Ramsey Lewis, a three-time Grammy award winner and acclaimed jazz musician of over 60 years, has died. He died at his home in Chicago on the morning of Sept. 12, according to a statement released from his family. He was 87 years old.
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What happened to Ramsey Lewis? How did Ramsey Lewis die? Lewis died in his sleep at his Chicago home, according to his son, Bobby Lewis.
“He was just at peace,” Bobby Lewis told the Associated Press on Monday night.
“Most people say when they met dad that he was a class act. He was that way even through his last breath.”
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Born in Chicago, Illinois, Lewis began taking piano lessons at the age of four and as a young man, he played with a number of local ensembles, such as Edward Virgil Abner’s Knights of Music.
Lewis eventually joined a jazz group called the clefs and later formed the Ramsey Lewis Trio with drummer Isaac “Red” Holt and bassist Eldee Young.
Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five gold records and three Grammy Awards in his career.
In addition to his son, Lewis is survived by his wife, Janet; daughters Denise Jeffries and Dawn Allain; two other sons Kendall Kelly Lewis and Frayne Lewis; and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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