Jenny Lewis (born January 8, 1976, in Las Vegas, Nevada) is an American singer, musician, and actress.
In 1998, she and friends Pierre De Reeder, Blake Sennett and Dave Rock formed the band Rilo Kiley. (Rock was later replaced by Jason Boesel.)
Beginning with a country sound, Rilo Kiley gravitated toward a downbeat indie rock sound, and with its 2004 album More Adventurous found widespread success. Critics such as Pitchfork Media attributed this to the "wise" decision to front Lewis on most of the songs (on earlier albums, Sennett contributed about half the vocals). The song "Portions for Foxes" was a hit, and in 2005 the band was picked up by Warner Bros. (via its own imprint, Brute/Beaute Records), putting them on a major label for the first time. The band opened for Coldplay on its U.S. tour in 2005. Rilo Kiley's 2007 album Under the Blacklight was released directly by major label Warner Bros.
In 2002, Lewis was asked to contribute some vocals for The Postal Service, whose album Give Up was an international success. Lewis performed in the video for the hit "We Will Become Silhouettes", and toured with the band in 2003. Lewis also contributed vocals to several tracks on the 2004 Cursive album The Ugly Organ.
In 2004, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes invited Lewis to record a solo record for record label Team Love. Described by Lewis as "a kind of soul record," Rabbit Fur Coat (released January 24, 2006) features contributions from Oberst, M. Ward, and Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie (and Lewis's bandmate in The Postal Service) guests on a cover of The Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care." The Watson Twins provide accompaniment on the album, billed as Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins. Lewis toured with the Watson Twins in support of the album three times in 2006 and appeared with her band on The Late Show With David Letterman, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Late Night With Conan O'Brien and Later with Jools Holland. The album received positive reviews, with Entertainment Weekly writing, "Consider Lewis the Emmylou Harris of the Silverlake set" and Rolling Stone commenting that "her girlishly seductive vocals are more versatile than ever." The Onion AV Club, Spin, and NPR music critic Meredith Ochs named it among the best albums of the year.
In 2005, Lewis contributed to the UNICEF benefit song "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?", along with Sennett and Jimmy Tamborello.
In 2007, Jenny Lewis contributed vocals to various songs on Johnathan Rice's album Further North, and she appeared in the music video for "We're All Stuck Out In The Desert (And We're Gonna Die)".
In 2008, Lewis will be returning to the studio to start work on the follow-up to her 2006 solo LP with the Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat.
Source: http://artists.letssingit.com/jenny-lewis-d43fs/biography
