Jerry Lee Lewis, Legend dies aged 87

Singer Jerry Lee Lewis, one of the last survivors of rock ‘n’ roll’s golden age, known for his Great Balls of Fire, has died aged 87, at his home in Desoto County, Mississippi, with his seventh wife Judith by his side. His career was briefly halted in 1957, when aged 22, when he married his 13-year-old cousin Myra Gale Brown, the daughter of his bass player at the time. She claimed on the marriage license  to be 20 and the controversy of their marriage brought Lewis’s career to a halt and Lewis ended up in jail in Memphis, in 1976 after he drove high on alcohol and pills, was found brandishing a pistol  on the dashboard and demanding to see Elvis Presley outside Presley’s Graceland mansion saying “Come Out” to Elvis Presley, : and we’ll soon find out who’s King.” Earlier that year, Lewis had accidentally shot his bass player,  Norman ‘Butch” Owens in the chest while playing with a loaded 357 Magnum, while reportedly trying to shoot and hit a Coke bottle. Owen was badly injured but survived, and later sued his boss, winning  $125, 000 ( £107, 000) in damages.

Jerry’s hits included. “Whole lot of Shakin’ Going On, Breathless and High School Confidential. Lewis also was notorious for his famous stage antics, such as playing standing up and even lighting the occasional piano on fire.

Sixty years after their recording, he still played to packed houses and outlived many fellow rock’n’roll pioneers.

Jerry Lee Lewis was born in 1935, in Ferriday, East Louisiana, and later moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he found work as a studio musician for Sun Studios in search of stardom in 1956 his first single Crazy Arms sold 300, 000 copies mainly in the South. He toured with fellow members of the Sun Records stable: Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins and even Elvis Presley dropped around on a social visit, which ran into an impromptu jam session, and the group became known as the Million Dollar Quartet. Made his performing debut aged 14, as through his childhood developed his love of boogie-woogie and blues by sneaking into a Ferriday nightclub that featured the era’s best blues musicians. His father, Elmo, was a poor farmer with a sideline in moonshine, and his mother Mamie, was a god-fearing music lover. The family was devastated when Jerry’s old brother was killed by a car.  When Lewis turned seven, his father mortgaged the house for $250 in order to buy him a piano which proved an excellent investment. Elmo recognised his son’s potential and brought a pick-up truck, put the piano on it, and the pair of them basked their way around the South.  “Kill ‘em dead,” said his mother, and “killer’s” lifelong nickname stuck.

Lewis’s publicist Zach Farnum said, “ Jerry was there at the beginning with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly and watched them fade away one by one till it was him alone to bear witness, and sing of the birth of rock ‘n’ rock.”

His first big solo hit came in 1957. A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On at first received little airplay and in some cases got banned for obscenity. On the popular Steve Allen TV show, he kicked his chair aside thumped the piano with his hells, and raked his hands up and down the keyboard. He even stood on the instrument and leaped off as millions watching – who until then thought a piano was just for tinkling -simply gaped. The record began selling in millions, as Lewis followed up with Great Balls of Fire and Breathless, both became Top 10 hits.

Sir Elton John whose love of the piano was influenced by Lewis, wrote on his Instagram page “without Jerry Lee Lewis, I wouldn’t have become who I am today. He was groundbreaking and exciting, and he pulverised the piano. A brilliant singer too. Thank you for your trailblazing inspiration and all the rock’n’roll memories.” He added sharing a photograph of the two of them sitting together.

Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones tweeted: “RIP JLL the KILLER. What a man.”

The Country Music Association tweeted: “It is with great sadness we’ve learned about the passing of Jerry Lee Lewis, who was just included in the Country Music Hall of Fame this month. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

On stage, he performed in a state of close frenzy as he hammered the keyboard as a man possessed. His life was a toxic cocktail of scandal, addiction, and violence. Two of his seven wives died in suspicious circumstances, another was barely more than a child.

Lewis was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s first class in 1986 and a few years later in 1989, he was honoured for his contribution to the recording industry with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

His career got another boost in 1989 when he sang his songs for the movie Great Balls of Fire in which Dennis Quaid portrayed him while Winona Ruder played Myra. Lewis enlisted the help of admirers such as Sir Mick Jagger, Richards, Bris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Buddy Guy for his 2006 release Last Man Standing.