Ryan Lewis was born on 25 March 1988 to Julie and Scott Lewis. Lewis has two sisters, Teresa and Laura, four years and two years older than he is, respectively. At an early age, he played guitar in rock bands with his childhood best friend Ryan Sanson, and nursed a growing interest in music production around the age of 15. Lewis attended Ferris High School in Spokane, Washington and graduated from Roosevelt High School in Seattle. He graduated from the University of Washington majoring in Comparative History of Ideas.

Lewis first met Macklemore in 2006, but only in 2009 they formalized the collaboration with Macklemore as the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and released the EP The VS. EP.

Lewis became a professional photographer and videographer. In 2008, he released his debut extended play, Instrumentals, with four alternative hip hop songs. In the same year, Lewis collaborated with Rhode Island-based emcee Symmetry in a self-titled work, released as an LP.

In October 2010, Lewis produced the VS. Redux EP and, in December, their debut single, “My Oh My”. “Wings” was released on 21 January 2011, followed by “Can’t Hold Us” featuring Ray Dalton on 16 August 2011.

Their album The Heist was released in October 2012. Previously released singles “My Oh My”, “Wings”, and “Can’t Hold Us” were announced to be included on the album – as was the song “Make the Money”. “Can’t Hold Us” was used as soundtrack for a Miller beer ad in UK and Ireland in June 2012.

“Same Love” was released on 18 July 2012, and songs “White Walls” featuring Schoolboy Q and “Jimmy Iovine” featuring Ab-Soul were confirmed to be included on the album.

On 30 October 2012, Lewis appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show performing their single “Same Love” and then again on 18 January 2013, performing their single “Thrift Shop”, which they had sung previously on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on 11 December 2012. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks, giving them their first number 1 hit in the US.

The Heist World Tour began in August 2012 to promote The Heist.

On 26 January 2014, Macklemore performed “Same Love” at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, where Queen Latifah read marriage vows for 33 couples who lined the aisles, including Lewis’s sister, Laura, and her now husband.

In January 2015, Lewis announced via Twitter that his third studio album will be released sometime in the second half of the year.

On 5 August 2015, Macklemore released a song for free download titled “Growing Up (Sloane’s Song),” which features Ed Sheeran.

On 27 August 2015, the duo released a new song, “Downtown,” featuring Eric Nally, Kool Moe Dee, Melle Mel, and Grandmaster Caz; it was performed at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards on 30 August.

“Downtown” is part of their new album, This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, which was released on 26 February 2016.

On 22 January 2016, the duo released “White Privilege II”, the second single on This Unruly Mess I’ve Made.

On 15 June 2017, Macklemore announced via his official Instagram that the duo were on hiatus.

July 2017 saw the release of Kesha’s song “Praying,” which Lewis co-wrote and produced.

On 19 August 2019, Hobo Johnson’s song “Subaru Crosstrek XV” was released, which Lewis co-wrote and produced.