Lewis Hamilton’s dream of becoming an R&B singer may have taken one step forward as it appears he’s signed to Purple PR—agency for such acts as Adele, Beyonce, Calvin Harris, Prince, Dizzee Rascal and Ice Cube—to handle his burgeoning career.
Having a pop star girlfriend has certainly introduced Lewis to the world of pop music as he’s often seen cruising the paddock with music industry stars and even stated how important music has become to him saying that he writes a lot and even at race weekends.
As an American I’ll be honest, I was hoping Lewis could bring America to Formula 1 instead of the other way around. If Lewis gets distracted or ditches F1 for a music career and a home in Colorado, I apologize to all my British friends for spoiling what otherwise was a great career in F1 and a real champion for the UK to get behind.
In some ways I see Lewis’s life as the sum of influences he’s decided to listen to. First it was his father and as normal as that seems, it ran aground when his father seemed to feel his role in F1 was much larger than merely being the dad of a driver. The two parted way leaving Anthony Hamilton to craft a career trying to manage drivers that ended in a lawsuit with Paul di Resta.
As much as Anthony was instrumental in Lewis’s career—and he was—he was also a difficult element as well. Then came the Pussycat Doll girlfriend. Then on/off nature of their relationship may have weighed heavily on her but you wouldn’t have known—not like we tangibly felt it from Lewis’s perspective when he seemed a million miles away for a couple of seasons in his career.
Then the singing to Simon Fuller’s agency and the big management contract that ultimately wasn’t renewed this past year. Then came the music industry, rap stars, producers and guitar lessons.
I understand and applaud Lewis for having lots of interests in life and racing isn’t the only thing but I do wonder if it is the one thing that Lewis is truly gifted at that really reveals the truly talented Lewis Hamilton. No muses, no outside influences, no building up of fancy dreams based on skills that have yet to be developed. Just winning races and driving like a champion.
Sometimes I wonder if he was born to do this or if it was borrowed dreams from his father because he truly does seem like a young man who does what he does because that’s all he’s done. I wonder if his extracurricular activities are simply part of a delayed maturation that is now taking root and seeking other facets of life and interests that he never had access to and only his success in racing has now allowed him to truly pursue the things he is really passionate about.
If it is the latter, then I say grab it Lewis. In the end, you owe no one an explanation or apology and if music is your real passion, then go do that. Drivers all have hobbies so why not music? Even Jacques Villeneuve recorded a CD so have fun in your music career and wouldn’t it be great to top the F1 championship list along with topping the Billboard R&B list? Lewis has time to listen to a lot of ideas from others about who he is and what he should be doing but in this, I hope Lewis listens to himself—I have more confidence in Lewis than I do his father, girlfriend, pop star and rapper friends and producers.
Hat Tip: The Telegraph
