Meet the professional whistler who caught the ear of Dr. Dre and soundtracked 'Barbie' movie
There are people who can whistle, and some who can't at all.
For Molly Lewis, she's not just a professional whistler, she's a star at it.
With a unique talent that has spawned quite the successful musical career, Lewis, who recently released her debut album On the Lips, says this journey has all been really happenstance.
"I was working in the film industry, and I kept getting whistling opportunities," she told Eyewitness News. "It kind of really snowballed."
Molly headlines April 1st at the Bowery Ballroom, where she's now fittingly known as whistler people call.
"Dr. Dre has called for dope whistles," she recalls. "I performed on the 'Barbie' score which is a huge thing."
Molly has no formal training, jokingly telling Eyewitness News there is no Swiss whistling academy.
But in her teens after seeing a documentary about competitive whistling, the rest was, well, history.
"My dad said if I ever get in that competition, he'd take me there and so we went when I was 22," she said.
She eventually placed first and left with a strong sense of self after having met a new, diverse community.
Molly says the key to what she does is having a good ear for music and an extraordinary control of breathing.
"I whistle breathing in and out," she said. "It's not curricular breathing, it's breathing but I'm making sounds as I breathe."
All in all, it's a breath of fresh air.
"People have told me that they are moved by my music and that's the best," she said.
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