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The Jerry Lee Lewis Story
There have been many great rock’n’roll singers, but nobody has lived the life and walked the talk like Jerry Lee Lewis. He’s the original Wild Man of Rock, an untamed beast whose appetite for women and whiskey is matched only by the frantic energy of his music.
The Jerry Lee Lewis Story
There have been many great rock’n’roll singers, but nobody has lived the life and walked the talk like Jerry Lee Lewis. He’s the original Wild Man of Rock, an untamed beast whose appetite for women and whiskey is matched only by the frantic energy of his music. Like most of the classic 50s rockers, Jerry Lee was a child of the American South, where blues, country and baptist fervour combined with explosive force. His education was divided between fire-and-brimstone sermons from his local preachers in Ferriday, Louisiana, and late nights slipping secretly into the back rooms of sleazy R&B clubs.
Eventually, his love of boogie-woogie rhythms got him expelled from the church – the minister didn’t approve of the way he rocked up the hymns on the piano – but it led him down the road to Memphis, Tennessee.
There, he auditioned for Sam Phillips’ legendary Sun Records label, which had already made stars out of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. Phillips recognised Jerry Lee as the most talented of the lot, and he soon realised that the only way to record this wildcat was to set him loose in the studio and let the tapes roll.
The results were spectacular, as singles like Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, Great Balls Of Fire and Breathless roared out of Tennessee and onto the charts around the world. Early TV appearances scandalised middle America, which watched in horror as Jerry attacked his piano like a lion on a feeding frenzy. But Jerry Lee’s potential to shock the outside world didn’t end there.
When he arrived for his first British tour in 1958, reporters noticed a young girl by his side. They soon discovered that she was his 13-year-old cousin – and his wife. Questions were asked in parliament, audiences booed Jerry offstage, and the tour was abandoned. Reaction at home was milder at first, as the marriage was legal in Tennessee – or at least it would have been if Jerry had taken the time to divorce his previous wife first. When that news broke, all hell let loose.
Overnight, he slipped from the top of the charts to commercial oblivion. Even when he transferred from Sun to Mercury in the early 60s, and cut convulsive rockers like I’m On Fire and Sexy Ways, he found it almost impossible to get any airplay. Yet through it all, he never lost his musical fire, whether he was reprising his Sun classics, or leaving his brand on hits by Ray Charles (Hit The Road Jack), Jimmy Reed (Big Boss Man) or Bruce Channel (Dream Baby).
It took Jerry a full decade to regain his stardom, when he switched to country music at the end of the 60s and was taken to America’s heart again. For the next few years, he was one of the hottest country singers in the nation, but somehow everything he touched came out sounding like rock’n’roll, as his version of Kris Kristofferson’s Me And Bobby McGee demonstrates. And soon he went back to his original rockin’ ways, with singles like Chantilly Lace and Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee, which recaptured the spirit of his vintage 50s releases. He’s been on the road ever since, as unpredictable, tempestuous and exciting as he was back in 1956.
Peter Doggett
