Jerry Lee Lewis, rock n’ roll pioneer, dies at 87

Jerry Lee Lewis, the singer who became a rock ‘n’ roll staple with hits like “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” before a marital scandal derailed his career, died on Friday. (28), according to a statement by his representative, Zach Farnum. He was 87 years old.

Lewis died at his home in Desoto County, Mississippi, south of Memphis, according to the statement. Farnum told CNN that Lewis died of “natural causes”.

His seventh wife, Judith, was by his side when he died and Lewis “told her in his final days that he welcomed the future and was not afraid,” the statement added.

Along with Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and others, Lewis was one of the leading figures of the 1950s rock era and a showman – nicknamed “The Killer” – whose raw, uninhibited performances led young fans to adore him.

“I was born to be on stage. I couldn’t wait to be in it. I dreamed about it. And I’ve been in one my whole life,” Lewis said in “Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story,” a 2014 biography of Rick Bragg. “It’s where I’m happiest.”

Life off stage

But offstage, the singer’s personal life was turbulent. Lewis was near the height of his popularity in 1958, when the public learned that he had married Myra Gale Brown, his first cousin. She was 13 at the time; Lewis was 22 years old.

News of the wedding leaked out in London, where Lewis had flown to do some shows. Lewis told the press that Myra was 15 years old, but the truth soon came out and caused controversy.

Lewis continued to record and tour over the next decade, but his rockabilly music failed to sell in the Beatles era and he failed to regain the popularity of his early years – until he made an unlikely comeback as a country singer.

Lewis was born in 1935 to a poor farming family in Ferriday, Louisiana. One of his cousins, Jimmy Swaggart, would become a popular TV evangelist. Lewis’ website says he started playing the piano at age 9, imitating the styles of black preachers and musicians who passed through the region.

After dropping out of school to focus on playing music, Lewis traveled in 1956 to Sun Studios in Memphis, where he quickly gained work as a studio musician for rising stars like Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. He also recorded with Elvis Presley.

A December 1956 recording session with Lewis, Presley, Perkins and Cash – dubbed the “Million Dollar Quartet” – marked rock history.

The following year, thanks to Top 5 hits such as “Great Balls of Fire”, Lewis became internationally famous, although his incendiary style and suggestive lyrics led some radio stations to boycott his music.

Then came the wedding scandal, and Lewis’ aura was never the same.

After a decade of dwindling sales, he reinvented himself in the late 1960s as a country artist and revived his career, scoring a string of Top 10 country hits through the ’70s.

In 1989, “Great Balls of Fire!”, a biopic starring Dennis Quaid as Lewis, brought new attention to Lewis’ life and music. Lewis even recorded new versions of his hits for the soundtrack.

But his personal life remained confused. He was married seven times and filed for bankruptcy in 1988, owing more than $2 million.

He also struggled with alcoholism, drug addiction and other health issues for years. In an infamous 1976 episode, he was arrested at Graceland in the wee hours of the morning after crashing his car into the mansion’s gates – he had a loaded gun in the vehicle – while trying to visit Presley.

“I’m not nice, and I’m not fake,” Lewis said in Bragg’s biography. “I never pretended to be anything, and whatever I did, I did it openly like a switchblade. I lived my life to the fullest and had a lot of fun doing it.”