kismet Records. Relocating to Los Angeles, she joined with other women singer-songwriters, forming the ad hoc group The Dilettantes and a postmodern Andrews Sisters-style trio, The Goods. Lewis also continued to write songs for other artists, including a co-writing credit on "A Different Kind of Love Song," a No. 1 dance-pop single for Cher in 2002. In 2006, Lewis and Jill Sobule formed The Broadband with Kay Hanley to record and release “God Save the Internet”, a song to raise awareness of and support net neutrality, an issue then facing corporate opposition and pending legislation in Congress. The song was part of a nationwide grassroots effort by the Save the Internet Coalition. From 2006 to 2009, Lewis and Sobule formalized their collaboration as "The Provocateurs", contributing commentary, opinions, and original topical and political songs to their Provocateurs blog on Yahoo! Music and to the Huffington Post blog. In 2008, Lewis and her husband, Dan Petty, co-wrote songs with Lisa Loeb for the children's album Camp Lisa, and performed on the album. More recently, Lewis is known for creating music for the Disney Jr show Doc McStuffins, which aired for five seasons, and for which she won a Peabody Award in 2015. She also received her first Emmy nomination in 2015, at the 42nd Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for Outstanding Original Song, as the composer of "Holiday Ride" for the Nickelodeon show Bubble Guppies. While she continues to perform with The Goods, write songs for pop radio and compose for kids’ television, Lewis' experience as a working songwriter led her and some long-time collaborators (Kay Hanley, Shelly Peiken and Pam Sheyne) to found Songwriters of North America (SONA) – a Los Angeles-based organization of professional songwriters and composers who advocate for upholding the value of their work in the digital future. "Future 25: Kay Hanley and Michelle Lewis, Co-Directors of Songwriters of North America". Rolling Stone. September 30, 2019. Nager, Larry (March 21, 1997). "Commercial Breakthrough: Annette Sanders Trades Studio Work for Club Dates". The Cincinnati Enquirer Weekend. p. 39. Retrieved December 18, 2022. "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQ5F-63L : 7 January 2021), Annette Benbasset in household of Joseph Benbasset, The Bronx, New York City, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 3-256, sheet 62A, line 5, family 116, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2467. Mike Joyce (August 14, 1998). "MICHELLE LEWIS: "LITTLE LEVIATHAN"". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409. Gavin, John A. "Workshops on words give clue to future", The Record, March 3, 2000. Accessed January 6, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Lewis, the recording artist, had similar advice as she told students how she sat in the same classrooms in the mid-1980s. Now 28, Lewis lives in Manhattan, has written songs for prime-time television, and just cut her first CD. Yet she said she didn't want to miss the opportunity to come back to River Vale and talk to students who might have the same dream she had." "Michelle Lewis Letters Out Loud". www.michellelewis.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2001. Retrieved January 12, 2022. "Michelle Lewis Letters Out Loud". www.michellelewis.com. Archived from the original on February 12, 2005. Retrieved January 12, 2022. "Practical Magic (1998) - IMDb". IMDb. Sobule, Jill. ""'God Save the Internet' Lyrics"". Justsomelyrics.com. Retrieved April 17, 2025. Beckedahl, Marcus (June 14, 2006). ""With music for net neutrality: God save the Internet"". Netzpolitik.org. Retrieved April 17, 2025. Armstrong, Mario; Chideya, Farai (June 26, 2006). "Net Neutrality Battle Goes to Washington". NPR. Retrieved April 17, 2025. "One Million Americans Urge Senate to Save the Internet", press release, June 14, 2006; at Savetheinternet.com. Archived 2008-09-19 at the Wayback Machine. "Michelle Lewis Website – Music Page". "Jill Sobule and The Provocateurs". Yahoo! Music Blogs. February 25, 2008. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 2, 2025. "Michelle Lewis – PopTech". Retrieved December 22, 2022. http://www.michellelewissongs.com/about3.html Michelle Lewis Website – About Page http://www.allmusic.com/artist/michelle-lewis-mn0000888794/songs List of all songs throughout career Michelle Lewis at IMDb Official website https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p98249