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 One of the most popular Chicago house
producers during the late '80s thanks to his massive club hit "French Kiss",
Lil' Louis was also the only Chicago producer to successfully deal with the
major labels; he released two albums for Epic, and only left the label at his
own instigation. Born in Chicago, Louis was the son of guitarist Bobby Sims, who
recorded for Chess and appeared with the psychedelic-soul unit Rotary
Connection. He grew up with nine siblings and played both drums and bass as a
child, then began DJing in the mid-'70s (he earned his nickname after
appearances at the club River's Edge while still in middle school). By the end
of the decade he had his own club, the Future, where he began working on his
editing techniques, thanks to a cassette deck and later a reel-to-reel recorder.
By the 1980s, Lil' Louis was hosting the biggest house parties in Chicago, and
he began recording his productions around that time as well. His first single
"How I Feel" appeared on his own label, and he began collaborating with Marshall
Jefferson on several tracks - "Seven Ways to Jack" by Hercules, Byron Stingily's
"I Can't Stay Awake". In 1987, his new single "French Kiss" became a local hit,
then a platinum-selling international classic after being licensed to CBS and ffrr. The success triggered a major-label contract through Epic, and the release
of his  debut album "From the Mind of Lil' Louis" in 1989. Charting a course
across jazz-fusion and R&B as well as house, the LP was one of the best produced
by any of the Chicago figures, and included session contributions from Larry
Heard, Die Warzau and his own father on drums. From the album, the moody single
"I Called U" became another club hit. His follow-up LP, the more stylistically
unified "Journey with the Lonely", didn't fare as well and Lil' Louis retired
from recording for over four years, preferring instead to set up his own studio
in New York and work on production with Babyface and Me'Shell Ndegeocello. He
returned by collaborating with "Little" Louie Vega of Masters at Work and also
worked on production for Black Magic.
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