Reading High grad Gary Lefkowith helps drive Le Sonic to top of smooth jazz chart

Jun. 15—Reading High School's Class of 1968 held its 55th class reunion last weekend, and while many in attendance are enjoying their retirements, one classmate, Gary Lefkowith, finds his career kicking into high gear.

Lefkowith, who resides in Ridgefield, Conn., has been in the music business for over 45 years, working alongside some of the biggest names out there, but 2022 was probably his pinnacle, with his band, Le Sonic, landing two No. 1 songs on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Chart.

And 2023 is starting out promising, as well, with Le Sonic's new single, "Riverside Drive," climbing to No. 9 with a bullet on the lastest chart.

"This is kind of a special thing for me, at this point in my career, to still be going stronger than ever," Lefkowith said.

Le Sonic is his collaboration with Mike Rogers. The two veteran producers, songwriters and recording artists work with a team of top artists to bring their creative vision to life.

Rogers has made a career of producing, engineering and writing for legendary artists in popular music. His first hit record was Deee-Lite's 1990 hit "Groove Is in the Heart," which he engineered and co-produced. It topped the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart, hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and sold 6 million copies worldwide.

Rogers also has been behind the board for the likes of Sinead O'Connor, Graham Nash, Erasure, The Fat Boys, Randy Brecker and Omar Hakim.

Throughout his career, Lefkowith has worked as an artist and record promoter. He was a quarterfinalist in the 1977 American Song Festival and a finalist in the USA Song Writing Competition of 2019 and 2020. In the 1990s, his group HiFi had a Top 20 record, "Oh," on the CMJ College Music Chart, and 10 years later a Top 40 charting single, "She's My Girl," on Billboard's Top 40 Indicator Chart.

His work has spanned the genres, with songs like "Oh" (watch the video here) teetering on punk rock.

"When I went to Berklee (College of Music, in Boston), they told me I was holding my guitar wrong," he said. "They said I should be holding it higher. My professor said, 'What do you want to be, a rock star or a real guitar player?' I didn't answer, but in my mind, I thought, 'Rock star.'"

Lefkowith has promoted records for Chubby Checker, Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger and Prince.

In 1976, "Kansas City Woman," a country-pop song he wrote for his wife, Lyn, and coproduced with the band JNB, received its initial play in Reading and was in rotation on the three major local radio stations: WEEU, WRAW and WHUM.

In reminiscing, Lefkowith said his mother, Sara, bought him his first record, "Pony Time" by Chubby Checker, and cautioned him that this music thing would be just a passing phase. His father, Otto, a dreamer who knew better, took him to his first concert to see Checker play at Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J.

Years later, Lefkowith met Checker through a program director from a Midwest Top 40 station. It was a dream come true to meet and eventually work with him in a multifaceted way: record producer, promoter and eventually running a label for Checker at Sony/Red. That led to Lefkowith producing a No. 1 dance single for Checker in 2007 called "Knock Down the Walls."

In 2008, Lefkowith played guitar with Checker at the 50th anniversary of the Daytona 500 to a worldwide TV audience estimated at 50 million.

A follow-up single called "Changes" was played heavily on adult contemporary and gospel radio and led to a performance on "The Today Show," with Lefkowith, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Bob Dylan, backing Checker with his band at the time, HiFi.

"Back when I was with Chubby, everybody used to come up to me as if I was Bob Dylan," Lefkowith said. "And Chubby said, 'Even when they think you're Bob Dylan, more people come up to me.'"

Checker introduced Lefkowith to Philadelphia rock 'n' roll trailblazer Charlie Gracie at WFIL's Bandstand Reunion, which commemorated the show's 60-year history. Gracie is known as Philadelphia's first rock star and had the first million-selling rock record, "Butterfly," which knocked Elvis out of the No. 1 Billboard slot in April 1957 and went on to sell 3 million copies. His success financed Cameo/Parway Records and was the stepping stone for Checker and all the other Philadelphia artists that followed.

Gracie had several successful follow-ups, including "Fabulous," which Paul McCartney covered years later. Gracie's success in England and Europe was much greater than in the U.S. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton cite him as a major influence after his groundbreaking tour of England in 1957.

On Gracie's 75th birthday in 2011, Rogers and Lefkowith set up a mobile studio at Gracie's home and recorded the vocals of their original song, "Baby Doll." They built and finished the track in Manhattan at Le Sonic Recording Studio and enlisted Richie Scarlet to cut lead guitar. Scarlet is a former member of Mountain and Ace Frehley's post-KISS band, Frehley's Comet.

With that song, Gracie received his first airplay on a new record in nearly 50 years. It was played in major markets across the U.S., on Sirius XM and BBC 2 in the UK. It entered the Top 100 and in January 2012 was the No. 1 retail CD single in Philadelphia. Gracie used this success as the climax for his autobiography, "Rock & Roll's Hidden Giant."

A follow-up single, "Can't Stop Rock'n," was released before his death on Dec. 16, 2022.

On Friday, June 23, Lefkowith will be the music director for a memorial concert for Gracie at the Media Theatre, just outside Philadelphia. Lefkowith hopes to see older fans there along with a new generation who have discovered Gracie via Google and Spotify.

In 2019, Rogers and Lefkowith turned their total attention toward Le Sonic. With the help of guitarist Robert Lee, a founding member of ? and the Mysterians, they cut their first smooth jazz single, "Any Moment." It was released in 2021 and by February 2022 had reached No. 1 on Billboard, Mediabase and the Smooth Jazz Network Charts.

Le Sonic followed up quickly with a rare smooth jazz vocal record that featured "American Idol" contestant and Apollo Amateur Night winner Lauran Beluzo. When "I'll Be the One" rocketed to No. 1, it was the first smooth jazz vocal track to do so in over five years.

The video for the latest Le Sonic single, "Riverside Drive," features shots from Le Sonic Studios with Rogers and Lefkowith recording Jim Hynes, Scott Kreitzer and Jon Rogers. One of the stars of the video is a yellow '86 Indy Pace Car Corvette, with none other than Gary Lefkowith driving along Manhattan's Riverside Drive.