Jerry Lee Lewis Dies: The Killer, A Rock And Roll And Country Music Hall Of Famer, Was 87

Jerry Lee Lewis , one of the pioneers of rock ‘n roll and a Hall of Fame member in several genres, died Friday morning at age 87. Lewis died at a home in Memphis, TN, his publicist Zach Farnum said in a release. Nicknamed “The Killer,” Lewis’s work as a singer, songwriter, and pianist was marked by a frenetic energy that often saw him standing on his keyboard or bending over as if trying to inhale its essence.

He stands in the pantheon of rock ‘n roll’s greatest artists, but also crossed over to rockabilly, gospel, country, blues and even jazz. Although he rarely wrote his own songs, his interpretation was his strength, as his keyboard dexterity and barely controlled passion transformed each work into something special. Related Story Ethan Coen On His Killer Jerry Lee Lewis Docu, How The ‘Great Balls Of Fire’ Singer Invented Cancel Culture & Reuniting With Brother Joel Coen: Cannes Q&A RELATED: Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at the legendary Sun Records in Memphis.

That first year was known for the hit “Crazy Arms,” which sold 300,000 units, but also for a recording of an impromptu gospel music jam session featured Lewis, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash that didn’t surface until the 1980s. The recordings were dubbed “The Million Dollar Quartet” by the news media. Even in that rarified company, Lewis intimidated.

“No one wanted to follow Jerry Lee, not even Elvis,” Cash later wrote in his 1997 autobiography, Cash . That session happened in December 1956, but it was merely the warmup to perhaps the greatest year in Lewis’ history. The year 1957 saw the singles “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire” arrive, both selling multiple millions and making Lewis a worldwide sensation.

But just as quickly as his career climbed, it crashed. His marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, was an international scandal, and its revelation cut short a planned 71-date tour in the UK after just three shows. Although Lewis had enough momentum to do well with the 1958 singles “Breathless” and “High School Confidential,” neither climbed as high on the charts as his previous hits.

As he moved into the 1960s, Lewis’ chart success waned. But he continued touring, building a reputation for wild and energetic performances. His 1964 album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is considered one of the great live rock albums.

As the decade wore on and music morphed from rock’s roots, Lewis made a left turn into country music. The year 1968 saw him score a country hit with “Another Place, Another Time,” which kicked off a solid career in that genre that saw him place in the Billboard County Music charts with 30 songs in its Top 10. He had No.

1 hits with “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 also continued a vigorous touring schedule. Despite his established career, various scandals continued to plague Lewis.

Earlier, two of his children died in accidents, he shot his bass player in drunken play with a gun, and had a notorious incident where he drunkenly crashed his car into Elvis’ Graceland gates and waived a gun around. In 1982, his third wife turned up dead in a swimming pool just before their acrimonious divorce was finalized. Lewis admittedly drank too much, saying he needed a fifth of tequila to merely sober up.

He later endured a scandal when wife number five was found dead in a bedroom at his Memphis home. The fast living produced a reflective mood in Lewis. In an interview with Britain’s The Guardian, he confessed, “I was always worried whether I was going to heaven…I still am.

I worry about it before I go to bed; it’s a very serious situation. I mean you worry, when you breathe your last breath, where are you going to go?” Even as his career continued to succeed, problems arose. Fans may have loved him, but the IRS had a different view.

The Internal Revenue Service claimed an overdue tax bill amounted to almost $2 million in 1988, and Lewis was forced to file for bankruptcy. It wasn’t his first run-in with the agency — in the 1970s, they seized property from him, and agents showed up at his concerts and confiscated his fees. But Lewis worked so often and had so much money coming in, he managed to maintain his lifestyle.

The 1989 film Great Balls of Fire helped propel the Lewis legend. Focused on Lewis’s early career, it was based on the book by his ex-wife, Myra Gale. Dennis Quaid played a wild and brash version of Lewis, with Winona Ryder and Alec Baldwin also appearing.

Lewis himself was not amused. “I never acted like that in my life. That movie was bad news.

” In 2022, Lewis was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The decision to honor him was not easy for some in the country music community. In his lone appearance at the venerated Grand Ol’ Opry, he blew past his allotted time and angered some by playing more rock ‘n roll than country.

The sore feelings lingered and kept him out of the hall until this year. That long-overdue induction came 36 years after his entry as part of the inaugural class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which saw Lewis joined in that first class by Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and James Brown. The Lewis career scorecard ultimately shows a dozen gold records, four Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement honor, and two Grammy Hall of Fame Awards.

Lewis is survived by his wife, Judith Coghlan Lewis; his children Jerry Lee Lewis III, Ronnie Lewis, Pheobe Lewis and Lori Lancaster; sister Linda Gail Lewis; cousin Jimmy Swaggart; and many grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Services and more information will be announced in the coming days. In lieu of flowers, the Lewis family requests donations be made in Jerry Lee Lewis’ honor to the Arthritis Foundation or MusiCares, the non-profit foundation of the Grammys and Recording Academy.

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