It was with great regret, today, that “Rock n’ Roll” followers learned of the death of possibly the world’s most influential pianists of the 20th century; Mr Jerry Lee Lewis.
Nicknamed ‘The Killer’; the American singer, songwriter, and pianist was born on September 29th, 1935 and came to be described as “Rock n’ Roll’s” first great wild man of Rock Music.
Lewis was born to parents Elmo Kidd Lewis (Senior) and Mary (Mamie) Herron Lewis, in Ferriday, Louisiana, and grew up a member of an impoverished farming family.
In his youth, he began playing the piano with two of his cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart.
His parents mortgaged their farm to buy him his first piano, before his mother enrolled him at the Southwest Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas, in the hope he would sing evangelical songs exclusively.
When Lewis dared to play a boogie-woogie rendition of “My God Is Real” at a church assembly, it ended his association with the school the next morning, when the Dean of the school called Lewis into his office and expelled him.
He returned home and so began his career playing at clubs in and around Ferriday and Natchez, Mississippi; quickly becoming part of the new era Rock n’ Roll sound.
When Jerry Lee Lewis was 16 years old, he first married Ms Dorothy Barton, the daughter of a preacher.
His second marriage was in September 1953, to Jane Mitchum.
His career faltered somewhat, following his marriage to his 3rd wife, Ms Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin, once removed. Lewis was aged 22 at the time and claimed Myra was actually 15 years old. Nevertheless, this publicity caused an uproar, and his tour was cancelled after only three concerts.
Lewis’s piano style had become synonymous with rock and roll; often played with his fists, elbows, feet, and his backside, often climbing on top of his piano during gigs.
His fourth marriage was to Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate.
His fifth marriage was to Shawn Stephens, and same lasted only 77 days. His sixth marriage was to Kerrie McCarver, with same lasting a total of 21 years
In 1993, Lewis moved to live in Foxrock, Co. Dublin, with his family in what was suggested to be a move to avoid issues he was having with the American Internal Revenue Service.
Lewis married his seventh wife Judith Lewis (née Brown, the ex-wife of the brother of his 3rd wife Myra Gale Brown)
These seven marriages during his career included bigamous marriages (still legally married to someone else) and resulted in his fathering of 6 children.
However, following the uproar caused by his 3rd marriage, his career would ignited once again in the late 1960s and 1970s, when he topped the country-western charts, with 30 songs reaching the Top 10 on the Billboard Country and Western Chart, including “To Make Love Sweeter for You”; “There Must Be More to Love Than This” and “Would You Take Another Chance on Me”, all hitting the No.1 spot.
Winner of four Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and two Grammy Hall of Fame Awards; Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
He sadly died today, October 28th, 2022, at his home in DeSoto County, Mississippi, US, aged 87 years.
In ár gcroíthe go deo.
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