Jerry Lee Lewis, the piano-pounding, foot-stomping singer who electrified early rock 'n' roll with hits like Nice Balls of Hearth and Entire Lotta Shakin' Goin' On earlier than marital scandal derailed his profession, has died, in keeping with an announcement from his consultant, Zach Farnum. He was 87.
Lewis handed away at his house in Desoto County, Mississippi, south of Memphis, the assertion stated. Farnum informed CNN that Lewis died of "pure causes" when reached by telephone.
His seventh spouse, Judith, was by his aspect when he died and Lewis "informed her, in his closing days, that he welcomed the hereafter, and that he was not afraid," the assertion added.
Together with Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and others, Lewis was one of many main figures of the Fifties rock period and a grasp showman – nicknamed "The Killer" – whose uncooked, uninhibited performances drove younger followers into spasmodic matches.
"I used to be born to be on a stage. I could not wait to be on it. I dreamed about it. And I have been on one all my life," Lewis stated in Jerry Lee Lewis: His Personal Story, a 2014 biography by Rick Bragg.
"That is the place I am the happiest."
However offstage, the singer's private life was turbulent. Lewis was close to the height of his reputation in 1958 when the general public realized that he had married Myra Gale Brown, his first cousin. She was 13 on the time; Lewis was 22.
Information of the wedding leaked in London, the place Lewis had flown to play some concert events. Lewis informed the press that Myra was 15, however the reality quickly got here out and prompted an outcry, as newspapers blared such headlines as "Followers Aghast at Youngster Bride." Audiences heckled Lewis, and the tour was canceled after three exhibits.
Lewis continued to file and tour over the following decade, however his rockabilly music did not promote within the Beatles period and he could not regain the recognition of his early years – till he made an unlikely comeback as a rustic singer.
Beginnings
Lewis was born in 1935 right into a poor farming household in Ferriday, Louisiana. One in every of his cousins, Jimmy Swaggart, would go on to turn out to be a preferred TV evangelist. Lewis' web site says he started enjoying the piano at age 9, aping the kinds of preachers and Black musicians who handed by the area.
After dropping out of college to give attention to enjoying music, Lewis traveled in 1956 to Solar Studios in Memphis, the place he rapidly gained work as a session participant for such budding stars as Carl Perkins and Johnny Money. He additionally recorded with Elvis Presley.
A December 1956 recording session with Lewis, Presley, Perkins and Money – nicknamed the Million Greenback Quartet – grew to become a seminal second in rock historical past.
By the next 12 months, due to Prime 5 hits like Nice Balls of Hearth, Lewis was internationally well-known, despite the fact that his incendiary type and suggestive lyrics led some radio stations to boycott his songs.
Then got here the wedding scandal, and Lewis' aura was by no means fairly the identical.
After a decade of dwindling gross sales, he reinvented himself within the late Nineteen Sixties as a rustic artist and revived his profession, scoring a collection of Prime 10 nation hits nicely into the Seventies.
In 1989 Nice Balls of Hearth!, a biopic starring Dennis Quaid as Lewis, introduced new consideration to Lewis' life and music. Lewis even recorded new variations of his hits for the soundtrack.
However his private life remained messy. He was married seven instances and filed for chapter in 1988, claiming he owed the IRS greater than $US2 million.
He additionally battled alcoholism, drug dependancy and different well being issues for years. In a single notorious 1976 episode, he was arrested at Graceland within the wee hours of the morning after drunkenly crashing his automotive into the mansion's gates – with a loaded gun – whereas attempting to go to Presley.
"I ain't no goody goody, and I ain't no phony," Lewis stated in Bragg's biography.
"I by no means pretended to be something, and something I ever did, I did it wide-open as a case knife. I've lived my life to the fullest and I had fun doin' it."
In October, Lewis was inducted into Nation Music Corridor of Fame however was unable to attend the ceremony as a result of he was sick with the flu.