Jona Lewie

Born John Lewis on 14 March 1947 in Southampton, England, Jona Lewie is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist associated with the legendary Stiff Records and best known for his 1980 UK hits "You Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties" and "Stop the Cavalry". He kicked off his career in the UK pub rock scene, playing with Sussex band Brett Marvin & the Thunderbolts, and bagged a UK top five in 1972 with "Seaside Shuffle", recorded under the Terry Dactyl & the Dinosaurs alias. However, after the group's star began to wane, he decided to go it alone, signing to punk and new wave outpost Stiff Records in 1975 and christening his solo career with a breakthrough single in 1980, the synth-pop gem "You Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties". The hit, co-written with fellow Brett Marvin member Keef Trouble, cracked the UK top 20. He achieved a hit in Germany with the follow-up, "Big Shot – Momentarily", and made his return to the UK charts at the end of 1980 with anti-war hit "Stop the Cavalry", which shot to number three and became one of his defining songs. His debut album On the Other Hand There's a Fist was originally released in 1978 but was re-released in 1980 with a different tracklisting and included "Big Shot – Momentarily" and "You Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties". He issued his second album Heart Skips Beat in 1981 but maintained a fairly low-profile during the 1990s, releasing third LP Optimistic on New Rose Records in 1993 and going on tour as a guest of the Blues Band. "You Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties" was revived in 2010 to advertise IKEA kitchens and featured the group Man Like Me walking around a party in a house comprising only kitchens while singing a new version of the hit. Jona Lewie made a cameo in the advert as the party host, and the track made its way back into the UK Top 100 Singles Chart where it reached number 71. After over thirty years out of the limelight, Jona Lewie returned in 2022 with the comeback single "Catch a Falling Star".

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