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Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and pianist, often known by his nickname, The Killer. He has been described as "rock & roll's first great wild man."[5]
A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless" and "High School Confidential". However, Lewis's rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin.
He had minimal success in the charts following the scandal, and his popularity quickly eroded. His live performance fees plummeted from $10,000 per night to $250. In the meantime he was determined to gain back some of his popularity. In the early 1960s, he did not have much chart success, with few exceptions, such as a remake of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say". His live performances at this time were increasingly wild and energetic. His 1964 live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is regarded by music journalists and fans as one of the wildest and greatest live rock albums ever.[6][7][8][9][10] In 1968, Lewis made a transition into country music and had hits with songs such as "Another Place, Another Time". This reignited his career, and throughout the late 1960s and 1970s he regularly topped the country-western charts; throughout his seven-decade career, Lewis has had 30 songs reach the top 10 on the "Billboard Country and Western Chart".[11] His No. 1 country hits included "To Make Love Sweeter for You", "There Must Be More to Love Than This", "Would You Take Another Chance on Me", and "Me and Bobby McGee".
Lewis's successes continued throughout the decade and he embraced his rock and roll past with songs such as a cover of the Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" and Mack Vickery's "Rockin' My Life Away". In the 21st century Lewis continues to tour around the world and still releases new albums. His album Last Man Standing is his best selling to date, with over a million copies sold worldwide. This was followed by Mean Old Man, which has received some of the best sales of Lewis's career.
Lewis has a dozen gold records in both rock and country. He won several Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.[12] In 1989, his life was chronicled in the movie Great Balls of Fire, starring Dennis Quaid. In 2003, Rolling Stone listed his box set All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology number 242 on their list of "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[13] In 2004, they ranked him number 24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[14] Lewis is the last surviving member of Sun Records' Million Dollar Quartet and the Class of '55 album, which also included Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley.
A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless" and "High School Confidential". However, Lewis's rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin.
He had minimal success in the charts following the scandal, and his popularity quickly eroded. His live performance fees plummeted from $10,000 per night to $250. In the meantime he was determined to gain back some of his popularity. In the early 1960s, he did not have much chart success, with few exceptions, such as a remake of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say". His live performances at this time were increasingly wild and energetic. His 1964 live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is regarded by music journalists and fans as one of the wildest and greatest live rock albums ever.[6][7][8][9][10] In 1968, Lewis made a transition into country music and had hits with songs such as "Another Place, Another Time". This reignited his career, and throughout the late 1960s and 1970s he regularly topped the country-western charts; throughout his seven-decade career, Lewis has had 30 songs reach the top 10 on the "Billboard Country and Western Chart".[11] His No. 1 country hits included "To Make Love Sweeter for You", "There Must Be More to Love Than This", "Would You Take Another Chance on Me", and "Me and Bobby McGee".
Lewis's successes continued throughout the decade and he embraced his rock and roll past with songs such as a cover of the Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" and Mack Vickery's "Rockin' My Life Away". In the 21st century Lewis continues to tour around the world and still releases new albums. His album Last Man Standing is his best selling to date, with over a million copies sold worldwide. This was followed by Mean Old Man, which has received some of the best sales of Lewis's career.
Lewis has a dozen gold records in both rock and country. He won several Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.[12] In 1989, his life was chronicled in the movie Great Balls of Fire, starring Dennis Quaid. In 2003, Rolling Stone listed his box set All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology number 242 on their list of "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[13] In 2004, they ranked him number 24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[14] Lewis is the last surviving member of Sun Records' Million Dollar Quartet and the Class of '55 album, which also included Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley.
Jerry Lee Lewis - Wikipedia
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Thank you my friend Maj Marty Hogan for reminding us that September 29 is the anniversary of the birth of American singer-songwriter, musician, and pianist Jerry Lee Lewis who certainly was a pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music.
Rest in peace Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis "I am what i am"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Fag4G_8oA
Images:
1. Cousins Mickey Gilley, Jimmy Swaggart & Jerry Lee Lewis.
2. Jerry Lee Lewis with his 13-year bride Myra Williams who was also his first cousin, once removed
3. Jerry Lee Lewis defines rock and roll (1996)
4. Jerry Lee Lewis and 4th wife Shawn Stevens Lewis attend a pre-Grammy party at the Biltmore Hotel on February 23rd, 1983.
Biographies
1. allmusic.com/artist/jerry-lee-lewis-mn [login to see] /biography
2. jerryleelewis.com/about/biography
1. Background from [https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jerry-lee-lewis-mn [login to see] /biography]
"Is there an early rock & roller who has a crazier reputation than the Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis? His exploits as a piano-thumping, egocentric wild man with an unquenchable thirst for living have become the fodder for numerous biographies, film documentaries, and a full-length Hollywood movie. Certainly few other artists came to the party with more ego and talent than he and lived to tell the tale. And certainly even fewer could successfully channel that energy into their music and prosper doing it as well as Jerry Lee. When he broke on the national scene in 1957 with his classic "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," he was every parents' worst nightmare perfectly realized: a long, blonde-haired Southerner who played the piano and sang with uncontrolled fury and abandon, while simultaneously reveling in his own sexuality. He was rock & roll's first great wild man and also rock & roll's first great eclectic. Ignoring all manner of musical boundaries is something that has not only allowed his music to have wide variety, but to survive the fads and fashions as well. Whether singing a melancholy country ballad, a lowdown blues, or a blazing rocker, Lewis' wholesale commitment to the moment brings forth performances that are totally grounded in his personality and all singularly of one piece. Like the recordings of Hank Williams, Louis Armstrong, and few others, Jerry Lee's early recorded work is one of the most amazing collections of American music in existence.
He was born to Elmo and Mamie Lewis on September 29, 1935. Though the family was dirt poor, there was enough money to be had to purchase a third-hand upright piano for the family's country shack in Ferriday, LA. Sharing piano lessons with his two cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Lee Swaggart, a ten-year old Jerry Lee Lewis showed remarkable aptitude toward the instrument. A visit from piano-playing older cousin Carl McVoy unlocked the secrets to the boogie-woogie styles he was hearing on the radio and across the tracks at Haney's Big House, owned by his uncle, Lee Calhoun, and catering to blacks exclusively. Lewis mixed that up with gospel and country and started coming up with his own style. He even mixed genres in the way he syncopated his rhythms on the piano; his left hand generally played a rock-solid boogie pattern while his right played the high keys with much flamboyant filigree and showiness, equal parts gospel fervor and Liberace showmanship. By the time he was 14, by all family accounts, he was as good as he was ever going to get. Lewis was already ready for prime time.
But his mother Mamie had other plans for the young family prodigy. Not wanting to squander Jerry Lee's gifts on the sordid world of show business, she enrolled him in a bible college in Waxahatchie, TX, secure in the knowledge that her son would now be exclusively singing his songs to the Lord. But legend has it that the Killer tore into a boogie-woogie rendition of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly that sent him packing the same night. The split personality of Lewis, torn between the sacred and the profane (rock & roll music), is something that has eaten away at him most of his adult life, causing untold aberrant personality changes over the years with no clear-cut answers to the problem. What is certain is that by the time a 21-year-old Jerry Lee showed up in Memphis on the doorstep of the Sun studios, he had been thrown out of bible college; been a complete failure as a sewing-machine salesman; been turned down by most Nashville-based record companies and the Louisiana Hayride; been married twice; in jail once; and burned with the passion that he truly was the next big thing.
Sam Phillips was on vacation when he arrived, but his assistant Jack Clement put Roland Janes on guitar and J.M. Van Eaton on drums behind Lewis, whose fluid left hand made a bass player superfluous. This little unit would become the core of Lewis' recording band for almost the entire seven years he recorded at Sun. The first single, a hopped-up rendition of Ralph Mooney's "Crazy Arms," sold in respectable enough quantities that Phillips kept bringing Lewis back in for more sessions, astounded by his prodigious memory for old songs and his penchant for rocking them up. A few days after his first single was released, Jerry Lee was in the Sun studios earning some Christmas money, playing backup piano on a Carl Perkins session that yielded the classics "Matchbox" and "Your True Love." At the tail-end of the recording, Elvis Presley showed up, Clement turned on the tape machine, and the impromptu Million Dollar Quartet jam session ensued, with Perkins, Presley, and Lewis all having the time of their lives.
With the release of his first single, the road beckoned and it was here that Lewis' lasting stage persona was developed. Discouraged because he couldn't dance around the stage strumming a guitar like Carl Perkins, he stood up in mid-song, kicked back the piano stool and, as Perkins has so saliently pointed out, "a new Jerry Lee Lewis was born." This newfound stage confidence was not lost on Sam Phillips. While he loved the music of Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash, he saw neither artist as a true contender to Elvis' throne; with Lewis he thought he had a real shot. For the first time in his very parsimonious life, Sam Phillips threw every dime of promotional capital he had into Lewis' next single, and the gamble paid off a million times over. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" went to number one on the country and the R&B charts, and was only held out of the top spot on the pop charts by Debbie Reynolds' "Tammy." Suddenly, Lewis was the hottest, newest, most exciting rock & roller out there. His television appearances and stage shows were legendary for their manic energy, and his competitive nature to outdo anyone else on the bill led to the story about how he once set his piano on fire at set's end to make it impossible for Chuck Berry to follow his act. Nobody messed with the Killer.
Jerry Lee's follow-up to "Shakin'" was another defining moment for his career, as well as for rock & roll. "Great Balls of Fire" featured only piano and drums, but sounded huge with Phillips' production behind it. It got him into a rock & roll movie (Jamboree) and his fame was spreading to such a degree that Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins left Sun to go to Columbia Records. His next single, "Breathless," had a promotional tie-in with Dick Clark's Saturday night Bandstand show, making it three hits in a row for the newcomer.
But Lewis was sowing the seeds of his own destruction in record time. He sneaked off and married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, the daughter of his bass-playing uncle, J.W. Brown. With the Killer insisting that she accompany him on a debut tour of England, the British press got wind of the marriage and proceeded to crucify him in the press. The tour was canceled and Lewis arrived back in the U.S. to find his career in absolute disarray. His records were banned nationwide by radio stations and his booking price went from $10,000 a night to $250 in any honky tonk that would still have him. Undeterred, he kept right on doing what he had been doing, head unbowed and determined to make it back to the bigs, Jerry Lee Lewis style. It took him almost a dozen years to pull it off, but finally, with a sympathetic producer and a new record company willing to exact a truce with country disc jockeys, the Killer found a new groove, cutting one hit after another for Smash Records throughout the late '60s and into the '70s. Still playing rock & roll on-stage whenever the mood struck him (which was often), while keeping all his releases pure country, Lewis struck a creative bargain that suited him well into the mid-'70s.
But while his career was soaring again, his personal life was falling apart. The next decade-and-a-half saw several marriages fall apart (starting with his 13-year-long union with Myra), the deaths of his parents and oldest son, battles with the I.R.S., and bouts with alcohol and pills that frequently left him hospitalized. Suddenly, the Ferriday Fireball was nearing middle age and the raging fire seemed to be burned out.
Great Balls of Fire But the mid-'80s saw another jump start to his career. A movie entitled Great Balls of Fire was about to be made of his life and Lewis was called in to sing the songs for the soundtrack. Showing everyone who the real Killer was, Lewis sounded energetic enough to make you believe it was 1957 all over again with the pilot light of inspiration still burning bright. He also got a boost back to major-label land with a one-song appearance on the soundtrack for Dick Tracy. In 2006, Lewis released Last Man Standing, which featured duets with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page, and others. He followed it up in 2010 with another album of duets, Mean Old Man, which saw him teaming with Eric Clapton, Merle Haggard, John Fogerty, and Kid Rock, among others. Four years later came Rock & Roll Time, another record co-produced by Steve Bing and Jim Keltner; it also had superstar cameos but generally they were musical, not vocal. Released alongside the album was Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, an as-told-to autobiography written by Rick Bragg.
With box sets and compilations, documentaries, a bio flick, a memoir, and his induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame all celebrating his legacy, Lewis continued to record and tour, delivering work that vacillated from tepid to absolutely inspired. While his influence will continue to loom large until there's no one left to play rock & roll piano anymore, the plain truth is that there's only one Jerry Lee Lewis, and American music will never see another like him."
2. Background from [https://jerryleelewis.com/about/biography/]
"Overview
Jerry Lee Lewis was born on September 29th, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana. He began playing the piano at age 9, copying the styles of preachers and black musicians that traveled through the area. He signed with Sun Records in 1956 and quickly became a star. He was the first person inducted into the first class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
Early Life
With his innovative and flamboyant piano playing style, Jerry Lee Lewis emerged as one of rock music’s early showman in the 1950s. His musical talents became apparent early on in life. He taught himself to play piano and sang in church growing up. Lewis listened to such radio shows as the Grand Ole Opry and Louisiana Hayride. Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and Al Jolson were some of his early influences.
When he was 10, Lewis’ father mortgaged the family farm to buy Jerry Lee his first piano. He gave his first public performance at the age of 14, wowing the crowd gathered for the opening of a local car dealership with his piano prowess. With little formal education, he basically gave up on school around this time to focus on his music.
Rise To The Top
Lewis eventually ended up in Memphis, Tennessee, where he found work as a studio musician for Sun Studios. In 1956, he recorded his first single, a cover of Ray Price’s “Crazy Arms,” which did well locally. Lewis also worked on some recording sessions with Carl Perkins. While working at Sun, he and Perkins jammed with Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. This session by the “Million Dollar Quartet” was recorded at the time, but it was not released until much later.
In 1957, Lewis became a star with his unique piano-driven sound. “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” became a hit on the pop, country and R&B charts. By this time, Lewis had also developed some of his famous stage antics, such as playing standing up and even lighting the occasional piano on fire. He had such energy and enthusiasm in his performances that he earned the nickname “The Killer” for the way he knocked out his audiences.
Lewis was on a roll with his next single, “Great Balls of Fire,” proving to be another big hit in December 1957. The following March, Lewis struck again with “Breathless,” which made into the Top 10 of the pop charts.
Later Albums
In the 1960s, Lewis returned to the music of his youth. He found a new career as a country artist, scoring a hit with 1968’s “Another Place, Another Time.” Lewis recorded several country albums over the next few years, including 1970’s Olde Tyme Country Music and 1975’s Boogie Woogie Country Man.
Lewis never left the rock world completely. In 1973, he did well on the album charts with “The Session”. He revisited some of his older songs as well as the works of Chuck Berry and John Fogerty on this popular recording.
When he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s first class in 1986, there was a strong resurgence in his rock & roll career and music. A new generation of listeners got introduced to Lewis through the 1989 biopic “Great Balls of Fire”, when Lewis was played by actor Dennis Quaid.
Recent Projects
This nearly lifelong musician and singer continues to record new music and perform around the world. For 2006’s “Last Man Standing”, Lewis sang a number of rock, blues and country classics with some help from such famous admirers as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Buddy Guy. Collaborator Kristofferson described Lewis as “one of the few who can do rock ‘n’ roll, country or soul, and every song is authentic.” He told USA Today that Lewis is “one of the best American voices ever.”
Lewis and Kristofferson worked together again on Lewis’s next effort, 2010’s “Mean Old Man”. The all-star guests on this release included Eric Clapton, Tim McGraw, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock and John Fogerty among others.
In April of 2013 Lewis opened Jerry Lee Lewis’ Café & Honky Tonk on historic Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. It is filled with one of the Killer’s pianos, a motorcycle, photos, and memorabilia, along with great food and live music.
2014 kicked off Jerry Lee’s “80th Birthday Tour” with shows across the country, from California to Tennessee to New York. The Killer is also traveling to Europe.
In October of 2014 The Killer released his first ever biography with Pulitzer Prize winning author Rick Bragg. “Jerry Lee Lewis – His Own Story” came out to critical acclaim. His new CD “Rock & Roll Time” also came out in October. He told Rolling Stone magazine “This is a rock & roll record…That’s just the way it came out”. As he looks back on six decades of music and what the future holds, Lewis says he’s grateful. “I just think it’s a blessing from God that I’m still living… and I’m still rocking.”
Personal Life
Lewis spends most of his time-off at The Lewis Ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi, where he is happily married to his wife Judith, since March 9th, 2012."
FYI LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Jack Durish CMSgt (Join to see) MSG Andrew White SSG David Andrews CPT Gabe Snell
LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SCPO Morris Ramsey SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke 1stSgt Eugene Harless CPT Scott Sharon
Rest in peace Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis "I am what i am"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Fag4G_8oA
Images:
1. Cousins Mickey Gilley, Jimmy Swaggart & Jerry Lee Lewis.
2. Jerry Lee Lewis with his 13-year bride Myra Williams who was also his first cousin, once removed
3. Jerry Lee Lewis defines rock and roll (1996)
4. Jerry Lee Lewis and 4th wife Shawn Stevens Lewis attend a pre-Grammy party at the Biltmore Hotel on February 23rd, 1983.
Biographies
1. allmusic.com/artist/jerry-lee-lewis-mn [login to see] /biography
2. jerryleelewis.com/about/biography
1. Background from [https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jerry-lee-lewis-mn [login to see] /biography]
"Is there an early rock & roller who has a crazier reputation than the Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis? His exploits as a piano-thumping, egocentric wild man with an unquenchable thirst for living have become the fodder for numerous biographies, film documentaries, and a full-length Hollywood movie. Certainly few other artists came to the party with more ego and talent than he and lived to tell the tale. And certainly even fewer could successfully channel that energy into their music and prosper doing it as well as Jerry Lee. When he broke on the national scene in 1957 with his classic "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," he was every parents' worst nightmare perfectly realized: a long, blonde-haired Southerner who played the piano and sang with uncontrolled fury and abandon, while simultaneously reveling in his own sexuality. He was rock & roll's first great wild man and also rock & roll's first great eclectic. Ignoring all manner of musical boundaries is something that has not only allowed his music to have wide variety, but to survive the fads and fashions as well. Whether singing a melancholy country ballad, a lowdown blues, or a blazing rocker, Lewis' wholesale commitment to the moment brings forth performances that are totally grounded in his personality and all singularly of one piece. Like the recordings of Hank Williams, Louis Armstrong, and few others, Jerry Lee's early recorded work is one of the most amazing collections of American music in existence.
He was born to Elmo and Mamie Lewis on September 29, 1935. Though the family was dirt poor, there was enough money to be had to purchase a third-hand upright piano for the family's country shack in Ferriday, LA. Sharing piano lessons with his two cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Lee Swaggart, a ten-year old Jerry Lee Lewis showed remarkable aptitude toward the instrument. A visit from piano-playing older cousin Carl McVoy unlocked the secrets to the boogie-woogie styles he was hearing on the radio and across the tracks at Haney's Big House, owned by his uncle, Lee Calhoun, and catering to blacks exclusively. Lewis mixed that up with gospel and country and started coming up with his own style. He even mixed genres in the way he syncopated his rhythms on the piano; his left hand generally played a rock-solid boogie pattern while his right played the high keys with much flamboyant filigree and showiness, equal parts gospel fervor and Liberace showmanship. By the time he was 14, by all family accounts, he was as good as he was ever going to get. Lewis was already ready for prime time.
But his mother Mamie had other plans for the young family prodigy. Not wanting to squander Jerry Lee's gifts on the sordid world of show business, she enrolled him in a bible college in Waxahatchie, TX, secure in the knowledge that her son would now be exclusively singing his songs to the Lord. But legend has it that the Killer tore into a boogie-woogie rendition of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly that sent him packing the same night. The split personality of Lewis, torn between the sacred and the profane (rock & roll music), is something that has eaten away at him most of his adult life, causing untold aberrant personality changes over the years with no clear-cut answers to the problem. What is certain is that by the time a 21-year-old Jerry Lee showed up in Memphis on the doorstep of the Sun studios, he had been thrown out of bible college; been a complete failure as a sewing-machine salesman; been turned down by most Nashville-based record companies and the Louisiana Hayride; been married twice; in jail once; and burned with the passion that he truly was the next big thing.
Sam Phillips was on vacation when he arrived, but his assistant Jack Clement put Roland Janes on guitar and J.M. Van Eaton on drums behind Lewis, whose fluid left hand made a bass player superfluous. This little unit would become the core of Lewis' recording band for almost the entire seven years he recorded at Sun. The first single, a hopped-up rendition of Ralph Mooney's "Crazy Arms," sold in respectable enough quantities that Phillips kept bringing Lewis back in for more sessions, astounded by his prodigious memory for old songs and his penchant for rocking them up. A few days after his first single was released, Jerry Lee was in the Sun studios earning some Christmas money, playing backup piano on a Carl Perkins session that yielded the classics "Matchbox" and "Your True Love." At the tail-end of the recording, Elvis Presley showed up, Clement turned on the tape machine, and the impromptu Million Dollar Quartet jam session ensued, with Perkins, Presley, and Lewis all having the time of their lives.
With the release of his first single, the road beckoned and it was here that Lewis' lasting stage persona was developed. Discouraged because he couldn't dance around the stage strumming a guitar like Carl Perkins, he stood up in mid-song, kicked back the piano stool and, as Perkins has so saliently pointed out, "a new Jerry Lee Lewis was born." This newfound stage confidence was not lost on Sam Phillips. While he loved the music of Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash, he saw neither artist as a true contender to Elvis' throne; with Lewis he thought he had a real shot. For the first time in his very parsimonious life, Sam Phillips threw every dime of promotional capital he had into Lewis' next single, and the gamble paid off a million times over. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" went to number one on the country and the R&B charts, and was only held out of the top spot on the pop charts by Debbie Reynolds' "Tammy." Suddenly, Lewis was the hottest, newest, most exciting rock & roller out there. His television appearances and stage shows were legendary for their manic energy, and his competitive nature to outdo anyone else on the bill led to the story about how he once set his piano on fire at set's end to make it impossible for Chuck Berry to follow his act. Nobody messed with the Killer.
Jerry Lee's follow-up to "Shakin'" was another defining moment for his career, as well as for rock & roll. "Great Balls of Fire" featured only piano and drums, but sounded huge with Phillips' production behind it. It got him into a rock & roll movie (Jamboree) and his fame was spreading to such a degree that Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins left Sun to go to Columbia Records. His next single, "Breathless," had a promotional tie-in with Dick Clark's Saturday night Bandstand show, making it three hits in a row for the newcomer.
But Lewis was sowing the seeds of his own destruction in record time. He sneaked off and married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, the daughter of his bass-playing uncle, J.W. Brown. With the Killer insisting that she accompany him on a debut tour of England, the British press got wind of the marriage and proceeded to crucify him in the press. The tour was canceled and Lewis arrived back in the U.S. to find his career in absolute disarray. His records were banned nationwide by radio stations and his booking price went from $10,000 a night to $250 in any honky tonk that would still have him. Undeterred, he kept right on doing what he had been doing, head unbowed and determined to make it back to the bigs, Jerry Lee Lewis style. It took him almost a dozen years to pull it off, but finally, with a sympathetic producer and a new record company willing to exact a truce with country disc jockeys, the Killer found a new groove, cutting one hit after another for Smash Records throughout the late '60s and into the '70s. Still playing rock & roll on-stage whenever the mood struck him (which was often), while keeping all his releases pure country, Lewis struck a creative bargain that suited him well into the mid-'70s.
But while his career was soaring again, his personal life was falling apart. The next decade-and-a-half saw several marriages fall apart (starting with his 13-year-long union with Myra), the deaths of his parents and oldest son, battles with the I.R.S., and bouts with alcohol and pills that frequently left him hospitalized. Suddenly, the Ferriday Fireball was nearing middle age and the raging fire seemed to be burned out.
Great Balls of Fire But the mid-'80s saw another jump start to his career. A movie entitled Great Balls of Fire was about to be made of his life and Lewis was called in to sing the songs for the soundtrack. Showing everyone who the real Killer was, Lewis sounded energetic enough to make you believe it was 1957 all over again with the pilot light of inspiration still burning bright. He also got a boost back to major-label land with a one-song appearance on the soundtrack for Dick Tracy. In 2006, Lewis released Last Man Standing, which featured duets with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page, and others. He followed it up in 2010 with another album of duets, Mean Old Man, which saw him teaming with Eric Clapton, Merle Haggard, John Fogerty, and Kid Rock, among others. Four years later came Rock & Roll Time, another record co-produced by Steve Bing and Jim Keltner; it also had superstar cameos but generally they were musical, not vocal. Released alongside the album was Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, an as-told-to autobiography written by Rick Bragg.
With box sets and compilations, documentaries, a bio flick, a memoir, and his induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame all celebrating his legacy, Lewis continued to record and tour, delivering work that vacillated from tepid to absolutely inspired. While his influence will continue to loom large until there's no one left to play rock & roll piano anymore, the plain truth is that there's only one Jerry Lee Lewis, and American music will never see another like him."
2. Background from [https://jerryleelewis.com/about/biography/]
"Overview
Jerry Lee Lewis was born on September 29th, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana. He began playing the piano at age 9, copying the styles of preachers and black musicians that traveled through the area. He signed with Sun Records in 1956 and quickly became a star. He was the first person inducted into the first class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
Early Life
With his innovative and flamboyant piano playing style, Jerry Lee Lewis emerged as one of rock music’s early showman in the 1950s. His musical talents became apparent early on in life. He taught himself to play piano and sang in church growing up. Lewis listened to such radio shows as the Grand Ole Opry and Louisiana Hayride. Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and Al Jolson were some of his early influences.
When he was 10, Lewis’ father mortgaged the family farm to buy Jerry Lee his first piano. He gave his first public performance at the age of 14, wowing the crowd gathered for the opening of a local car dealership with his piano prowess. With little formal education, he basically gave up on school around this time to focus on his music.
Rise To The Top
Lewis eventually ended up in Memphis, Tennessee, where he found work as a studio musician for Sun Studios. In 1956, he recorded his first single, a cover of Ray Price’s “Crazy Arms,” which did well locally. Lewis also worked on some recording sessions with Carl Perkins. While working at Sun, he and Perkins jammed with Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. This session by the “Million Dollar Quartet” was recorded at the time, but it was not released until much later.
In 1957, Lewis became a star with his unique piano-driven sound. “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” became a hit on the pop, country and R&B charts. By this time, Lewis had also developed some of his famous stage antics, such as playing standing up and even lighting the occasional piano on fire. He had such energy and enthusiasm in his performances that he earned the nickname “The Killer” for the way he knocked out his audiences.
Lewis was on a roll with his next single, “Great Balls of Fire,” proving to be another big hit in December 1957. The following March, Lewis struck again with “Breathless,” which made into the Top 10 of the pop charts.
Later Albums
In the 1960s, Lewis returned to the music of his youth. He found a new career as a country artist, scoring a hit with 1968’s “Another Place, Another Time.” Lewis recorded several country albums over the next few years, including 1970’s Olde Tyme Country Music and 1975’s Boogie Woogie Country Man.
Lewis never left the rock world completely. In 1973, he did well on the album charts with “The Session”. He revisited some of his older songs as well as the works of Chuck Berry and John Fogerty on this popular recording.
When he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s first class in 1986, there was a strong resurgence in his rock & roll career and music. A new generation of listeners got introduced to Lewis through the 1989 biopic “Great Balls of Fire”, when Lewis was played by actor Dennis Quaid.
Recent Projects
This nearly lifelong musician and singer continues to record new music and perform around the world. For 2006’s “Last Man Standing”, Lewis sang a number of rock, blues and country classics with some help from such famous admirers as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Buddy Guy. Collaborator Kristofferson described Lewis as “one of the few who can do rock ‘n’ roll, country or soul, and every song is authentic.” He told USA Today that Lewis is “one of the best American voices ever.”
Lewis and Kristofferson worked together again on Lewis’s next effort, 2010’s “Mean Old Man”. The all-star guests on this release included Eric Clapton, Tim McGraw, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock and John Fogerty among others.
In April of 2013 Lewis opened Jerry Lee Lewis’ Café & Honky Tonk on historic Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. It is filled with one of the Killer’s pianos, a motorcycle, photos, and memorabilia, along with great food and live music.
2014 kicked off Jerry Lee’s “80th Birthday Tour” with shows across the country, from California to Tennessee to New York. The Killer is also traveling to Europe.
In October of 2014 The Killer released his first ever biography with Pulitzer Prize winning author Rick Bragg. “Jerry Lee Lewis – His Own Story” came out to critical acclaim. His new CD “Rock & Roll Time” also came out in October. He told Rolling Stone magazine “This is a rock & roll record…That’s just the way it came out”. As he looks back on six decades of music and what the future holds, Lewis says he’s grateful. “I just think it’s a blessing from God that I’m still living… and I’m still rocking.”
Personal Life
Lewis spends most of his time-off at The Lewis Ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi, where he is happily married to his wife Judith, since March 9th, 2012."
FYI LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Jack Durish CMSgt (Join to see) MSG Andrew White SSG David Andrews CPT Gabe Snell
LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SCPO Morris Ramsey SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke 1stSgt Eugene Harless CPT Scott Sharon
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LTC Stephen F.
Jerry Lee Lewis - The Story of Rock 'n' Roll - D.A. Pennebaker - Sweet Toronto - Peace Festival
http://www.rocknrollfreaks.com JERRY LEE LEWIS WEEK A biography of pioneering rock-and-roller Jerry Lee Lewis, with clips from his past concerts, television ...
Jerry Lee Lewis - The Story of Rock 'n' Roll - D.A. Pennebaker - Sweet Toronto - Peace Festival
"A biography of pioneering rock-and-roller Jerry Lee Lewis, with clips from his past concerts, television and movie appearances together with footage from his present-day career."
https://youtu.be/lP0CnFJYZ6s
Background from [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507350/bio]
"Jerry Lee Lewis Biography
Overview (3)
Born September 29, 1935 in Ferriday, Louisiana, USA
Nicknames The Killer
The Ferriday Fireball
Height 6' (1.83 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Jerry Lee Lewis was born on September 29, 1935 into a very religious family . His family, though not very wealthy, sold their house when he was a child to get their son a piano. He loved to play piano. He was sent to a religious school, but was soon thrown out shortly thereafter -- he did a boogie version of a song about Jesus, something the school could not accept. At 16, he married for the first time, but it only lasted seven months. He married a second time three weeks before he his divorce from his first wife was final. His second marriage lasted about four years and produced his first child.
In November 1956 he moved in with a cousin, J. W. Brown, in Memphis. They started a band together, with Jerry as singer. They sold a copy of their first song, "Crazy Arms", to the legendary Sam Phillips, president of Sun Records. Phillips had become famous because of his discovery of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Phillips liked the song, and Jerry Lee Lewis began to establish his name in Memphis in late 1956.
In January 1957, he recorded a new song, the self-penned "End of the Road." It was unusual in that singers did not write their own songs at that time. Jerry was fresh in other ways, too. He not only wrote some of his own songs, he played piano. Other rock singer of that era played guitar, such as Elvis Presley, Tommy Steele, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, etc. The piano wasn't considered a rock and roll instrument - Jerry Lee Lewis changed all that.
Jerry got his big break in April 1957, when he went to New York and appeared on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956) with the "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On". A couple of #1 hits would soon follow -- "Great Balls of Fire" (which became his signature song), "Breathless" and "High School Confidential". Many people predicted that Jerry Lee would be bigger than the King of Rock-n-Roll - Elvis Presley. In late 1957 the audiences at one of his shows stormed the stage when he set a piano on fire. Chuck Berry was supposed to have ended the evening's show, but he refused to go on, wisely understanding that he could never top what Jerry just did. Elvis went into the army in the late winter of 1958, so Jerry Lee was now virtually alone at the top of the rock heap. All was not rosy, however. Problems did arise--very serious problems. In 1957, he married for a third time, secretly, to the 13-year-old daughter of his cousin and partner J. W. Brown, 'Myra Gale Brown (I)'. Her parents were deeply hurt when they found out, but after a discussion with Sam Phillips, they forgave Jerry. The marriage was unknown to the press and fans until Jerry's arrival in England for a tour in the spring of 1958. Fans again stormed the stage -- but this time to express their disgust. The marriage was front-page news around the world. His career was in shambles. He had just signed a five-year contract with Sun Records, and he did continue to record songs until 1963. During the last years of the contract, however, he made very few rock songs. Most of his compositions were ballads, possibly due to his depression at the direction his career had taken.
Jerry and Myra had one son, Steve Allen Lewis, who drowned at age three. The couple divorced in 1970, after 13 years of bad treatment in the press. However, Jerry's career was not completely finished. In 1968 he made his great comeback, as a country singer. During the next few years, he performed more and more rock 'n' roll.
He married a fourth time in October 1971 but the marriage ended two years later, after producing one child. That same year, Jerry's son from his first marriage died in an auto accident. The combination of divorce, personal tragedies and his career stagnation contributed to his turning to the bottle, and for the next 15 years Jerry had a severe drinking problem. His drinking also contributed to a rash of health problems, and he almost died of a ruptured stomach in 1981. People thought that The Killer was finished. But he wasn't.
Jerry Lee Lewis puts on brilliant concerts even today, in his 70's, and with his wild life behind him. He divorced his sixth wife in the summer of 2005, after over 20 years of marriage. He is still a wild man - and he is still on fire!
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Snorre Mathiesen
Spouse (7)
7th Judith Brown (9 March 2012 - present)
6th Kerrie McCarver (24 April 1984 - 15 June 2005) ( divorced) ( 2 children)
5th Shawn Stephens (7 June 1983 - 22 August 1983) ( her death)
4th Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate (7 October 1971 - 8 June 1982) ( her death) ( 1 child)
3rd Myra Lewis (12 December 1957 - 9 December 1970) ( divorced) ( 2 children)
2nd Jane Mitchum (15 September 1953 - 1957) ( divorced) ( 2 children)
1st Dorothy Barton (21 February 1952 - 8 October 1953) ( divorced)
Trade Mark (2)
His energetic tenor voice
Often played the piano with his foot on the keyboard
Trivia (35)
1. At her ten-year high school reunion, Janis Joplin introduced her younger sister to Lewis, who was a guest. Lewis commented to her that "you wouldn't be half-bad-looking if you weren't trying to look like your sister." Janis slugged Lewis for the comment. Lewis slugged her back, saying, "If you're gonna act like a man, I'm gonna treat you like one!".
2. His eldest son, Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. (b. 1953), was killed in an auto accident in 1973. His second son, Steven Allen Lewis (b. 1959), drowned, at age three, in 1962.
3. Cousin of Jimmy Swaggart and Mickey Gilley.
4. Almost died from a ruptured stomach in 1981.
5. Parents' names were Elmo Lewis and Mamie Ethel.
6. His first cousin, once removed Myra Lewis was 13 years old when they married.
7. Revitalized his career in the late 1960s as a country singer.
8. He was voted the 24th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
9. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammy Awards in 2005.
10. Hospitalized with pneumonia in 2001.
11. Was on the critical list in a Memphis hospital in November 1985.
12. He currently lives in Booneville, Mississippi, USA. [2005]
13. Is portrayed by Dennis Quaid in Great Balls of Fire! (1989), by Waylon Payne in Walk the Line (2005), and James C. Victor in Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story (1999).
14. Recorded with legendary Nashville session guitarist Hank Garland.
15. Recorded his song "What'd I Say" with guitarist Hank Garland.
16. Along with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, Lewis was a member of the celebrated "Million Dollar Quartet", so named because they were moneymakers for Sam Phillips' Sun Records label.
17. Hated his ex-wife Myra Lewis' biographical book about his life entitled "Great Balls of Fire".
18. Hated the film based on his life, Great Balls of Fire! (1989).
19. Was in the process of finalizing a divorce from his fourth wife, Jaren, when she drowned in a swimming pool in 1982. They had separated in 1974.
20. By the time of the British Invasion (1964) in the United States, there was a keen interest in American rock stars in Great Britain. Jerry Lee appeared to have renewed his career on that side of the Atlantic. He appeared on the television show Ready, Steady, Go! (1963), and the fans were mesmerized by his performance.
21. Siblings: Linda Gail Lewis (b. 1947), Frankie Jean Lewis (b. 1944) and Elmo Lewis Jr.
22. Father, with Kerri McCarver, of a boy named Jerry Lee Lewis III (b. 1987).
23. Father, with Myra, of a boy named Steven Allen Lewis (1959-1962) and a girl named Phoebe Allen Lewis (b. 1963).
24. Father, with Jane Mitchum, of two boys named Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. (1953-1973) and Ronnie Guy Lewis (b. 1956).
25. Contrary to public assumption, Lewis said that he actually had the nickname "Killer" ever since childhood. As a boy, he had the habit of calling acquaintances and friends "Killer", and they would return the greeting. The nickname has stuck with him since.
26. His 1964 album "Live at the Star Club, Hamburg" has been widely hailed as the hardest, pure rock 'n' roll ever recorded.
27. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6631 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
28. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
29. The use of his middle name Lee, helped the record buying public as well as record distributors distinguish him from comedian Jerry Lewis, who in 1956, at the height of his career, had a Top 10 recording with "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", a song first made famous by Al Jolson. That same year, Jerry Lewis also has a bestselling album. Coincidentally, both Jerry and Jerry Lee have cited Al Jolson, seen playing the piano in The Jazz Singer (1927), as a major influence.
30. By the time Jerry Lee made his made first appearance July 27, 1957 on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956), he had already caught the public's attention, "in name only". One year earlier, in 1956, comedian Jerry Lewis embarked on what was initially a successful recording career. He had a #10 US Pop hit with the Al Jolson standard "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", in addition to a bestselling LP of standard tunes. Coincidentally, Jerry Lee has cited Al Jolson as one of his influences.
31. On September 27, 1957, he played New York City's legendary Apollo Theater.
32. Lewis and his wife Kerrie announced their separation and intent to divorce. [April 2002]
33. On October 15, 2004, he performed in Prague, the Czech Republic and refused a meeting with the Czech president. On October 18, he was on stage in Sofia, Bulgaria and refused to give an interview for the National Television.
34. He currently goes by the name Jerry Lee Lewis to avoid counfusion with actor Jerry Lewis.
35. He suffered a stroke on 28 February 2019.
Personal Quotes (10)
1. [on his being a breech birth] "I was born feet first, and I've been jumpin' ever since."
2. If I'm going to Hell, I'm going there to play on a piano!
3. [on Ray Charles] "What a great guy he was. Every time I saw him, I would say, 'Ray, this is Jerry Lee, how you doing?' And he would say, 'Well, you looking good, Jerry Lee.' He always said that. He was one of my best friends."
4. [Explaining why W.C. Fields is his favorite comedian] "He's just got his way of doing things. And if you don't like it, he'll kick your teeth out."
5. [on his feelings towards ex-wife Myra Lewis' biography about him entitled "Great Balls of Fire"] "I says to her, 'Myra, that damn book o' yours -- that weren't no "Great Balls of Fire" you wrote. You shoulda called it "Great Buncha Balls" instead, darlin', 'cos that's all it is."
6. [on the film Great Balls of Fire! (1989)]: "I never acted like that in my life. That movie was bad news."
7. [Referring to the film Great Balls of Fire! (1989)]: "It's all lies. Maybe not lies, but it's their story, not mine."
8. [on "The Killer"]: People think I'm called 'The Killer' because of my wild lifestyle. I've had the nickname since I was a boy. I started calling other kids Killer. But the name stuck with me. Even now, I'll ask someone, 'How's it going, Killer?'
9. [How he got the nickname Killer]: I got the name when I was about 15 years old: I was leaving the schoolhouse, and Cecil Harrelson said, 'Well, I'll see you later, Killer' - and I said, 'OK, I'll meet you at the pool hall!' We both got suspended that day - two weeks apiece, and we didn't even know each other - we'd just met. I was fighting with a teacher, he was fighting with a teacher, and so we figured we'd call ourselves Killer. And that's how it got started.
10. I never considered myself the greatest, but I'm the best."
"A biography of pioneering rock-and-roller Jerry Lee Lewis, with clips from his past concerts, television and movie appearances together with footage from his present-day career."
https://youtu.be/lP0CnFJYZ6s
Background from [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507350/bio]
"Jerry Lee Lewis Biography
Overview (3)
Born September 29, 1935 in Ferriday, Louisiana, USA
Nicknames The Killer
The Ferriday Fireball
Height 6' (1.83 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Jerry Lee Lewis was born on September 29, 1935 into a very religious family . His family, though not very wealthy, sold their house when he was a child to get their son a piano. He loved to play piano. He was sent to a religious school, but was soon thrown out shortly thereafter -- he did a boogie version of a song about Jesus, something the school could not accept. At 16, he married for the first time, but it only lasted seven months. He married a second time three weeks before he his divorce from his first wife was final. His second marriage lasted about four years and produced his first child.
In November 1956 he moved in with a cousin, J. W. Brown, in Memphis. They started a band together, with Jerry as singer. They sold a copy of their first song, "Crazy Arms", to the legendary Sam Phillips, president of Sun Records. Phillips had become famous because of his discovery of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Phillips liked the song, and Jerry Lee Lewis began to establish his name in Memphis in late 1956.
In January 1957, he recorded a new song, the self-penned "End of the Road." It was unusual in that singers did not write their own songs at that time. Jerry was fresh in other ways, too. He not only wrote some of his own songs, he played piano. Other rock singer of that era played guitar, such as Elvis Presley, Tommy Steele, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, etc. The piano wasn't considered a rock and roll instrument - Jerry Lee Lewis changed all that.
Jerry got his big break in April 1957, when he went to New York and appeared on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956) with the "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On". A couple of #1 hits would soon follow -- "Great Balls of Fire" (which became his signature song), "Breathless" and "High School Confidential". Many people predicted that Jerry Lee would be bigger than the King of Rock-n-Roll - Elvis Presley. In late 1957 the audiences at one of his shows stormed the stage when he set a piano on fire. Chuck Berry was supposed to have ended the evening's show, but he refused to go on, wisely understanding that he could never top what Jerry just did. Elvis went into the army in the late winter of 1958, so Jerry Lee was now virtually alone at the top of the rock heap. All was not rosy, however. Problems did arise--very serious problems. In 1957, he married for a third time, secretly, to the 13-year-old daughter of his cousin and partner J. W. Brown, 'Myra Gale Brown (I)'. Her parents were deeply hurt when they found out, but after a discussion with Sam Phillips, they forgave Jerry. The marriage was unknown to the press and fans until Jerry's arrival in England for a tour in the spring of 1958. Fans again stormed the stage -- but this time to express their disgust. The marriage was front-page news around the world. His career was in shambles. He had just signed a five-year contract with Sun Records, and he did continue to record songs until 1963. During the last years of the contract, however, he made very few rock songs. Most of his compositions were ballads, possibly due to his depression at the direction his career had taken.
Jerry and Myra had one son, Steve Allen Lewis, who drowned at age three. The couple divorced in 1970, after 13 years of bad treatment in the press. However, Jerry's career was not completely finished. In 1968 he made his great comeback, as a country singer. During the next few years, he performed more and more rock 'n' roll.
He married a fourth time in October 1971 but the marriage ended two years later, after producing one child. That same year, Jerry's son from his first marriage died in an auto accident. The combination of divorce, personal tragedies and his career stagnation contributed to his turning to the bottle, and for the next 15 years Jerry had a severe drinking problem. His drinking also contributed to a rash of health problems, and he almost died of a ruptured stomach in 1981. People thought that The Killer was finished. But he wasn't.
Jerry Lee Lewis puts on brilliant concerts even today, in his 70's, and with his wild life behind him. He divorced his sixth wife in the summer of 2005, after over 20 years of marriage. He is still a wild man - and he is still on fire!
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Snorre Mathiesen
Spouse (7)
7th Judith Brown (9 March 2012 - present)
6th Kerrie McCarver (24 April 1984 - 15 June 2005) ( divorced) ( 2 children)
5th Shawn Stephens (7 June 1983 - 22 August 1983) ( her death)
4th Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate (7 October 1971 - 8 June 1982) ( her death) ( 1 child)
3rd Myra Lewis (12 December 1957 - 9 December 1970) ( divorced) ( 2 children)
2nd Jane Mitchum (15 September 1953 - 1957) ( divorced) ( 2 children)
1st Dorothy Barton (21 February 1952 - 8 October 1953) ( divorced)
Trade Mark (2)
His energetic tenor voice
Often played the piano with his foot on the keyboard
Trivia (35)
1. At her ten-year high school reunion, Janis Joplin introduced her younger sister to Lewis, who was a guest. Lewis commented to her that "you wouldn't be half-bad-looking if you weren't trying to look like your sister." Janis slugged Lewis for the comment. Lewis slugged her back, saying, "If you're gonna act like a man, I'm gonna treat you like one!".
2. His eldest son, Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. (b. 1953), was killed in an auto accident in 1973. His second son, Steven Allen Lewis (b. 1959), drowned, at age three, in 1962.
3. Cousin of Jimmy Swaggart and Mickey Gilley.
4. Almost died from a ruptured stomach in 1981.
5. Parents' names were Elmo Lewis and Mamie Ethel.
6. His first cousin, once removed Myra Lewis was 13 years old when they married.
7. Revitalized his career in the late 1960s as a country singer.
8. He was voted the 24th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
9. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammy Awards in 2005.
10. Hospitalized with pneumonia in 2001.
11. Was on the critical list in a Memphis hospital in November 1985.
12. He currently lives in Booneville, Mississippi, USA. [2005]
13. Is portrayed by Dennis Quaid in Great Balls of Fire! (1989), by Waylon Payne in Walk the Line (2005), and James C. Victor in Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story (1999).
14. Recorded with legendary Nashville session guitarist Hank Garland.
15. Recorded his song "What'd I Say" with guitarist Hank Garland.
16. Along with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, Lewis was a member of the celebrated "Million Dollar Quartet", so named because they were moneymakers for Sam Phillips' Sun Records label.
17. Hated his ex-wife Myra Lewis' biographical book about his life entitled "Great Balls of Fire".
18. Hated the film based on his life, Great Balls of Fire! (1989).
19. Was in the process of finalizing a divorce from his fourth wife, Jaren, when she drowned in a swimming pool in 1982. They had separated in 1974.
20. By the time of the British Invasion (1964) in the United States, there was a keen interest in American rock stars in Great Britain. Jerry Lee appeared to have renewed his career on that side of the Atlantic. He appeared on the television show Ready, Steady, Go! (1963), and the fans were mesmerized by his performance.
21. Siblings: Linda Gail Lewis (b. 1947), Frankie Jean Lewis (b. 1944) and Elmo Lewis Jr.
22. Father, with Kerri McCarver, of a boy named Jerry Lee Lewis III (b. 1987).
23. Father, with Myra, of a boy named Steven Allen Lewis (1959-1962) and a girl named Phoebe Allen Lewis (b. 1963).
24. Father, with Jane Mitchum, of two boys named Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. (1953-1973) and Ronnie Guy Lewis (b. 1956).
25. Contrary to public assumption, Lewis said that he actually had the nickname "Killer" ever since childhood. As a boy, he had the habit of calling acquaintances and friends "Killer", and they would return the greeting. The nickname has stuck with him since.
26. His 1964 album "Live at the Star Club, Hamburg" has been widely hailed as the hardest, pure rock 'n' roll ever recorded.
27. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6631 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
28. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
29. The use of his middle name Lee, helped the record buying public as well as record distributors distinguish him from comedian Jerry Lewis, who in 1956, at the height of his career, had a Top 10 recording with "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", a song first made famous by Al Jolson. That same year, Jerry Lewis also has a bestselling album. Coincidentally, both Jerry and Jerry Lee have cited Al Jolson, seen playing the piano in The Jazz Singer (1927), as a major influence.
30. By the time Jerry Lee made his made first appearance July 27, 1957 on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956), he had already caught the public's attention, "in name only". One year earlier, in 1956, comedian Jerry Lewis embarked on what was initially a successful recording career. He had a #10 US Pop hit with the Al Jolson standard "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", in addition to a bestselling LP of standard tunes. Coincidentally, Jerry Lee has cited Al Jolson as one of his influences.
31. On September 27, 1957, he played New York City's legendary Apollo Theater.
32. Lewis and his wife Kerrie announced their separation and intent to divorce. [April 2002]
33. On October 15, 2004, he performed in Prague, the Czech Republic and refused a meeting with the Czech president. On October 18, he was on stage in Sofia, Bulgaria and refused to give an interview for the National Television.
34. He currently goes by the name Jerry Lee Lewis to avoid counfusion with actor Jerry Lewis.
35. He suffered a stroke on 28 February 2019.
Personal Quotes (10)
1. [on his being a breech birth] "I was born feet first, and I've been jumpin' ever since."
2. If I'm going to Hell, I'm going there to play on a piano!
3. [on Ray Charles] "What a great guy he was. Every time I saw him, I would say, 'Ray, this is Jerry Lee, how you doing?' And he would say, 'Well, you looking good, Jerry Lee.' He always said that. He was one of my best friends."
4. [Explaining why W.C. Fields is his favorite comedian] "He's just got his way of doing things. And if you don't like it, he'll kick your teeth out."
5. [on his feelings towards ex-wife Myra Lewis' biography about him entitled "Great Balls of Fire"] "I says to her, 'Myra, that damn book o' yours -- that weren't no "Great Balls of Fire" you wrote. You shoulda called it "Great Buncha Balls" instead, darlin', 'cos that's all it is."
6. [on the film Great Balls of Fire! (1989)]: "I never acted like that in my life. That movie was bad news."
7. [Referring to the film Great Balls of Fire! (1989)]: "It's all lies. Maybe not lies, but it's their story, not mine."
8. [on "The Killer"]: People think I'm called 'The Killer' because of my wild lifestyle. I've had the nickname since I was a boy. I started calling other kids Killer. But the name stuck with me. Even now, I'll ask someone, 'How's it going, Killer?'
9. [How he got the nickname Killer]: I got the name when I was about 15 years old: I was leaving the schoolhouse, and Cecil Harrelson said, 'Well, I'll see you later, Killer' - and I said, 'OK, I'll meet you at the pool hall!' We both got suspended that day - two weeks apiece, and we didn't even know each other - we'd just met. I was fighting with a teacher, he was fighting with a teacher, and so we figured we'd call ourselves Killer. And that's how it got started.
10. I never considered myself the greatest, but I'm the best."
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I never realized he sang Me and Bobby McGee! Very talented singer/performer.
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