Jerry Lee Lewis loves his fans. Sign Jerry Lee Lewis’ Official Guestbook by adding your comment below.
Jerry Lee Lewis loves his fans. Sign Jerry Lee Lewis’ Official Guestbook by adding your comment below.
Somewhere in the world, in a mean little honky-tonk or big music hall or church basement rec room, someone is playing a Jerry Lee Lewis song. Wherever there is a piano, someone is shouting…
You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain
Too much love drives a man insane…
“But they won’t play it like the Killer,” Lewis liked to say, as if he needed to make sure the whole world was hearing him right, hearing the pounding genius of it, in songs like “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Breathless” and “Great Balls of Fire.”
“’Cause,” he liked to say, “ain’t but one of me.”
You broke my will
But what a thrill…
Lewis, perhaps the last true, great icon of the birth of rock ‘n’ roll, whose marriage of blues, gospel, country, honky-tonk and raw, pounding stage performances so threatened a young Elvis Presley that it made him cry, has died.
He was there at the beginning, with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, and the rest, and watched them fade away one by one till it was him alone to bear witness, and sing of the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.
“Who would have thought,” he said, near the end of his days, “it would be me?”
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!
He suffered through the last years of his life from various illnesses and injuries that, his physicians have often said, should have taken him decades ago; he had abused his body so thoroughly as a young man he was given little chance of lasting through middle age, let alone old age.
“He is ready to leave,” his wife Judith said, just before his death.
Lewis, who performed everything from “Over the Rainbow” to Al Jolson, who played the Opry and the Apollo and even Shakespeare, was 87 years old.
Some music historians have wondered if Lewis, regarded by his fans and many music historians as rock’s first, great wild man, might be indestructible; his obituary has been written, re-written, then shelved, gathering dust for a day that seemed inevitable, but seemed to never come. He defied death in his old age just as he shrugged off the hard-driving, self-destructive lifestyle of his younger years, to play his music to a worldwide audience across seven decades, decorate the walls of his home with Grammys and gold records, and spawn a million outrageous stories — most of them true.
Once, when asked by a biographer: “Is it true that…”
“Yeah,” interrupted Lewis, without waiting to hear the particulars, “it probably was.”
His beginnings sounded like myth. His father, Elmo, and mother, Mamie, mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano, after he climbed onto a piano bench and, without ever having touched a keyboard before, began to play. His nickname, Killer, had nothing to do with his playing, but came from a schoolroom fight in Ferriday when he tried to choke a grown man with his own necktie; still, it fit the man, the musician to come, but there was more to him than a barroom piano pounder who sometimes kept a pistol in his pants.
Musicians and music journalists called him a true virtuoso, whose music was so rich and complex that some of them swore there were two pianos on stage instead of one. He played honky-tonk and blues across the same keyboard in the same instant, could play melody with both hands. He sang rockabilly before he knew it had a name, sang blues, gospel and country in the same set and sometimes the same breath, to become No. 24 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Sam Phillips, who launched the careers of Elvis and Lewis at Sun Records in Memphis, called Lewis the most talented person he had ever seen. A talent that made him one of the very few to be inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s first class in 1986 and, most recently this past week, at long last, into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
As Lewis stacked hits on the charts in ’57 and Elvis received his draft notice, the reigning king of rock ‘n’ roll drove to Sun Records in tears, to tell Lewis: “You can have it.”
But if Jerry Lee’s life was a comet that streaked across the sky of American music, it was also a thing that scorched him inside and out, and so many of the people around him.
Judith, his seventh wife, was by his side when he passed away at his home in Desoto County, Mississippi, south of Memphis. He told her, in his final days, that he welcomed the hereafter, and that he was not afraid.
Born into the Assembly of God church in his hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana, he never stopped believing, even when his lifestyle made the specter of hell seem closer. His greatest fear, that he would be condemned to a lake of fire for playing what many in his Pentecostal faith called “the devil’s music,” haunted him. He shared his fear with Elvis, who begged him to never mention it again. Lewis thought Elvis, also a Pentecostal, was the one person who might understand, but he died in ’77, leaving Lewis to wonder, alone.
He had prayed every day across his long life for forgiveness, and for salvation. His was a church that believed in miracles; why, he sometimes wondered, should he not be one of them? He found peace near the end of his life in a simple idea: that a music that brought such joy to so many could only come from God, “and the devil,” he said, “didn’t have nothin’ to do with it.”
“He said he was ready to be with Jesus,” said Judith.
His last album was a gospel record with his cousin, lifetime televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who had preached against his music when they were younger. In Jerry Lee’s final months, they took turns at the keyboard, singing songs they learned as children: “Old Rugged Cross” and “Lily of the Valley” and “In the Garden.” Lewis, though his voice and body were weakened by his injury and a recent stroke, seemed happy, content.
Much of his life, Lewis had seemed determined to leave the world in the great fire he sang about. He set pianos ablaze, busted hecklers in the head with the butt-end of his microphone stand and rammed the gates of Graceland with his Rolls Royce. He shot holes in the wall of his Memphis office with a .38 revolver, shot his bass player in the chest, “by accident,” with a .357. His life, at different times, was a blur of high-speed chases and Crown Royal. The DEA met his planes on the runway. Fortunes came and went; all the wild rock musicians who came after him, he said, were mostly amateurs. Keith Richards tried to toss up a bottle of Crown Royal and catch it by the neck, like him, “but he never did it right … wasted a bunch of good liquor.”
But if you asked him, in his waning years, what he hoped people would say about him, he had a simple answer.
“You can tell ‘em I played the piano and sang rock ‘n’ roll.”
His career, like his body, seemed doomed a dozen times.
After soaring to the top of the charts in ’57 with songs like “Shakin’” and “High School Confidential,” he was castigated in the press for his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, Myra. His rock’n’ roll star seemed to burn out even as it began to rise, and after a few big hits in the early 1960s his career seemed to be over. He responded by loading two cars with instruments and musicians and hitting the road, to play some big rooms, still, but also every honky-tonk and beer joint that would pay him to perform. He fought his way out of beer joints in Iowa, then drove all night and all day to another town and another show.
Sometimes he gave them magic and sometimes, if the mood was on him, he gave them less, but in his old age he swore he gave them the magic all the time. In ’64, record producers taped his show at a Hamburg, Germany, nightclub and made what would become music history. Live at the Star Club would be regarded as one the rawest, wildest, and greatest live albums of all time.
Then, in a twist that surprised many of his rock fans, Jerry Lee Lewis went country. “Another Place, Another Time,” was just the beginning of a string of soulful country chart-toppers that made him rich and famous all over again. He had more than 30 songs reach Billboard’s Top 10, including “To Make Love Sweeter for You” and a haunting “Would You Take Another Chance on Me.” It seemed only natural to Jerry Lee. He had always believed that Hank Williams hung the moon.
In this new stardom he finally played the Grand Ole Opry, the organization that had once snubbed him, and ignored the two-song protocol to play what and for long as he pleased, even playing through the commercials. Then, in perhaps the oddest twist of his musical career, he was cast as Shakespeare’s sinister Iago in a musical production in Los Angeles; he was a natural.
Once again, he flew around the world, sometimes on his own plane, and once again his lifestyle made almost as many headlines as his music. Tragedy followed him; he buried two sons. His health began to fail, marriages failed, but somehow he always rallied, always kept playing, for big paydays, or for free in a Memphis nightclub, living the life he sang about in his songs.
In 2006, his Last Man Standing album sold a million copies, his best-selling album of his long career. He followed that with another success, Mean Ol’ Man. You could hear the ghosts of the old honky-tonks in them, as if Jerry Lee Lewis had, truly, found a way to stop time. He did a duet with Springsteen.
His Lifetime Achievement Grammy was a kind of crowning achievement, and he appeared at Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame shows to accept his due and to school the whippersnappers on how it was done.
In 2012, when he was 76, he fell in love and married Judith, and they lived quietly – quietly for Jerry Lee Lewis – in northern Mississippi, though Lewis continued to do shows here in the U.S. and abroad. That year they took a trip to Ferriday to visit the family cemetery, and to drive across the bridge to Natchez where, as a boy, Jerry Lee used to dangle over the girders high above the brown water of the Mississippi and the passing boats below. The other boys begged him to get down, but he just hung there, grinning, till they were in tears. When asked if he was scared, a lifetime later, he just looked surprised. The Killer didn’t get scared. But looking down at the river as an old man, he said he might have been crazy.
Later, they drove past the church where he beat the piano to pieces with his cousins Swaggart and Mickey Gilley, who would go on to country music stardom, pounding a little blues and honky-tonk into the hymns they were supposed to be practicing.
Just across town from the tiny church had once stood the other temple of his musical education, a blues joint called Haney’s Big House, where some of the biggest acts in the country came to play. As a little boy, he snuck in the door and hid under the tables to hear rolling blues piano and wicked guitar. And somewhere in between it all, between the hymnals and the beer joints, between Hank Williams and Ray Charles, he found something that was his alone. It was always a waste of breath to ask if he had any regrets.
He had a million, and he had none. It all just depended on the song that was running through his head at the time.
“I’ve had an interesting life,” he said, in his 2014 biography, “haven’t I?”
Written by Rick Bragg
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Jerry Lee 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. He was preceded in death by his parents Elmo and Mamie Lewis, sons Steve Allen Lewis and Jerry Lee Lewis Jr., his siblings Elmo Lewis Jr. and Frankie Jean Lewis and his cousin Mickey Gilley.
Services and more information will be announced in the following 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 / National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Jerry you out lasted them all but quality will do that. God Bless
Mr Jerry Lee you and my husband share the same birthday and he is probably your biggest fan. We were recently in Memphis and he got sad because the Hall of Fame was closed. You are a regular in our house and we love you. Keep doing what you do .
Easy now, we still got a whole lot of shakin to go! Still lovin and singing along to all the awesome Oldies but Goodies! With love from the little White Dove <3
Have been a fan since your very beginning and a proud owner of a collection of 45’s, vinyl albums cassettes and CD’s of your wonderful music. Happy Birthday and enjoy many more. Saw you at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania a number of years back, a memory I will never forget
85 Years and still Killin` it…You the man….
STILL upset my parents wouldn’t let this a’borning 9-year old Canadian rocker go with his King Greaseball 15-year old cousin to see you in London, Ontario in 1958.
The damn picture of you wildly throwing back your hair taking up the entire “above-the-fold” front page in the newest issue of the Catholic Universe Bulletin sealed the no-deal. And the sensational war-font size headline “THE DEVIL’S MUSIC” certainly didn’t help ;>)
Haven’t missed you since, and this upcoming livestream is a glimmer of hope not only in these troubled times, but for ALL of us geezer-rockers. Thanks man!
YOU GOT THIS HOSS!
Hey Killer Jerry!
Just wanted to say hello from AR. Hope you are doing well! Still lovin’ & enjoying your rockin’
music!
Take care & hope to see you soon!
CC & Dan
My dad was a big fan of yours and through him I came to love your music. When he passed away my siblings and I played Great Balls of Fire at his funeral in a church. That church was a rockin and even the preacher was boppin to it.
jerry lee lewis! la bretagne vous salut . et vous souhaite longue vie.
vive le rock et le rol !!!
Hello Jerry Lee, I used to know and talk to you back in the seventy and eighty after church at Barton Height Church of God, that has been a few years ago hu? Do you remember the last tour bus? You remember you donated it t0 the church and the church ended up selling it. Well I ended up with it I put it on a nice plack. I would like to get it aunticated, some people say it could be a fake, but I know better. It said JERRY LEE LEWIS AND THE MEMPHIS BEATS EXPRESS. Do you remember Jerry? I sure would like to get this settled
Happy Birthday once again Jerry Lee.
Hope that you had a wonderful day.
Thank you for your music and
entertainment.
Joe Smith
Happy Birthday Jerry Lee Lewis hope you are doin’ fine
have a great 85th anniversary.
keep that motor running and keep rockin and lovin
Happy Birthday Jerry Lee Lewis. Love your music. Wishing you all the best. Regards, Frank
Seeing as how today is tomorrow in England, wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday, Killer. Stay safe and God bless ya.
I have been singing and dancing your music since I was 5 years old. I’m now 54. Thank you for all the enjoyment you have brought to my life.
Oye me man its a coming on closing time you and I
There’s a stage and piano and people waiting
I know you won t let them down
Dan
You have been so wonderul, It is always feeling great hearing your music.
Thank you for your wonderful music.
Hello Jerry-Lee.
First I hope you are fine.
I’m a fan of you from when I can think.
Your Music is amazing.
I come from a small country, named Austria.
But you and your Band was there, had a amazing night with my wife.
I even was lucky enough to catch autograph from your whole Band.
Unfortunately I don’t have one from you.
But it’s more than OK, you and your Band have rock the Hall it was Amazing.
Even have a tattoo from you.
You and your energy, how you sing your song.
Your Songs are great, all of them.
I believe the most important was jukebox London session. And will the circle be unbroken.
Wembley 1990.
However your song’s till this day’s help me.
no matter what mood I have, I know a song from you who feeds perfect.
I write a book I see.
I want to say thank you Jerry-Lee for all you gave to me till today. Every day.
God bless you Jerry-Lee.
Hey Jerry-Lee. Just want to tell u that u still influenced me every day.
Not matters in which mood I am, I know the right song from you.
I’m from Austria, small country, but u was here.
And I could catch the autograph of the whole band except from u.
Does not matter, had with my wife a great night, thanks to you and your Band.
You have Rock the Hall.
God was it great.
Believe it or not your Musik have help me a lot on my way, and till I’m a old man I will listen to you.
You are a special kind of person.
I wanted to thank you a lot.
For all.
God bless you and your family.
I worry for the future of rock and roll at times. I have 2 little boys and wonder what music/culture will be like when they’re teenagers. You’ve started and seen it all and I have peace of mind knowing that as long as Jerry Lee Lewis is alive, so is rock and roll.
Love you and thank you for everything You’ve done for the world.
-Joe
Dear Jerry Lee,
first time I saw you in 1964 when playing with the Nashville Teens at the Star Club in Hamburg. Later again one time in Frankfurt, for another two times in Hamburg and then in Mannheim, together with Chuck Berry and Little Richard.
Great! Keep on Rocking!
Walther
Always been a fan, will always be a fan. He’s in a lot of my playlists I have.
I’m struggling right now. I’m a special education teacher in CA. It’s been a challenging year. I just. Hope my three times removed cousin on the Lumpkin’s side, my spiritual cousin Mr Jerry Lee is doin all right.
I’m 15 and Jerry lee Lewis rock and roll is some of the best music I’ve listened to yet!
Best wishes to you and hope you can get back touring soon!