Rhys Lewis

Emerging from the United Kingdom in the mid-2010s, English singer-songwriter Rhys Lewis introduced a soul-inflected vocal approach distinguished by its light rasp together with a guitar technique steeped in blues. Significant streaming numbers had already accumulated before he issued his major-label debut, the Bad Timing EP, during 2018.

Born in Oxfordshire and later based in London, Lewis took up the guitar at thirteen, yet his singing did not begin until he joined his brothers’ band sometime afterward. Solo songwriting came next, and he first shared material under the name Rhys Lewis & the Relics. That exposure produced a Decca contract, which yielded his initial official solo single, “Waking Up Without You,” in late 2016. Further releases followed over the next year or more, among them the 2017 tracks “Be Your Man” and “Reason to Hate You,” each drawing millions of streams. The latter song was included on the Bad Timing EP when it appeared in early 2018. In the same stretch he toured as support for James TW and JP Cooper. Throughout 2019 Lewis continued to issue a run of successful singles, most of which later surfaced on his debut album, Things I Chose to Remember, the following year.