Larnell Lewis is a 22 year old drummer from Toronto,
Ontario. A student at Humber College, Larnell was the
2004 recipient of the Oscar Peterson Award for
Outstanding Achievement in Music ($5000 scholarship
award), the highest award given by the institution.
Born into a family of singers/musicians, Larnell
started playing at the age of 2. Sitting on his
father's lap he learned to play the drums while his
father played the pedals. At age 4 Larnell made his
first public appearance, as drummer for his father,
Oral Lewis and the Malton Church of God Adult Choir.
Larnell began competing at 7, winning 1st place in the
Eastern Canada Church of God Junior Talent Competition
for two consecutive years, 1991 and 1993. In 1998 he
won the Eastern Canada Teen Talent Competition for
drums. After winning 1st place for the second time in
2000, he went on to represent Canada in
the International Church of God Teen Talent Competition.
Moving away from his principal instrument, he competed
in the same competition in 2002, winning 2nd place in
keyboards and 3rd place in bass (strings plucked
category).
Larnell’s God-given talent would continue to open
doors of opportunity to express himself through music
to many different audiences. As the 2003 recipient of
the Yamaha Kando Award ($4000 product award) and
winner of the 2003 Kingdom Covenant Centre Drum Off,
Larnell began to see that God could prepare him to be
an ambassador of the Gospel through music.
His talent was not only recognized in the gospel
arena, but was appreciated by the schools that he
attended. At Mayfield Secondary School of the Arts,
Larnell was the co-valedictorian in 2002 for the music
program, and won scholarships which would aid him in
his decision to continue his studies at
Humber
College. In his 1st year at Humber, he played for the
top ensembles (Trish Colter’s Vocal Jazz Group, Don
Thompson’s Ensemble, and Denny Christianson’s Studio
Jazz Ensemble) and won the Duke Ellington Award ($1000
scholarship award). His studies at Humber continued
to open doors for his professional career by giving
him opportunities to play with the pros.
Over the last few years, Larnell has performed with
many artists/musicians such as Michael Brecker (Verve
Records), Dave Leibman, Steve Gadd, Dave Holland (LoJac Music), Ranee Lee
(Justin Time Records), Salome Bey, Denny Christianson
(Justin Time Records, and Head of the Humber College
Music Program), Laila Biali, Phil Dwyer, Divine Brown, and is
currently playing with, Perfect Cadence, Amoy Levy, Demo Cates, Heart to Heart Outreach, Jully Black (Universal), Matt Dusk (Universal), and many others.
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