Juvenile (rapper)

However, such crossover success seems imminent, as new mainstream radio stations continue to add the song to their playlists every week. He died in New York City in 1971. The song has managed to achieve this feat essentially on the strength of urban radio airplay alone as it has not yet had massive pop crossover success. Lewis kept his band together through the 1950s, and continued to make appearances on television and in Las Vegas into the 1960s. 1 on the Hot 100. Lewis's catch-phrase was cheerfully asking the audience, "Is Everybody Happy?" Lewis participated in three sound films using this title from 1929 to 1943. It is Juvenile's and guest artist Soulja Slim's first No. Lewis's band got cornier and schmaltzier as the Great Depression wore on, but this seemed to match the general public's taste, as he kept commercially successful during an era when many bands broke up.

The song topped Billboard's Hot 100 chart on August 7, 2004 knocking Usher's "Confessions" (part 2) out of number one after only two weeks. Ted Lewis's band was second only to the Paul Whiteman in popularity during the 1920s, and arguably played more real jazz with less pretension than Whiteman, especially in his recordings of the late 1920s. This summer, his Juve The Great album has spawned a massive hit called "Slow Motion". For years his band also included jazz greats Muggsy Spanier on trumpet and George Brunis on trombone. He has released a total of nine albums. Lewis's clarinet playing never evolved beyond his style of 1919 which in later years would sound increasingly corny, but Lewis certainly knew what good clarinet playing sounded like, for he hired musicians like Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, and (the wonderful and, unfortunately, largely forgotten) Don Murray to play clarinet in his band. His latest album is Juve The Great(2004). At the start of the 1920s he was considered by many people without previous knowledge of jazz (that is to say, most of America) to be one of the leading lights of hot jazz.

Juvenile returned to Cash Money in 2003. By 1919 Lewis was leading his own band, and had a recording contract with Columbia Records, which marketed him as their answer to the Original Dixieland Jass Band who recorded for Victor records. After the lackluster reception of The G-Code and Project English (2001), which only contained the very minor hit single, "From Your Momma", Juvenile left Cash Money Records, releasing The Compilation in 2002 with the UTP (Uptown Project Playas) crew. He improved a bit later, forming his style from the influences of the first New Orleans clarinetists to reside in New York, Larry Shields, Alcide Nunez, and Achille Baquet. Warlock Records released a remixed version of Being Myself at the same time. At the time, Lewis didn't seem to be able to do much on the clarinet other than trill. In 1999, Solja Rags was re-released nationally to ride the wave of popularity Juvenile was enjoying with the release of 400 Degreez and its smash lead single, "Back That Ass Up", which eventually became a pop crossover hit in early 2000. He first recorded in 1917 with Earl Fuller's Jass Band, who were making an energetic if somewhat clumsy attempt to copy the sound of the city's newest sensation, the Original Dixieland Jass Band.

In 1997, Solja Rags, Juvenile's debut with Cash Money Records, was an underground hit. Born in Circleville, Ohio, Lewis was one of the first Northern musicians to start imitating the New Orleans jazz musicians who came up to New York in the teens. He began recording in a distinctive southern style with Being Myself (1995, Warlock Records). He led a band presenting a combination of jazz, hokey comedy, and schmaltzy sentimentality that was a hit with the American public. Juvenile (born Terius Gray) is a gangsta rapper from New Orleans. Theodore Leopold Friedman, better known as Ted Lewis (June 6, 1890-August 25, 1971), was an American entertainer, bandleader, singer, and musician. Juvenile Lyrics (http://lyrics.rare-lyrics.com/J/Juvenile.html).

Official Site (http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/juvenile/artist.jhtml). Juve The Great (2003). The Compilation (2002). Project English (2001).

The G-Code. Being Myself [Remixed Version] (1999). 400 Degreez (1998). Solja Rags (1997).

Being Myself (1995).