that played the established London gig circuit at such venues as The Hope and Anchor, Islington, the Greyhound, the 100 Club and the Marquee Club. The band stayed together for six months and was not able to realise any potential recording career, despite Ted Caroll's offer of a record deal on his own label Chiswick Records. The band members included Iain "Thumper" Thompson, who went on to help form the successful chart act Darts, the guitarist Martin Stone and drummer Wilgar Campbell. This period, however, did culminate in some further recordings that achieved chart activity for Lewie in Europe as a solo recording artist, with two of his Sonet singles "Cherry Ring" and "Come Away (Bate O Pe)", leading to solo TV appearances in central and northern Europe. Despite Lewie's continuing development as a songwriter and recording artist, he did not forget his early roots as a blues and boogie-woogie pianist evidenced by Lewie providing blues piano for albums by American blues singer-guitarists Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (Roebuck Man released on United Artists) and Juke Boy Bonner (Things Ain't Right on Liberty) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Also he accepted Bob Hall's invitations to the boogie-woogie piano parties that Hall threw in the seventies before he moved away from London. English boogie-woogie players of the period would often drop in to spend time with him, comparing notes and discussing styles. At one such party, Ian Stewart duetted with Bob Hall along with Lewie himself, all three in emulation of the master American triumvirate popular in the 1940s: Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson. Lewie's career continued to rise when he signed to Stiff Records in 1977. In 1980, following appearances on the Stiff package tours, he had a solo hit with the synthpop number "You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties" co-written with fellow Brett Marvin member Keef Trouble, which he occasionally performed live with Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals. The song made the British Top 20. His next single, "Big Shot – Momentarily", was a hit in Germany but not in the UK. By the end of 1980, he was back in the British charts with what became his biggest UK hit, "Stop the Cavalry". His subsequent 1981 release, "Louise (We Get It Right)" reached No. 2 in Australia, and achieved chart success in other world territories. His next two singles, "Vous et