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Rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis -- "The Killer" -- has died at his home in Memphis. After a false report on Wednesday, his publicist has just confirmed his death today (Friday). He was 87.
The fiery singer-pianist, who was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, had suffered from ill health for a number of years, undergoing several abdominal surgeries and waging battles with alcohol and prescription drug addiction.
- Born on September 27th, 1935 in Ferriday, Louisiana
- Inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986
- Took part in the legendary Million Dollar Quartet recording session
- Hits include “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” "Great Balls of Fire" and “Breathless”
- Also topped the country music charts with “To Make Love Sweeter for You” and “There Must Be More to Love Than This”
- Led a turbulent personal life marked by seven wives and multiple arrests
- His third marriage -- to a 13-year-old second cousin -- nearly ended his career in 1957.
- Dennis Quaid played him in the 1989 film Great Balls of Fire.
- He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 16, 2022.
Jerry Lee Lewis was born on September 27th, 1935 in Ferriday, Louisiana, where he began playing piano in a local Assembly of God church. In his teens, Lewis moved to Texas with his cousin Jimmy Swaggart to study for the ministry. But Lewis proved too unruly for those surroundings and was expelled from Bible school for playing a rock and roll-style version of “My God Is Real” in church.
Jerry Lee was signed by Sun Records in Memphis -- also home to Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash -- and initially positioned himself as a country performer. But by the end of 1956, he’d made his mark on the rock and roll scene, his blond locks flying as he pounded, danced on and sometimes set fire to his piano while he wailed out such hits as “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” "Great Balls of Fire" and “Breathless.”
In 1958, Lewis made headlines by marrying his 13-year-old second cousin Myra Gale Brown -- whose father played bass in his band. Rather than keep the union a secret, the singer flaunted it openly when confronted -- leading to the cancellation of a British tour and a series of boycotts that all but put an end to his career.
After lying low for a while, Lewis re-entered the recording world, this time as a country artist. During the late ‘60s, he cracked the country charts more than a dozen times, scoring number-one hits with “To Make Love Sweeter for You” and “There Must Be More to Love Than This.”
Even at his commercial peak, Lewis’s life was turbulent. He shot his bass player in the chest during a 1975 recording session, but he was never charged and later claimed that he hadn’t known the .357 Magnum was loaded. A year later, he was arrested outside Graceland, intoxicated, waving a pistol and demanding to see his friend Elvis.
Lewis’s life was marked by numerous family tragedies. One of his sons died in an automobile accident, another drowned under mysterious circumstances. The latter fate also befell his fourth wife, Jaren Pate, who was found dead as the couple was finalizing divorce proceedings in 1982. He remarried less than a year later, but just two months after that wedding, fifth wife Shawn Stevens was found dead in Lewis’s home, bruised and bloodied. The official cause of death was said to be an overdose of amphetamines.
Failing health led Lewis to curtail his performance schedule sharply by the mid-‘80s, but he maintained a presence in the public arena, thanks in part to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (by Hank Williams Junior) and an acclaimed 1989 bio-pic, Great Balls of Fire, which starred Dennis Quaid. In the late 1990s, he teamed with fellow rock legends Chuck Berry and Little Richard for several European shows. He released his final album, Last Man Standing, a 21-song extravaganza that paired him with big-name guest stars on each cut, in 2006.
He is survived by sons Ronnie Guy Lewis and Jerry Lee Lewis III and daughters Phoebe Lewis and Lori Lewis (Lancaster).
Source: Variety and Premiere