Jerry Lee Lewis, the untamable rock 'n' roll pioneer whose outrageous talent, energy and ego collided with such definitive records as "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", died Friday.
Lewis died at his Mississippi home, south of Memphis, Tennessee, according to a release. The news came two days after he was reported to have died.
Few captured the new genre's attraction and danger as unforgettably as the Louisiana-born pianist who called himself The Killer.
The old people preferred tender ballads. Lewis was all about lust and getting what you want. During a 1957 performance on "The Steve Allen Show," chairs were thrown at him because of his live act that made the fans scream and the keyboards swear.
There was a man. The person was Elvis. Jerry Lee Lewis kicked in the door and there wasn't a pure rock 'n' roll before that. Jerry Lee Lewis liked that person.
He raged in ways that could have ended his career.
After Elvis was drafted into the Army, he was a contender to replace the king of rock and roll. The press learned that Lewis was still married to his previous wife, that he was married to a 13 year old girl, and that he was a cousin of a 12 year old girl. His tour was canceled, he was blacklisted and his earnings plummeted overnight.
Lewis told the Wall Street Journal that he probably would have changed his life, but he never hid anything. I just kept going with my life.
His wife's death resulted in the end of two of his marriages. Brown alleged physical and mental abuse that nearly drove her to suicide after divorcing him.
She told People magazine that she would be dead by now if she was still married to Jerry.
Lewis was forgiven by the music industry after he stopped having hits. He recorded with some of the biggest names in the industry. Lewis released a song called "Last Man Standing" in 2006. The album "Mean Old Man" was recorded in 2010 by Lewis.
He told how he persuaded disc jockeys to give him a second chance in his book.
He said, "This time I said, 'Look, man, let's get together and draw a line on this stuff,'" He still played the old hits on stage, but he also sang country on the radio.
Between 1966 and 1970 Lewis had a run of top 10 country songs. He drank songs such as "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a loser out of me)" and "She Still Comes Around" and a dry-eyed cover of "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye" His 1964 album, "Live at the Star Club, Hamburg," is considered to be one of the best concert records of all time.
Lewis broke two longstanding rules when he performed for the Grand Ole Opry in 1973.
He told the audience that he was a rock and roll, country-and-western, rhythm and blues man.
Lewis was married seven times. In 1982, his fourth wife, Jaren Elizabeth Pate, drowned in a swimming pool while he was in the process of divorcing her. His fourth wife, Shawn, died of a drug overdose in 1983. Within a year, Lewis married a young woman. She accused him of physical abuse and infidelity in her divorce filing. Both petitions were dropped as a result of him counteruing. After many years of separation, they divorced in 2005. The child was named Jerry Lee III.
In 1962, Steve Allen Lewis, 3, drowned in a swimming pool, and in 1973, Jerry Lee Jr. died in a traffic accident. Lewis had two children with his wife Judith.
His finances were not easy to manage. Lewis ended up owing the IRS hundreds of thousands of dollars because he liked his cash and didn't want to pay taxes. He set up a 900 phone number for fans to call if they wanted to hear a recorded message.
The son of a one-time bootlegger, Lewis was born in Louisiana. He first learned to play guitar but couldn't afford a piano in his town. His life changed when his father gave him a set of keyboards.
In the book "Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story," Lewis said his eyes almost fell out.
He snuck off to the black juke joints and absorbed everything from boogie-woogie to gospel. He quit school at 16 because he wanted to become a piano-playing preacher. Lewis was kicked out of a fundamentalist Bible college for playing the wrong type of music.
Lewis initially refused to record two of his most enduring songs, "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lotta Shakin'." Lewis had a few pop hits, including "High School Confidential" and "Breathless", but they were enough to make him an architect.
John Lennon told Rolling Stone in 1970 that the Beatles, Dylan or Stones have never improved on "Whole Lotta Shakin'".
Lewis showed up at Sun Records, the home of Elvis, Perkins and Cash, after taking off for Memphis in the mid-sixties. Lewis hurried off "Whole Lotta Shakin'" in a single take after being told by company founder SamPhillips to go learn some rock 'n Roll.
He said he knew it was a hit when he slashed it. It couldn't make it because SamPhillips thought it would be too risque. I apologize if that's risque.
He joined the Country Hall of Fame this year after being in the inaugural class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Dennis Quaid starred in the 1989 film "Great Balls of Fire", which was about the life and music of The Killer. A recording session featuring Lewis, Elvis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash inspired a Broadway song.
He received a lifetime achievement award in 2005 after winning a lifetime achievement award in 1987 as part of an interview album. The board of the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry praised the "propulsive boogie piano that was perfectly complemented by the drive of J.M. Vanotte's energetic drumming." Lewis had a hard time staying seated during the performance.
Pearry Green asked Lewis if he was still playing music after they met at Bible school.
Lewis said yes. The same kind of music that they kicked me out of school for is still being played in their churches. I know I am playing for the devil but they don't.
That's right.
The location of Lewis' home has been clarified.
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