He was born in 1935 in Ferriday, Louisiana, to Elmo (one-time bootlegger) and Mamie Lewis and by 9 years of age was already playing the piano, reportedly copying the styles and antics of Black musicians and various Preachers who came through his region. His father, out of the back of his truck, gave him his first piano as a present. He quit school at age 16. By 1956 he had signed with Sun Records and was on his way to stardom!
His style was sometimes called “maniacal,” sometimes “slashing,” and sometimes “frenzied.” All were seemingly true as he produced music that was boogie-woogie, rhythmand- blues, gospel, country, synthesized madness, honky-tonk, and definitely Southern!
“You shake my nerves, and you rattle my brain— too much love drives a man insane.”
Lewis, an Assembly of God believer from birth to death, sometimes admitted fearing that his lifestyle and singing might condemn him to hell; however, near the end, he seemed to find peace as he felt that “singing and music that brought such joy to so many could not come from the devil”— and that this Pentecostal was ready to meet Jesus!
My research found that his final album was a gospel record in conjunction with his cousin, Jimmy Swaggart, who had during his younger years preached against the antics and singing of Lewis. As he was nearing his end, Jerry Lee said that he hoped people, when asked, would remember two things: “I played the piano, and I sang rockand- roll.” (Mickey Gilley was also his cousin.)
“You broke my will—but what a thrill!”
Jerry Lee Lewis did many things besides his music for which he is remembered— rammed Graceland’s gates with his Rolls Royce, used his microphone stand on folks who heckled him, accidentally shot his bass player, burned pianos, shot up the walls of his office with a .38 revolver, married his 13 years-old cousin, had way too many high speed races and Crown Royal drinks, had seven wives, was met by the DEA at airports, and probably many other things I just have not yet read! However…….
……….“if you want true ROCK-and-ROLL, Jerry Lee Lewis is what you want,” say so many of his fans and many of his competitors. And he did it on stage and in the studio, not just one or the other as is the case with some artists!
For those of you who are his followers, you already know that he is linked with Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry—and it seems that despite a wild and hard life, he outlived them all—and even played a little Shakespeare along with all the other varieties of material.
Along the way, he was often diagnosed as being on death’s bed, but he always seemed to arise from near death to continue performing. Once, as I have read, he was asked by a guy who wished to write the story of his life “whether or not it was true that,” and before he could finish the question, Lewis answered without waiting for the rest of the question, a simple, “YEAH! It probably is and was!”
“Shakin,” “High School Confidential,” Live at the Star Club album, “Another Place, Another Time,” “To Make Love Sweeter For You,” “Would You Take Another Chance on Me,” Last Man Standing album, “She Still Comes Around,” Mean Ol’ Man album, “Breathless,” “She Even Woke Me Up to Say Good-bye,” “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous,” (a performance during Farm Aid in 2008), “Great Balls of Fire”…….. and much more.
His nickname, “Killer,” did not come from his musical and performing ability but from a schoolroom fight he had during which he tried to choke a grown man! And I certainly did not agree with all his antics and pronouncements and beliefs……..
………but, I would rather keep in my mind that I always thought until I did this article that “KILLER” really did aptly describe his music and especially his performing, as he time and again overshadowed imitators. I have never ever seen anyone who could come close to the shows put on by Mr. Lewis—“slashing up and down the keys with his right hand, speeding up and down tempos in the middle of songs, kicking away piano benches in the middle of singing, shaking his hair down onto his face, concluding songs or performances by standing upon his pianos, singing songs that “said something” to so many! GOODNESS & GRACIOUS!
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