Custom House singer-songwriter Linda Lewis who died last year has had a blue plaque put up in her honour.

The plaque has been erected at the west London house where she lived in the early 1970s.

But now her family and fans want a similar plaque in Custom House on the property where she was born in 1950 and raised.

They are working with Newham Council to get a similar tribute erected there.

Linda's hits included Rock A Doodle Do, It’s in His Kiss and Days of the Old School Yard.

She become the first Black British woman to hit the UK charts and went on to play at the Glastonbury Festival in 1971 when she was just 20.

Linda LewisLinda Lewis (Image: Lewis Family)

Linda was also an accomplished guitarist who found herself in the company of music icons such as David Bowie, Rod Stewart, David Essex, Cat Stevens, Marc Bolan and Stevie Wonder.

The blue plaque in Linda’s memory was unveiled on Friday (September 27) on what would have been her 73rd birthday, at  Arlington Mansions in Chiswick where she wrote her album Lark.

One of her sisters Dee Lewis Clay spoke about her talent and remembered times back in Custom House and in Chiswick which were “East End girls with West End ways”.

 

Linda also lived for a time in California. Corrine Drewery, a singer with Sing Out Sister, told how police in America once pulled them over — for Linda’s autograph.

Linda died suddenly in May last year at her home in Waltham Abbey, Essex.

But her musical legacy lives on. Pink Flamingo Media Group and the Linda Lewis Estate are currently in talks for a stage show on her life and a potential TV series.

She was regularly cast as a teenager in non-speaking TV and film roles such as the 1961 Taste of Honey and as a screaming fan in the first Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night in 1964 — the year she sang Dancing in the Street with John Lee Hooker at a club in Southend which launched her singing career.

Linda made several appearances on Top of the Pops. Her biggest hit It’s in His Kiss reached number six in the charts.