Margaret Lewis born circa 1941

Margaret Lewis Warwick (circa1941 – March 29, 2019), known for much of her career as Margaret Lewis, was an American country music/rockabilly singer-songwriter and music entrepreneur. 

Born Margaret Ann Lewis in Snyder, Texas, she moved with her family early in life to Levelland (near Lubbock), Texas, where she grew up singing in the Baptist church choir and listening to rockabilly and rhythm & blues. In high school she formed a band, the Thunderbolts, and they took second place in a talent show in Lubbock in 1957. 

Like other hip Lubbock teens Margaret went to rhythm and blues gigs at the Cotton Club, seeing Ray Charles and Big Joe Turner. She met the young Charles Hardin Holley, Sonny Curtis and Don Guess at a packed Fats Domino gig. Margaret also saw the legendary local shows by Martha Carson, Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton and Elvis Presley from Tupelo, recalling that she was "stunned and mesmerised by his singing and movements". She was invited on stage at a Bob Wills show to sing the big hit of the day Singing The Blues. 

In April 1957 she won 2nd prize at a talent show in Plainview, sponsored by Johnny Horton, the prize being a guest appearance at the Louisiana Hayride at Shreveport. After some guest appearances on radio program, she joined the cast in 1958. There, Johnny and Tilman Franks introduced her to local businesswoman Mira Smith, who had her own studio and played guitar with young local cats like James Burton. An aspiring songwriter, she took Margaret under her wing, sending her out on the road with local star Dale Hawkins. Margaret and her sister Rose ended up doing backing vocals for some of Dale`s Checker sessions in Chicago, singing on Baby Baby, Mrs Merguitory's Daughter, La-Do-Da -Da, Superman and most memorably of all the awesome Little Pig. Later she sang on the equally awesome Ain't That Lovin' You Baby by Dale. 

Mira and Margaret

The sisters impressed the Chess boys and recorded a few songs, but only Come On Let's Stroll later appeared on a Chess oldies LP. They returned to Shreveport and sang on the rocking gem Swing Daddy Swing by Jerry Hawkins on Ebb. Margaret became a regular on sessions for Mira Smith's fledgling Ram Records label, playing with the likes of D J Fontana. Her first solo 45 appeared in 1959 No No Never / Cheaters Never Win. This was soon followed by a great rocker, Shake A Leg. Whilst other small Louisiana studios and labels got releases on bigger labels/distributors, Mira's little label never broke through nationally and was closed down in the early 1960s. 

                              

Mira used other hit studios like Cosimo's, JD Miller's and even upgraded her own studio but to no commercial avail.  Margaret and Mira then decided to concentrate on songwriting, and their first big success was "Mountain of Love", a country hit for David Houston in 1963. 

In 1964, Margaret signed with Capitol, and worked on the Las Vegas club circuit until they moved base to Nashville and signed a deal with Shelby Singleton to write songs for his SSS International and Plantation Records labels. They wrote a number of hits for various artists from 1967–1971, perhaps the best known being Reconsider Me, which has charted for at least four different artists. 

Lewis continued to record at times, and she had her only chart appearance as a singer with "Honey (I Miss You Too)" (1968), which peaked at No. 74 on the country charts. It was an answer song to Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey". In 1981 Lewis returned to Shreveport and married Alton Warwick, a cousin of Mira Smith. In the late 1980s she became active in efforts to revive the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, where the Hayride had performed until its end in 1960. She formed a non-profit organization to support the effort in 1997. She also became the chairperson of the Louisiana Music Commission, an effort by the Louisiana state government to promote the music industry in the state. 

In 1998 she released an album titled "...but I know what I like" on her own Ram Records, under the by-line Maggie Lewis Warwick & The Thunderbolts!. In 2009, Lewis received the OffBeat magazine award for Lifetime Achievement in the Music Business. 

Lewis died age 79 in Shreveport on March 29, 2019, from complications of pneumonia. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & tims.blackcat.nl)