Dennis Lewin

Dennis Lewin (born August 15, 1959, Cleveland, Ohio) is an American songwriter and musician best known for his work with the 1980s rock band "Beau Coup" writing and producing the album Born and Raised on Rock and Roll and is a classical talk show host on WHK Cleveland and on WXGR New Hampshire.

Biography
Dennis Lewin, born to Ellis Lewin and Joan Lewin is the middle child of three siblings including Ricky and Debi. He started piano at the age of 4 under the teaching of his grandfather, concert pianist Joseph Lewin who along with Lewin's father survived the Holocaust, including Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps. At age 6, Lewin began studying classical piano with Margaret Heller, an alumni teacher from The Cleveland Institute of Music. After Heller’s retirement 4 years later, Lewin auditioned for concert pianist and teacher Dr. Andrius Kuprevičius at The Cleveland Music School Settlement. He remained with Dr. Kuprevicious for 9 years. When Kuprevicious became the head of the piano department at Cleveland State University, Lewin followed and also majored in musical theory with Dr Heywood Alexander. In 1983 Lewin joined the local group Jonah Koslen and the Heroes, that released the album Aces.

After Jonah Koslen and the Heroes disbanded, Lewin teamed up with singers Frank Amato and Tommy Amato and bassist Bill March to put together the Cleveland band, Beau Coup.

At the age of 24 Lewin signed his first recording contract with Scotti Brothers Records / CBS records for the debut album Beau Coup for which he wrote all songs and lyrics. Two years later after struggling with the record label, Lewin and Beau Coup produced their album with Amherst / A&M Records.

After the band officially disbanded in the 1990s, Lewin went on to open his own piano studio which is still operating in Beachwood, Ohio.

Aside from being characters in 2 books by author Les Roberts titled “Indian Sign” and “The Best Kept Secret” and appearing in the book “Flashbacks to Happiness": "Eighties Music Revisited” by Randolph Michaels (ISBN 978-0595370078) and the book “Rock & Roll and the Cleveland Connection” by Deanna Adams (ISBN 978-0873386913), Lewin released a solo piano CD called “Crossing Chagrin” which contains the music of J.S. Bach, Scarlatti, Debussy, Satie, Andrew Lloyd Weber and others.

Lewin also is credited for the music on the soundtrack to the independent film “Filmic Achievement” written and directed by Kevin Kerwin. The film won “Best Director” at The Stratford-Upon-Avon International Film Festival and “Best Feature Film” at The Nolita Film Festival in New York City. “Filmic Achievement” was also featured in 12 other international film festivals including The Cleveland International Film Festival.

In addition to performing with bands, teaching, writing music, and hosting his radio programs, Lewin is a solo pianist and performs regularly in the greater Cleveland area and northeastern Ohio, sometimes with his sister the vocalist Debi Lewin. Lewin also donates his time as a regular pianist for 11:00 A.M. WTAM's "Mike Trivisonno's" "Coats for Kid's Concert" Since that initial campaign, more than $3.25 million has been raised for the poor children of Northeastern Ohio over the last several years.

Beau Coup Band
Beau Coup began in the early 1980s when Tommy Amato was recording demos at Agency Recording Studio upstairs of The Cleveland Agora with drummer, Eric Singer (Black Sabbath, Kiss) and Mike McGuill guitars. Amato asked friend, keyboardist and songwriter Lewin, then of Jonah Koslen and the Heroes, if he would come upstairs and listen to what they were doing while Lewin was playing a "Monday Night Out" at the Cleveland Agora with Koslen.

After liking what he heard, Lewin wrote a batch of songs at that point, including "Still In My Heart" and "Somewhere Out in the Night". With help from Henry LoConti, Sr., Henry LoConti, Jr. and the "Agora Record Label", Beau Coup put together an EP of 5 songs and released "Still In My Heart" as the first single. 98.5 WGCL's WNCX General Manager Kim Colebrook and Program Directors, Bob Travis and Tom Jefferies, loved the song "Still In My Heart" and it became a top 10 record on the station. Eventually CBS, Scotti Brothers Records released their music. Soon after that, USA WMMS took great interest in Beau Coup inviting them to participate in station events. (ISBN 978-1886228474)

The Beau Coup "Born and Raised on Rock and Roll" album, CD, and cassette were finally released on the Amherst label.

The group reached the peak of their popularity nationally in the 1980s after the release of their album “Born and Raised on Rock and Roll".

The song “Sweet Rachel” written by Lewin reached #53 on the “Billboard Hot 100” singles chart and received much radio and video play internationally. Other Lewin Songs including “Still in my Heart”, “Somewhere Out in the Night” and “Born and Raised on Rock and Roll” were all picked by Billboard as “Hot Picks” along with a video that was played on video shows in the US and abroad, including MTV and USA Video Hits.

Beau Coup disbanded in the early 1990s.

Beau Coup personnel

 * Tim Pierce – guitar
 * Paul Sidoti - guitar (The Raspberries) ((Taylor Swift))
 * Don Krueger - drummer (The Eric Carmen Band), (The Euclid Beach Band)
 * Eric Singer - drummer (KISS (band))
 * Jimmy Clark - drummer (The All Sports Band)
 * Billy Sullivan – guitar (The Raspberries) (Gary Lewis and the Playboys)
 * Danny Powers – guitar
 * Mike McGill – guitar
 * John Franks - drummer
 * Steve Schufert – guitar
 * Rodney Psyka - percussionist and vocalist
 * Debi Lewin - vocalist

Radio career
“The Dennis Lewin Radio Program” "Turning You Onto Classical Music" which began in the year of 1998 on A.M. 1300 WERE Cleveland has also been aired over the years on 1070 KNTH A.M. Houston Texas, Radio Arts Indonesia and the Cleveland Orchestra's flagship station "F.M. 104.9 WCLV Ideastream" Lorain/Cleveland - It is now heard on Sunday afternoons from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM on A.M. 1420 WHK Cleveland (The Answer) Saturday afternoons from 2 P.M to 4 P.M. on A.M. 1220 WHKW Cleveland (The Word) and on F.M. 103.5 WXGR" New Hampshire on Sunday mornings from 9:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M.

During these programs Lewin discusses the lives and music of classical composers and musicians.