Alan Lewis (music journalist)
Alan Lewis (1945 – 23 June 2021) was a British music journalist and editor. He began his career on local newspapers, before starting work as production editor at "Melody Maker" in 1969. From there, he helped found "Black Music" magazine in 1973, and in the late 1970s became the editor of "Sounds" magazine, where he encouraged such writers as Jon Savage, Sylvie Simmons, Vivien Goldman and Geoff Barton. In 1979, he was responsible for coining the term "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" (NWOBHM), as a headline for an article by Barton. In 1981, he founded "Kerrang !" magazine, initially as an offshoot of "Sounds", with Barton as its editor. It later became a regular monthly, and then weekly, magazine. Lewis left journalism for some time to run a pub, but returned to edit pop music magazine "No.1" in 1983, and then as editor of "NME" in 1987. There, he recruited journalist James Brown, who later became "NME" editor, as well as writers including Stuart Maconie and Steve Lamacq. Lewis became responsible for both "NME" and "Melody Maker", and launched the magazines "Vox" and "Muzik". He also assisted Brown in founding and establishing "Loaded" magazine in 1994. In  1997, Lewis oversaw the launch of "Uncut", another music magazine, as editor-in-chief. He won the British Society of Magazine Editors' Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. After leaving IPC, he became editor of "Record Collector" magazine from 2003 until retiring to his home in Buckinghamshire in 2011. He died in 2021, aged 75, after suffering from Parkinson's disease and cancer.