Gary Lewis is the son of Jerry Lewis and singer Patti Palmer. His mother, who was a singer at the time with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra, intended to name him after her favorite actor, Cary Grant, but a clerical error led to his naming as "Gary". He received a set of drums as a gift for his 14th birthday in 1960. When he was 18, Lewis formed what would become Gary Lewis & the Playboys with four other friends. Joking at the lateness of bandmates to practice, Lewis referred to them as "playboys", and the name stuck. Lewis was the drummer, but at that time singing duties were held by guitarist Dave Walker. As the band started, Gary's mother was quietly funding the purchases of equipment, as they believed Gary's father would not have supported the band. This could explain why, even though he lived down the street from the Lewis family, producer Snuff Garrett was not aware of Gary's band until a mutual friend, conductor Les Brown, informed him that the band was playing at Disneyland and that Garrett should give them a listen. Lewis was drafted into the United States army. During his two years of service, he spent two months at the Saigon Airport during the Vietnam War, and the remainder of the time in South Korea.
Gary Lewis & the Playboys
Seeing an opportunity to capitalize on the Lewis name, Garrett put Lewis' band into the studio to develop, still with the finances of Lewis' mother. Garrett pushed Lewis to improve his drumming skill, even getting Buddy Rich to tutor him, and, more importantly, made Lewis the singer, and therefore the focal point of the group. By Lewis' own admission, his natural singing voice was not one of his strengths, and this led Garrett to employ vocal overdubbing tricks in the studio, to enhance it. "This Diamond Ring" hit number one on the BillboardHot 100 on February 20, 1965, making Lewis an instant star. Lewis was Cash Box magazine's 1965 "Male Vocalist of the Year". Besides The Lovin' Spoonful, the group was the only artist during the 1960s to have its first seven Hot 100 releases each reach that chart's top 10. In addition to "This Diamond Ring", his hits include "Count Me In", "Save Your Heart for Me", "Everybody Loves a Clown", "She's Just My Style", "Sure Gonna Miss Her", and "Green Grass". Of "Everybody Loves a Clown", Lewis says he composed the song as a gift for his father's birthday. He believed the song was too good, so instead of giving it as a gift, he recorded it. By 1966, Lewis had stopped drumming altogether and was exclusively singing, replaced at drums by, among others, Jim Keltner. His career was put on hold when he entered the U.S. Army as a draftee in January 1967, and he served during the Vietnam War era and was stationed overseas with the Eighth Army in Seoul, South Korea, to 1968. Lewis has expressed that he was reluctant to go to Vietnam, but he credits the Army with being the time when he "grew up". He returned to performing and recording, but did not recapture his earlier success and five releases by the band that year peaked from 13th to 39th. His musical career was later marketed as a "nostalgia act" with appearances on his father's Labor Daytelethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, including the 2010 telethon which was his dad's final as host. In January 2012, Lewis released a new single, "You Can't Go Back".
Film appearances
He appeared uncredited in his father's movie The Nutty Professor. He also appeared in a credited role singing "The Land of La-la-la" with his dad in Rock-A-Bye Baby, where he played Jerry Lewis as a boy. He also was seen in the movie The Family Jewels.
Later life
In 1971, Lewis took a break from performing, operating a music shop in the San Fernando Valley and giving drumming lessons. A brief attempt at starting a new band called Medecine, with Billy Cowsill of the Cowsills in 1974 did not go anywhere. Lewis began touring again in the 1980s, with various incarnations of the Playboys, generally featuring no original members. On the nationally syndicated program Inside Edition, Gary got to meet his half-sister Suzan Klienman, who had learned from DNA testing results that they are related siblings, the children of comedy star Jerry Lewis. Lewis and his family reside in Rush, New York. In the summer of 2013, Lewis, along with a group of 1960s musicians including Gary Puckett, Chuck Negron, Mark Lindsay, and The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie toured 47 cities in Paradise Artist's "Happy Together" tour. As of 2016, Gary Lewis and the Playboys are still touring the world on their own and occasionally with other popular 1950s, 60s, and 70s acts. The group performs on cruise ships, at casinos, festivals, fairs, and corporate events.
