Lewy was born to a Jewish family in
Magdeburg, Germany, where his father owned a
farm machinery business. The family left Germany in 1939, traveling to England and Canada, before settling at first in
Savannah, Georgia, and then in Los Angeles, California. Henry Lewy graduated from
Hollywood High School in 1945 and served in the
US Army before working in radio stations in
San Diego,
Las Vegas and Los Angeles as an audio engineer and announcer. During the 1950s he studied engineering and travelled in South America, joining a circus as an engineer for a time before returning to work at the Electrovox Studios in Los Angeles. He then moved to
Liberty Records, where he worked with
Ross Bagdasarian on records by
The Chipmunks. He also worked at
Gold Star Studios with
Jackie DeShannon and
Leon Russell, and with
Bones Howe on records by
The Mamas and the Papas and
Johnny Rivers. In 1967 he moved to
A&M Records, where he worked on hit records by
Sérgio Mendes and
Boyce and Hart. While working with Crosby, Stills and Nash, he was introduced by Crosby to Joni Mitchell, thus beginning a long collaboration with the singer-songwriter. Lewy collaborated with Mitchell on the engineering and production of
Clouds,
Ladies of the Canyon,
Blue,
Court and Spark,
The Hissing of Summer Lawns,
Hejira,
Wild Things Run Fast, and other albums, from the 1960s to the 1980s, including
Careless, the debut album by
Stephen Bishop which Lewy co-produced. He also worked in a similar capacity with
Neil Young (
Harvest, 1972),
Judee Sill (
Heart Food, 1973),
Joan Baez (
Gracias a la Vida, 1974),
Hoyt Axton (
Southbound, 1975),
Bill Hughes (
Dream Master, 1979),
Leonard Cohen (
Recent Songs, 1979),
Minnie Riperton (
Minnie, 1979),
Joan Armatrading (
How Cruel,1979),
Van Morrison (
Common One, 1980),
The Long Ryders (
Native Sons, 1984) and
Jennifer Warnes (
Famous Blue Raincoat, 1986). Lewy retired in the late 1980s, and in later years lived in
Prescott, Arizona. He died there in 2006 at the age of 79, after a period of declining health which included a stroke and heart surgery. ==References==