Lewis Furey

Lewis Furey began studying the violin at the age of five in Montreal. At eleven, he made his debut as a soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Sir Wilfrid Pelletier. He later entered the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal to study with Calvin Sieb, before moving to New York to attend the Juilliard School under the guidance of Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay. At eighteen, he studied contemporary literature with Louis Dudek at McGill University. At twenty, he turned toward songwriting, theatre, and film.

He recorded three solo albums — Lewis Furey (1975), The Humours of… (1976), and The Sky Is Falling (1979). As producer and composer for Carole Laure, he created the albums Alibis (1978), Western Shadows (1989, Prix Charles-Cros), She Says Move On (1991), and Sentiments naturels (1997, Félix Award at ADISQ 1998). He also directed numerous music videos, including seven for Carole Laure (Save the Last Dance for Me, Mirage Geisho, among others), as well as videos for Renaud (Le P’tit Voleur), Mecano (Hijo de la Luna), Julio Iglesias (Milonga Sentimental), Françoise Hardy (Si ça fait mal), and Céline Dion (Ziggy).

In theatre, he collaborated with Jean-Michel Ribes (Jacky Parady), Carole Laure (Vous avez dû mentir aussi and Bonsoir, mon amour), and Jean-Michel Déprats (Antoine et Cléopâtre – The A&C Project). In 1993, he directed a revival of the rock opera Starmania, which went on to win Musical Show of the Year at the Victoires de la musique for three consecutive years and toured for a decade throughout the French-speaking world.

Lewis Furey has composed the music for some twenty films, including Fantastica, La Tête de Normande St-Onge, The Rubber Gun Show, American Dreamer, and Love Project. His scores have earned him three Canadian Screen Awards (Maria Chapdelaine, The Peanut Butter Solution, and Night Magic).

He directed two feature films: Rats and Rabbits, based on George F. Walker’s Beyond Mozambique (2000), and Night Magic, a musical film with a libretto by Leonard Cohen, selected for the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1985.

From 2010 to 2014, Lewis Furey successfully returned to the stage with Selected Songs Recital, revisiting his catalogue. In 2016–2017, he created Lewis Furey chante Brahms at Théâtre Outremont in Montreal and recorded Haunted by Brahms for ATMA Classique.