The killer hammers down on the keys of his baby grand piano, bellowing into the microphone and peering into the audience. This is one of the final shows of the tour, and he’s about to make it unforgettable. Prior to the start of the show, the Killer was informed that instead of closing the show, as he always does, he will now be going on second to last; Chuck Berry will be closing. This angers him deeply and he threatens to quit, but he reconsiders and decides to go on. However, the tour manager has no idea what he’s done when no one was looking. As he approaches the piano solo in his song, he reaches into the baby grand and grabs a bottle of lighter fluid. After throwing it on the piano followed by his lighter, he continues to pound the keys as the piano becomes engulfed. As he finishes, the bottom falls out the piano and he walks off the stage. As he passes his bewildered friend Chuck Berry, he grins and says “Follow that, boy!”
Jerry Lee Lewis was born on September 29, 1935 in Ferriday, Louisiana. His father, Elmo Lewis, was a carpenter and farmer who had been convicted of bootlegging moonshine during the prohibition era. When he was three years old, his brother Elmo Jr died at age seven after being hit by a car, the first of many tragic deaths that would occur in Lewis’ life. By age seven it was apparent that Lewis had a talent for music, leading Elmo and Mamie to mortgage their farm for $250 and buy Jerry Lee a piano. In his early teens, Lewis and his cousin Mickey Gilley (who would later become a popular country singer) began sneaking into a local bar known as “Haney’s Big House”, a Black Juke Joint that featured black blues and jazz artists. Jerry Lee loved the sounds he heard and began repeating them on his own piano at home.
In 1953 Lewis was thrown out of the Southwest Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas after playing a jazzy version of “My God is Real”. He returned home in 1954 and began playing piano in clubs around Louisiana and Mississippi with the hope of building his reputation as a musician. In 1955 he traveled to Nashville where he was rejected by the Grand Ole Opry and told to “learn guitar and try again”. In 1956 Lewis began recording with Sun records in Memphis, where he played piano for artists like Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.
In 1957, Lewis began recording as a solo artist at Sun and saw major success in the up and coming rock and roll genre. He became known for his extravagant piano playing and on stage antics, such as playing the piano with his feet. His success was short lived however. In late 1957, Lewis, 22 at the time, married his 13 year old cousin Myra Brown, making her his 3rd wife. The family kept it a secret until Jerry Lee’s 1958 tour of England, when a British tabloid leaked the story. The backlash began immediately as all of his remaining venues backed out of the tour. When he returned to the U.S he was blacklisted by most radio stations and his career had all but ended.
In the late 1960’s, Lewis began making a comeback after releasing an all country album with Smash records. He began charting songs on the Billboard Country Charts and started touring again. He saw great success into the 1970’s as a country artist and played at the Grand Ole Opry for the first (and only) time ever in 1973. While performing, he broke every rule the Opry had in place and played for 30 minutes more than he was allotted; all met with a standing ovation at the end of his show.
Lewis’ career never again majorly declined after his initial comeback in the 60’s. His personal life, however was filled with many struggles throughout the years. He’s lost two of his six children, been married seven times, divorced four times, and widowed twice. His most recent marriage occurred in 2012. Despite the scandalous nature of his career, Jerry Lee Lewis is often regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, and is often credited as the man who introduced piano into rock and roll. Elton John has stated that Lewis was his biggest inspiration for learning piano.
My Picks
- What’s made Milwaukee famous
- You Win Again
- Breathless
- Great balls of fire
- Whole lot of shakin goin on (cover of an African American R&B folk song Lewis first heard at Haney’s)
This was a cool background and I really like the way that you started it off. It was also interesting that you tied his tumultuous personal life into the story and discussed how it affected his career. A recurring theme among these musicians seems to be failure and personal struggle, which is not something we usually think about when it comes to our idols.
I like how you started off with a gripping and sensational story. I’m sad to say that the only song I recognized was Great balls of fire but maybe if I heard some of his songs played I would recognize them. It’s always sad to see how many great musicians have a troubled life story. I guess tragedy makes for great inspiration.
I had heard about Jerry Lee before in a piano class I had taken but never knew about his struggle and his impact on future artists. Everyone has their highs and lows in their career but Jerry kept on going and made magical music and his contribution with the piano might be irreplaceable. Great read!!
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Jerry Lee or any of his songs, but I learned a lot from this post. I think it’s interesting how a lot of these famous artists you talk about faced many tragic experiences early on in their lives. Being married 7 times and losing multiple children are both just crazy life experiences that you wouldn’t expect to happen to someone so famous. I think you chose great facts that were interesting and unique to Jerry Lee.