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.
Hello Killer I am 15 years old and I am from Pennsylvania and you have inspired me over the years in many way thanks to you I would love to learn to play piano and once my family gets enough money I’m going to ask them to buy me one
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year Jerry
~A Beloved Fan
Jerry Lee,
You are the greatest rock and roller that ever was!
Much love and happiness,
Wayne
Rock n Roll is forever! Jerry Lee you are a legend and you have influenced my music. I wish you all the best.
Mr. Lewis, you are truly a man that will never be forgotten. Your music will live on forever. I am a 54 year old man and can remember my dad blasting your music inside our home at the age of 5. Thank you for all your music and entertainment throughout the years. Merry Christmas 2020
Jerry Lee Lewis,
I have your picture with signature in my man cave and all your old Sun records. My Dad passed his love for your music onto me. Thank for all the great melodies.
Kind regards,
Sean
Love you
Your the Killer!!! no one on the piano better!!! My name is Phil!! and love your music, Keep rockin’ God Bless!!
Hi my name is Travis Crickmore I am a firefighter/medical and we pay your Music at the fire station i am a 80,s babby i love the old music i wood like to say happy birthday big 85 and still going that great i am frome jay county indiana maybe one day I get done to your house and see it i have been to Elvis house back whan I was 8 i wood love to meet and talk with you about the good old days be safe and if I don’t ever get tomeet you I meet you up in Heaven God bless you and your family
jerry lee is my cousin my grandmother was his great aunt
I grew up in the 1980’s embracing rockers like you and those from your age along with the new rock and metal acts. I am a Louisiana boy just like you. Rock on, Jerry.
I’ve loved the Killer all my life and I’ll be 60 next year. I’ve seen in him live 12 times on three different continents. There will only ever be ONE Jerry Lee. Just a naturally greatly talented man, the essence of Rock ‘n Roll. Love you, Jerry. Know that millions have been turned on to your music and you hold a special place in the hearts of so many.
Genio total abrazo gigantedesde Argentina
Hi jerry lee, My name is rob ive not long turned 30,and I’ve been a massive fan if youres sinse I was aged 3-4 my dad got me in to youre music,and I used to have a little pretend kids piano ans used to smash the keys whilst singing whole lotta shakin going on.. and greatballs of fire etc,my all time dream would be to meet you 1 day killer but ofcourse due to covid 19 its a no go :(I no this would be a massive ask,but I would be so greatful for a letter from you jerry,to frame it and treasure it forever, im so thrilled you’re getting better sinse youre health got bad, you will always be the king of rock n roll on my eyes,all the others were fantastic artists,but you are the best ever to of been put on this earth,just remember Jesus is always with you jerry. Really do hope you and youre lovely wife and rest of the family are keeping well and staying extra well throughout this pandemic. My address is in England. King regards and best wishes to you all. Long love the killer !!!!!
Hello Jerry,
please stay health and play the piano, thats fine!
greetings, Bernie Ziegler
Delighted to have just found you.
Thank you for new inspiration!
Looking forward to making new material that I hope will be worth sending to you in the new year.
Please keep very well!
x
I love your music and the movie great Balls of fire 🔥 I wish could see you in concert
Hello Killer! I’ve been a fan for over 50 years. Saw you live in Fort Myers, FL.
God Bless you and your family.
Jerry Lee Lewis set the bar very high for those rockers that followed. Unique artist who was imitated by many but never matched. He bleeds the rock n roll. Can scar you with a torch song. He has revelled in his time. We are all the better to be witness to his genius.
Was you in Englewood ohio in the 60s? I was working at a Gulf station in the 60s and a guy came in with a convertable and said he was Jerry Lewis. I was 18 then,73 now. I remenber he was with some other guys and he was a little crazy. Just wondering
Big fan! Thanks for your music.
I think I have almost every album of JLL and one of my favorites is the ‘Caribou Sessions’ 2 album set which was never released by PHILIPS.. I can’t remember how I managed to obtain it but it’s a really superb 40 track set. Get it if you can.
You are the Greatest Of All Time!!!
I’ve always loved you Jerry Lee ❤️ from the moment I heard your piano rock and roll at the age of 8. Don’t ever stop being awesome.
Fan tastic
Lieber jerry, alles liebe und gute zum geburtstag, Happy birthday to you. I Fan germany, bitte schicke mir ein Autogramm von dir. Ich werde mich riesig freuen. Ich War vor 2 Jahren in Memphis im Jerry Lee Lewis Rock caffee.ich liebe amerika. Bleiben sie gesund. Ihr grosser Fan. Gabriele Heinrich. 86199 augsburg/germany radaustrasse 51 von Jason James habe ich ein autogramm, ich finde ihn spitze, phantastisch. Er kommt gleich nach ihnen. Bleiben sie gesund. Liebe gruesse aus deutschland.