Biography
Lewis was born to the poor family of Elmo and Mamie Lewis in Ferriday, Louisiana, and began playing piano in his youth with his two cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart. His parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano. Influenced by a piano-playing older cousin Carl McVoy, the radio, and the sounds from the black juke joint across the tracks, Haney's Big House, Lewis developed his own style mixing rhythm and blues, boogie woogie, gospel, and country music, as well as ideas from established "country boogie" pianists like recording artists Moon Mullican and Merrill Moore. Soon he was playing professionally.
His mother enrolled him in Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas, secure in the knowledge that her son would now be exclusively singing his songs to the Lord. But legend has it that Lewis daringly played a boogie woogie rendition of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly that sent him packing the same night. Pearry Green, then president of the student body, related how during a talent show Jerry played some "worldly" music. The next morning, the dean of the school called both Jerry and Pearry into his office to expel them both. Jerry then said that Pearry shouldn't be expelled because "he didn't know what I was going to do." Years later Pearry asked Jerry "Are you still playing the devil's music?" Jerry replied "Yes, I am. But you know it's strange, the same music that they kicked me out of school for is the same kind of music they play in their churches today. The difference is, I know I am playing for the devil and they don't."
Leaving religious music behind so far as performing, he paid dues at clubs in and around Ferriday and Natchez, Mississippi. He became a part of the burgeoning new rock and roll sound, cutting his first demo recording in 1954. He made a trip to Nashville around 1955 where he played clubs and attempted to drum up interest, but was turned down by the Grand Ole Opry as he had been at the Louisiana Hayride country stage and radio show in Shreveport. Recording executives in Nashville suggested he switch to playing a guitar. Lewis, even then confrontational, once recalled suggesting to one Nashville producer, "You can take your guitar and ram it up your ass!"
Two years later, at Sun Records studio in Memphis, Tennessee, producer and engineer Jack Clement discovered and recorded Lewis for the Sun label while owner Sam Phillips was away on a trip to Florida. He became a session musician playing piano for Sun artists like Billy Lee Riley and Carl Perkins. As his own career came on the upswing, hits such as "Great Balls of Fire" soon followed, and would become his biggest hit. Watching and listening to Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley allegedly said that if he could play the piano like that, he'd quit singing. Lewis' early billing was Jerry Lee Lewis and his Pumping Piano.
On December 4, 1956, Presley dropped in on Phillips to pay a social visit while Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks with Lewis backing him on piano. The three started an impromptu jam session, and Phillips left the tapes running. He later telephoned Johnny Cash and brought him in to join the others. These recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived, and have been released on CD under the title Million Dollar Quartet. Tracks also include Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", Pat Boone's "Don't Forbid Me" and Presley doing an impersonation of Jackie Wilson (who was then with Billy Ward and the Dominoes) singing "Don't Be Cruel. In 1957, his piano and the pure rock and roll sound of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" (which in 2005 was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress) propelled him to international fame. Lewis' first TV appearance was on The Steve Allen Show July 28, 1957, where he played the song "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On"ewis, though not the first pianist in that style, was a pioneer of Piano rock, not only through his sound but also through his dynamic performance. He would often kick the piano bench out of the way to play standing, rake his hands up and down the keyboard for dramatic accent, and even sit down on the instrument. His frenetic performance style can be seen in films such as High School Confidential (he sang the title song from the back of a flatbed truck), and Jamboree. He has been called "rock & roll's first great wild man and also rock & roll's first great eclectic."[1] These performance techniques have been adopted by later Piano rock artists, notably admirers Elton John, Billy Joel, and Ben Folds.
Scandal
He married Jane Mitcham, his second wife, 23 days before his divorce from his first wife was final.
Lewis' turbulent personal life was hidden from the public until a 1958 British tour, when Ray Berry, a news agency reporter at London Airport (the only journalist present) learned about the twenty-three year old star's third wife Myra Gale Brown. She was thirteen years old, (though she, Lewis and his management all insisted she was 15) and Lewis's first cousin once removed. The publicity caused an uproar and the tour was cancelled after only three concerts.
The scandal followed Lewis home to America, and as a result he almost vanished from the music scene. Lewis felt betrayed by numerous people who had been his supporters. Dick Clark dropped him from his shows. Lewis even felt that Sam Phillips had sold him out when the Sun Record patriarch released "The Return of Jerry Lee," which mocked Lewis' marital and music problems. Only Alan Freed stayed true to Jerry Lee Lewis, playing his records until Freed was removed from the air because of supposed payola problems.
Even though Jerry Lee Lewis was still under contract with Sun Records, he stopped recording. He had gone from $10,000 a night concerts to $100 a night spots in beer joints and small clubs. He had few friends at the time whom he felt he could trust. It was only through Kay Martin, the president of Lewis' fan club, T. L. Meade, (aka Franz Douskey) a sometime Memphis musician and friend of Sam Phillips, and Gary Sklar, that Lewis went back to record at Sun Records.
By this time, Phillips had built a new state-of-the-art studio at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis, thus abandoning the old Union Avenue studio where Phillips had recorded B. B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Lewis, Johnny Cash, and others. It was at the new Madison Avenue studio that Lewis recorded his only hit during this period, which was a cover of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" in 1961. Another recording of Lewis playing an instrumental boogie arrangement of the Glenn Miller Orchestra favorite "In the Mood," was issued by Sun under the pseudonym of "The Hawk," but disc jockeys quickly figured out the distinctive piano style, and this gambit failed.
Lewis's Sun recording contract ended in 1963 and he joined Smash Records, where he made a number of rock recordings that did not further his career.
His popularity recovered somewhat in Europe, especially in the UK and Germany during the mid-1960s. A live album, Live at the Star Club, Hamburg (1964), recorded with the Nashville Teens, is widely considered one of the greatest live rock and roll albums ever. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes, "Live at the Star Club is extraordinary, the purest, hardest rock & roll ever committed to record."
Drug addiction and personal tragedies
Although he was always a heavy drinker who often combined his sprees with raucous, even violent behavior, he increasingly became plagued by alcohol and drug problems after Myra divorced him in 1970. Tragedy struck when Lewis' 19-year-old son, Jerry Lee Lewis Jr., was killed in a car accident in 1973. During the 1960s, his second son, Steve Allen Lewis, drowned in a swimming pool accident. He also has a daughter, Phoebe Lewis, who is a singer and musician, and for the past few years has been her father's manager. Lewis' own erratic behavior during the 1970s led to his being hospitalized in 1981 after nearly dying from bleeding stomach ulcers. Again addicted to drugs, Lewis checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic.
While celebrating his 41st birthday in 1976, Lewis accidentally shot and injured his bass player, Butch Owens. According to Lewis' own account, he had been playing around and did not realize the gun was loaded. Owens himself stated that Lewis was trying to shoot at an empty cola bottle and he was simply hit by the ricochet.
A few weeks later, on November 23, Lewis, still drinking heavily, was involved in another gun-related incident at Elvis Presley's Graceland residence. Lewis had been invited by Presley, but security was unaware of the visit. Lewis, displaying a gun given to him by a local sheriff on the dashboard of his car, was questioned as to his motives for bringing the weapon. He sarcastically replied, "I'm not here to kill Elvis if that's what you're worried about," but the guard remained suspicious.
Later career
In the 1960's, Lewis's attempts at a comeback as a rock and roll performer had stalled during four years with Smash Records when label officials convinced him to try recording country ballads. Lewis was resistant until the understand was made clear: he would record country tunes, but what he did onstage was strictly up to him.
He had already recorded an LP for the label, Country Songs for City Folks. In 1968 his single "Another Place, Another Time" became a Top Ten success and led to a string of Top Ten singles including the 1968 # 1 country single "To Make Love Sweeter For You" that brought Lewis renewed stardom among country music fans, much like that which ex-rockabilly Conway Twitty began to cultivate during that same time. By the early 1970s, Lewis had become so popular that Sun Records was reissuing old country ballads like "Invitation to Your Party" on singles that also did well on the country music charts. Lewis's successes continued throughout the decade and he eventually began to re-emphasize his rock and roll past with hits like his 1973 revival of the The Big Bopper's rock classic "Chantilly Lace" as well as looking at middle age with the 1977 "Middle Age Crazy." Lewis's singles and albums were issued on Mercury records instead of Smash from 1971 on. In 1979 he signed with Elektra Records and had his last major country hit with later "Thirty-Nine and Holding." He spent a very brief period with MCA Records in 1983 but left the label due to unspecified differences.
In 1989, a major motion picture based on his early life in rock & roll, Great Balls of Fire, brought him back into the public eye, especially when he decided to re-record all his songs for the movie soundtrack. The film was based on the book by Lewis' ex-wife, Myra Gale Lewis, and starred Dennis Quaid as Lewis, Winona Ryder as Myra, and Alec Baldwin as Jimmy Swaggart. The movie focuses on Lewis' early career and his relationship with Myra, and ends with the scandal of the late 1950s.
The very public downfall of his cousin, television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, resulted in more adverse publicity to an already troubled family. Swaggart is also a piano player, as is another cousin, country music star Mickey Gilley. All three listened to the same music when they were growing up and frequented Haney's Big House, the Ferriday club that featured black blues acts. Lewis and Swaggart have had a complex relationship over the years.
Lewis's sister, Linda Gail Lewis has recorded with Jerry Lee, toured with his stage show for a time and more recently recorded with Van Morrison. In 1990, Lewis made minor news when a new song he co-wrote called "It Was the Whiskey Talking, Not Me" was included in the soundtrack to the hit movie Dick Tracy. The song can be heard in a scene from the movie in which it is playing on the radio.
Despite the personal problems, Lewis' musical talent is widely acknowledged. "The Killer", a nickname he's had since childhood, is known for his forceful voice and piano production on stage, he was described by fellow artist Roy Orbison as the best raw performer in the history of rock and roll music.[11] In 1986, Lewis was part of the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
That same year, he returned to Sun Studio in Memphis to team up with Orbison, Cash, and Perkins along with longtime admirers like John Fogerty and Ricky Nelson to create the album Class of '55, a sort of followup to the "Million Dollar Quartet" session, though in the eyes of many critics and fans, lacking the spirit of the old days at Sun.
Lewis has never stopped touring, and fans who have seen him perform say he can still deliver unique concerts that are unpredictable, exciting, and personal. In February 12, 2005, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by The Recording Academy (which also grants the Grammy Awards). On September 26, 2006 a new album titled Last Man Standing was released, featuring many of rock and roll's elite as guest stars. Receiving positive reviews, the album charted in four different Billboard charts, including a two week stay at number one on the Indie charts.
A DVD entitled Last Man Standing Live, featuring concert footage with many guest artists, was released in March 2007, while the CD was well on the way to going gold. 'Last Man Standing' CD is Jerry Lee's biggest selling album of all time. If it goes gold it will be his 10th official gold record, and his first since 1973. ('The Session' album was awarded a Gold Disk for selling over 250,000 copies because it was a double album. Single albums and CDs have to sell over 500,000. 'Last Man Standing' has more tracks than the original 'The Session' release and has already shipped over 500,000 copies worldwide.)
On November 5, 2007 the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame and a university in Cleveland, Ohio honored Jerry Lee Lewis with 6 days of conferences, interviews, a DVD premier, film clips, etc. dedicated to him entitled 'The Life And Music of Jerry Lee Lewis'. He is the first living artist to be so honored. On November 10, the week culminated with a tribute concert to Jerry Lee Lewis, compered by Kris Kristofferson, who has written some of Lewis' biggest Country hits. Lewis was present to accept the American Music Masters Award and close his own tribute show with a rendition of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'.
On February 10th, 2008, he appeared with John Fogerty and Little Richard on the 50th Grammy Awards Show, performing "Great Balls of Fire" in a medley with "Good Golly Miss Molly".
He now lives on a ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi with his family.
Discography
See also
Notes
|
|
This article needs
additional
citations
for
verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) |
- ^ The Immortals: The First Fifty. Rolling Stone Issue 946. Rolling Stone.
- ^ All Killer, No Filler! Rolling Stone Magazine online. (November 1, 2003). Accessed September 30, 2007.
- ^ Jerry Lee Lewis – Greatest Live Performances of the '50s, '60s and '70s – DVD, 2007.
- ^ "The Steve Allen Show" (1956-1957) (Retrieved on January 31, 2008)
- ^ Peter Checksfield, "Jerry Lee Lewis. The Greatest Live Show on Earth", Record Collector, #188 - April 1995, p. 79.
- ^ Milo Miles, Album review of Live at the Star Club, Hamburg. Rolling Stone, #899/900 - July 2002, p.112.
- ^ Q Magazine, #1, 2002, p.59.
- ^ Mojo, 3/01/04, p.52.
- ^ a b Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Album Review: "Live at the Star Club, Hamburg" at All Music Guide.
- ^ Steven Stoulder, Editorial review of "Live at the Star Club, Hamburg" at Amazon.com.
- ^ Rob Patterson, "Jerry Lee Lewis: ‘The Killer’ Keeps Comin’ Back", at BMI / MusicWorld, December 22, 2006.
References
- Tosches, Nick (1982). Hellfire. New York: Grove Press.
- Gutterman, Jimmy (1991). Rockin' My Life Away: Listening to Jerry Lee Lewis. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press.
- Gutterman, Jimmy (1993). The Jerry Lee Lewis Anthology: All Killer, No Filler. Rhino Records.
- Lewis, Myra (1981). Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis. William Morrow/Quill/St. Martin's Press.
- Whitburn, Joel (1985). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits.
