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Stan "The Record Man" Lewis |
One of the most influential people in the entertainment and recording business in the last half of the 20th Century is Stan the Record Man (Stan Lewis). For those of you who did not live in Shreveport, Louisiana during the 50s, Stan's Record Shop was located at the head of Texas Street near the First Methodist Church.
Stan's Record Shop opened in 1948 and was a Mecca for young people who made weekly pilgrimages on the trolley to purchase the current rock and roll hits of the time and meet other people with the same mission. Lewis was born in Shreveport. His parents were of Italian decent and operated a grocery business in the Allendale (West End) part of Shreveport. This area was a vibrant community with a mixture of white and African-American families. Many of Lewis' relatives and friends also operated grocery stores catering primarily to the black community. In this environment, Lewis was influenced by the music of this community, primarily blues and gospel.
Lewis' first job was selling newspapers when he was just nine years old. Later, he purchased five jukeboxes and the records for his jukeboxes from a little record store in downtown Shreveport. Learning that this record store was up for sale, Lewis and his wife, Paula, gathered their savings of $2500 and bought the store in 1948. The rest is history.
Stan's Record Shop began in an 8x12 foot space. Lewis carried mostly rhythm and blues, some gospel and country & western records. You must realize that in the early 50s, R&B was in its infancy. Lewis set up speakers in the store and began to have autograph parties for the entertainers who passed through the area. The Louisiana Hayride was very popular at that time, and the performances were carried live on KWKH Radio every Saturday night. During this time Elvis Presley, who appeared regularly on the Hayride, would stop by Stan's Record Shop for autograph sessions for the fans.
At home in Shreveport, LA | |
Around 1950, Lewis started meeting the heads of up-and-coming independent record labels of R&B music. Some of these record label owners included such pioneers as Leonard and Phil Chess (Chess Records), Joe, Saul and Lester Bihari (Modern Records), Art Rupe (Specialty Records), Lou Chudd (Imperial Records) and Bobby Shad (Mercury Records). These gentlemen came by in their cars with a trunk full of records to sell. During this time period it was common for record distribution to be conducted in this manner.
To promote record sales, Lewis began sponsoring a weekly 15 minutes radio show on KWKH. The show became so popular that it grew to a one-hour production every weekday, and the famous Frank Page hosted it. By the mid-50s, the legendary Wolf Man Jack hosted a show for Stan's Record Shop out of the 250,000 watt XERF Radio station in Del Rio, Texas. This station was heard all over the United States and in many foreign countries. I remember listening to this late-night program in my bedroom in Cedar Grove. This form of advertising had a tremendous impact on Lewis mail order record sales. Lewis then began to produce records for Chess, Imperial, Specialty and other labels. He was an A&R and producer for the region that included Louisiana, East Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi.
In 1954, Lewis produced two big country hits, Jimmy C. Newmans, Cry, Cry Darling and Jimmy and Johnnys, If You Dont, Someone Else Will. Many believe the best record Lewis ever produced was the great hit, Susie Q, which was recorded by local vocalist Dale Hawkins. Susie Q was a tremendous hit nationwide. Lewis would kick around ideas with Leonard Chess, who worked in Stan's Record Shop at the time, and whose daughter was named Susie. Later, Lewis named his daughter Susie. Lewis and Hawkins wrote Susie Q. In 1957, there was no recording studio in Shreveport. The song was cut In KWKHs studio around midnight after the station went off the air until six oclock the next morning. The members of the band that recorded Susie Q are: Ronnie Lewis on drums (Lewis brother), T.J.Mandina on bass (his cousin), James Burton on guitar (who later was guitarist for Elvis, Ricky Nelson, John Denver, etc.) and Dale Hawkins on vocals. Ronnie Lewis and T.J. Mandina are still in the grocery business in Shreveport. Mandina said recently the session took four or five hours, because in 1957 recording technology was such that if anyone made a mistake you had to record all over again until you got it right.
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