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Jenny Lewis
Live at The Joint, Las Vegas, Nevada
Background information
Birth name	Jennifer Diane Lewis
Born	January 8, 1976 (1976-01-08) (age 34)[1] Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Origin	California, U.S.
Genres	Indie rock, alternative country, indie folk
Instruments	Vocals, Keyboards, Guitar, Bass, Harmonica
Years active	1998 - present (Rilo Kiley)
Labels	Team Love, Warner Bros., Brute/Beaute, Saddle Creek, Barsuk
Associated acts	Rilo Kiley The Postal Service The Watson Twins

For the Primeval character, see Jenny Lewis (Primeval).

Jennifer Diane Lewis (born on January 8, 1976^[1] in Las Vegas, Nevada) is an American singer, musician, and actress. She is a member and primary vocalist of the indie rock band Rilo Kiley, and has released two solo albums.

Acting career

Lewis made her professional debut in a Jell-O commercial. She was featured in the short-lived 1986 Lucille Ball sitcom Life With Lucy, where she was cast as one of Lucy's grandchildren.^[2] She also had small roles on such TV shows as The Twilight Zone, Baywatch, Golden Girls, Growing Pains, Just the Ten of Us, Roseanne, Mr. Belvedere, and Brooklyn Bridge.^[2]

Lewis appeared in over a dozen teen-themed movies, such as Troop Beverly Hills, in the late 1980s and in 1989 starred in The Wizard. She was featured in the 1996 made-for-TV movie Talk to Me with Yasmine Bleeth, as well as the films Foxfire, Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even, and Pleasantville.^[2] She played the part of Evangeline "Eva" Saint Claire in the 1987 film version of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.^[2] She continued acting until 1998, although the last released (Don's Plum, filmed 1995-6) wasn't released until 2001.^[2]

Music

Rilo Kiley

In 1998, she and friends Pierre De Reeder, Blake Sennett and Dave Rock formed the band Rilo Kiley. (Rock was replaced by Jason Boesel.) In an interview with NPR's All Songs Considered, Lewis remarked that she wanted to name the group Love's Way (after her parents' lounge act in Las Vegas), but Sennett "didn't go for it."^[3]

Beginning with a country sound, Rilo Kiley gravitated toward a downbeat indie rock sound, and with its 2004 album More Adventurous found widespread success. Critics such as Pitchfork Media attributed this to the "wise" decision to emphasize Lewis's voice and presence more so than in previous albums. The song "Portions for Foxes" was a hit, and in 2005 the band was picked up by Warner Bros. (via its own imprint, Brute/Beaute Records), putting them on a major label for the first time. The band opened for Coldplay on its U.S. tour in 2005. Rilo Kiley's 2007 album Under the Blacklight was released directly by Warner Bros.

Solo career

In 2004, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes invited Lewis to record a solo record for record label Team Love. Described by Lewis as "a kind of soul record", Rabbit Fur Coat (released January 24, 2006) features contributions from Oberst, M. Ward, and Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie (and Lewis's bandmate in The Postal Service) guests on a cover of The Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care." The Watson Twins provide accompaniment on the album, billed as Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins. Lewis toured with the Watson Twins in support of the album three times in 2006 and appeared with her band on The Late Show With David Letterman, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Late Night With Conan O'Brien and Later with Jools Holland. They also appeared on a Washington, D.C.-based children's music program called Pancake Mountain, performing the song "Fernando". The album received positive reviews, with Entertainment Weekly writing, "Consider Lewis the Emmylou Harris of the Silverlake set" and Rolling Stone commenting that "her girlishly seductive vocals are more versatile than ever". The Onion AV Club, Spin, and NPR music critic Meredith Ochs named it among the best albums of the year.^[4][5]

In 2008, Lewis released a second solo album, this time without the Watson Twins, titled Acid Tongue.

Other musical projects

In 2002, Lewis was asked to contribute vocals for The Postal Service. Lewis performed in the video for the hit "We Will Become Silhouettes", and toured with the band in 2003. Lewis contributed vocals to several tracks on the 2004 Cursive album The Ugly Organ.

In 2005, Lewis contributed to the UNICEF benefit song "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?", along with Sennett and Jimmy Tamborello.

In 2007, Jenny Lewis contributed vocals to various songs on Johnathan Rice's album Further North, and she appeared in the music video for "We're All Stuck Out In The Desert (And We're Gonna Die)". She provided vocals for a track on Dntel's Dumb Luck LP.

In 2008, she contributed backing vocals to several songs on the Elvis Costello and the Imposters album Momofuku.

In 2008, Lewis provided the song "Barking at the Moon" to Walt Disney Pictures's Bolt.^[6]

In March and April 2009, Jenny did her first trip to Australia, as an act for the V Festival, as well as a support act for Snow Patrol and performing one solo Sydney show.

On April 18, 2009, Jenny performed at the Coachella music festival in Indio, CA.

On May 5, 2009, Jenny performed on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.^[7]

Filmography

Discography

Rilo Kiley

• The Initial Friend (1999)
• Take-Offs and Landings (2001)
• The Execution of All Things (2002)
• More Adventurous (2004)
• Under the Blacklight (2007)

Solo

• Rabbit Fur Coat (2006) (with The Watson Twins)
• Acid Tongue (2008)

Other appearances

• Bright Eyes - Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002 · Saddle Creek)
• Cursive - The Ugly Organ (2003, Saddle Creek)
• The Postal Service - Give Up (2003, Sub Pop)
• The Good Life - Album of the Year (2004, Saddle Creek)
• Dntel - Dumb Luck (2007, Sub Pop)
• Whispertown 2000 - "Livin' In A Dream" (2007)
• Elvis Costello and the Imposters - Momofuku (2008, Lost Highway Records)
• Whispertown 2000 - "Swim" (2009)

Videography

• Rilo Kiley - "The Frug" (1999)
• Rilo Kiley - "Wires and Waves" (2002, unreleased)
• Rilo Kiley - "Portions for Foxes" (2003)
• The Postal Service - We Will Become Silhouettes (2005, directed by Jared Hess)
• Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - "Rise Up with Fists" (2006)
• Rilo Kiley - "The Moneymaker" (2007)
• Rilo Kiley - "Silver Lining" (2007)
• Jenny Lewis - "Blacksand" (2009)
• Jenny Lewis - "See Fernando" (2009)

See also

• The Watson Twins

References

External links

• Official website
• Jenny Lewis at the Internet Movie Database
• Jenny Lewis at TV.com
• Jenny Lewis at NPR Music
• Strangers Almanac Column on Glide Magazine
• October 2008 interview on Bob Edwards Weekend
• "The Magic of the Moment", April 2009 interview in Submerge Magazine

From Wikiquote

Jenny Lewis (born 8 January 1976) Singer and songwriter, actress; Vocalist of the band Rilo Kiley.

Sourced

Take-Offs & Landings (2001)

I've had enough of breakdowns and diagrams—
Judging from picture books, apparently
Heaven is a partly cloudy place.

• • "Don't Deconstruct"

I used to think, if I could realise I'd die
Then I would be a lot nicer
Used to believe in a lot more
Now I just see straight ahead
That's not to say I don't have good times
But as for my days, I spend them waiting...

• • "Science vs. Romance"

When you jump up the Earth wants you back.

• • "Plane Crash in C"

The Execution Of All Things (2003)

I do this thing where I think I'm real sick but I won't go to the doctor to find out about it cause they make you stay real still in a real small space as they chart up your insides and put them on display. They'd see all of it, all of me, all of it; All the good that won't come out of me...

• • "The Good That Won't Come Out"

It's all of the good that won't come out of us and how eventually our hands will just turn to dust, if we keep shaking them standing here on this frozen lake.

• • "The Good That Won't Come Out"

Then you hang up the phone and feel badly for upsetting things
And crawl back into bed to dream of a time
When your heart was open wide and you love things just because
Like the sick and dying

• • A Better Son/Daughter

And sometimes when you're on
You're really fucking on
And your friends they sing along
And they love you
But the lows are so extreme
That the good seems fucking cheap
And it teases you for weeks in its absence

• • A Better Son/Daughter

More Adventurous (2004)

There's blood in my mouth
Cause I've been biting my tongue all week
I keep on talking trash
But I never say anything
And the talking leads to touching
And the touching leads to sex
And then there is no mystery left

• • "Portions for Foxes"

And it's bad news, I don't blame you
I do the same thing, I get lonely too
And you're bad news, my friends tell me to leave you
That you're bad news...

• • "Portions for Foxes"

I read with every broken heart
We should become more adventurous

• • "More Adventurous"

I had one friend in high school, recently he hung himself with string,
His note said "If livin' is the problem, well that's just baffling."
And at the wake I waited around to see my ex-first love,
And I barely recognized her but I knew exactly what she was thinkin' of
.We sat quietly in the corner, whisperin' close about loss,
And I remembered why I loved her and I asked her why I drove her off.

• • "A Man/Me/Then Jim"

And you're not happy but you're funny and I'm tripping over my joy. I just keep on gettin up again.

• • "The Absence of God"

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Jenny Lewis

• Rilo Kiley official site
• Rilo Kiley fan site
• Jenny Lewis at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview at PopMatters
• Rilo Kiley review at The Village Voice
• Review of More Adventurous at Pitchfork Media
• Article, Lazy-i (September 2004)
• Interview, Dallas Music Guide
• Interview, Venuszine
• Interview, Lazy-i (October 2002)
• Discography and reviews at mp3.com