Lewis (musician)

Randall A. Wulff, better known by his stage name Lewis, and also known as Lewis Baloue and Randy Duke, is a Canadian singer and musician. He released a number of albums in the 1980s, but did not become widely known until they were re-released in 2014.^[1]

Lewis' family live in British Columbia but he is estranged from them; in August 2014 his brother stated that he had not seen Lewis since 2007.^[2] His father and uncle had lost touch with him some years previously.^[3]

During the recording process of his 1980s albums Lewis worked as a stockbroker,^[4] and lived in Calgary.^[3] He lived with his girlfriend in an apartment with all-white furniture.^[3][4]

Lewis recorded two albums in 1983 and 1985 (L'Amour and Romantic Times) that were mostly forgotten until a record collector discovered L'Amour in an Edmonton flea market. They were both re-released by Seattle-based record label Light in the Attic in 2014.^[2]

L'Amour was recorded in Los Angeles in 1983.^[3][5] Lewis disappeared soon after the photoshoot by Edward Colver for the album cover, after his cheque to Colver bounced.^[2][4]

Romantic Times was originally released in 1985 under the 'Lewis Baloue' pseudonym.^[6] An original copy of the album sold on eBay in 2014 for $2,000.^[7]

Two further albums - Love Ain't No Mystery (recorded under the 'Randy Duke' pseudonym) and Hawaiian Breeze were also released by different record labels in 2014 and 2015 respectively.^[8][9]

Under a different pseudonym, Lewis is also believed to have recorded a number of "very soft, religious music" albums in Vancouver in the mid-2000s which were never released.^[2][4]

In 2014 Lewis stated that he was continuing to perform music, but that he was not interested in his earlier releases.^[10]

In 2022, a short film concerning Lewis, entitled I Thought the World of You directed by Canadian filmmaker Kurt Walker,^[11] toured the film festival circuit and garnered praise: ″Walker’s film perfectly captures the hauntology of dollar-bin, vanity-pressing gold. He recreates the edges of Lewis’s life with a lush romanticism, following his white convertible down tree-lined highways, spying him through the window of his recording booth. All the while, Walker keeps Lewis turned away from the camera, reserving him a certain privacy.″ ^[12]