Rico "Smoov" Lewis

Ricardo Lewis (born in Anderson, Indiana, now residing in Ohio) has been playing drums since a very early age, starting out in the church and playing with dozens of bands in the gospel, as well as the top 40 circuits in the midwestern U.S. growing up.

Known professionally as Rico “Smoov” Lewis, this world-renowned musician was the drummer for George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic/P-Funk All-Stars from 1997 to 2012, when he retired from the seminal funk group. Rico has played on six continents with George and P-Funk in his over a decade long tenure and has played with a virtual “who’s who” in music today--everyone from Phish to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to Lenny Kravitz, to Bernie Worrell; Rico has a massive tour book. His credits include Woodstock 99, Montreaux Jazz 04, Nice Jazz 06, Roskilde Fest 06, Fuji Fest 00, and hundreds of others. Rico has played to millions and millions of people, with some festival shows reaching the hundreds of thousands. He has also appeared with P-Funk televised on the Jerry Lewis telethon, and on MTV broadcast all over the world.

Additionally, Rico Lewis played drums and sang as a founding member of the internationally recognized hip hop/funk group Children of Production. The group had one studio offering which sold all over the world, and the group toured the U.S., Europe, and Africa, opening up for George Clinton. This was not Rico’s first foray into hip hop, however. He was a founding member of Blacked out Camp and has played a major roll with Freekbass & The Bump Assembly. In January 2012, Rico founded Sons Of F.U.N.K, and today plays a vital part of the monstrous Funk Mob.

Rico has played everything from drums to keyboards with the up-and-coming funk tribe, as well as his own unique animated vocal work. Rico Lewis is one of the best drummers in the world, bar none. His groove is all his own, though often copied, but never truly copped. Rico Lewis has a bouncing, infectious pocket that no other drummer can match.