Rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis has died – news Culture and entertainment

This is reported by his publisher. Jerry Lee Lewis (1935 – 2022), also known as “The Killer”, really broke through in the second half of the 1950s and was for a long time one of the few who could match Elvis Presley in popularity. Described as a wild bad boy, he hammered away at the keys and inaugurated a new form of musical expression in post-war America. – He is the best rock n’ roll pianist of all time. I could never play like him, he was too fast, said Elton John in 2007. The musician known for the hit “Great Balls of Fire” was 87 years old. “Made Elvis sound tame” Jerry Lee Lewis’ hit singles include “Great Balls of Fire,” “Breathless,” “High School Confidential” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” “When ‘Great Balls of Fire’ flew into the charts in 1957, it made even ‘devilish’ Elvis sound tame”, writes the music magazine Rolling Stone. Jerry Lee Lewis (left) with James Brown (right) and Fats Domino (center). Photo: G. PAUL BURNETT In 1986, he was among the first artists to be inducted into the rock hall of fame, along with Elvis, Buddy Holly, James Brown and Ray Charles, among others. Although Lewis lived quite a bit longer than his colleagues, his private life was no less marked by rock. – I’m the toughest bastard that ever came out of a meat ass, he told Rolling Stone in 1979. Once Lewis burned a piano on stage when he was asked to warm up for Chuck Berry. Most of his life was characterized by a hard fight against pill abuse and alcoholism. Jerry Lee Lewis in Oslo Spektrum in 1989. Photo: Bjørn-Owe Holmberg / NTB Chaotic and tragic family life Perhaps Lewis’ biggest problems were related to his family. Shortly after the great success of Great Balls of Fire, it was revealed in 1958 that Lewis, then aged 22, had married his triplet, Myra Gale Brown, aged 13. It was in 1956 in this building that Jerry Lee Lewis’ career took off, when he signed for the legendary Sun Records. Sun Records was already established with Elvis Presley. Photo: GREG CAMPBELL / AP The scandal almost ended Lewis’s career. The couple likewise remained married until 1970. And the challenges and tragedies continued steadily throughout their lives from there. In 1962, Lewis’ three-year-old son, Steve Allen, drowned. Eleven years later, another son, Jerry Lee Lewis Jr, was killed in a car accident. Jerry Lee Lewis is fed by his wife Myra in 1958. Photo: AP In 1982, Lewis’ fourth wife was found drowned in a pool just before the couple was due to divorce, and the following year, the fifth wife Shawn Michelle Lewis was found dead in the bedroom of the family home in Nesbit, Mississippi. The cause of death was determined to be pulmonary edema, which is common in overdoses. The death nevertheless became highly controversial, and suspicion was directed at Lewis. Lewis also spent extended periods of his life at the Betty Ford Clinic rehabilitation clinic. – I go crazy sometimes. But if everything they write that I’ve done was true, I would have been locked up a long time ago, Lewis told Rolling Stone in 1979. Jerry Lee Lewis arrested in 1976 after drunkenly walking up to Elvis Presley with a pistol. Photo: Police in Memphis, Tennessee in the USA



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