Jerry Lee Lewis

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and in this podcast episode I will briefly review the career of the flamboyant musician known by the nickname "The Killer":  Jerry Lee Lewis!

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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Rock On!

Transcript

Hi there, everyone!  I'm Jumpin' John, and in this podcast episode I will briefly review the career of the flamboyant musician known by the nickname "The Killer":  Jerry Lee Lewis!

In 1935 Jerry Lee Lewis was born in Ferriday, Louisiana.  He grew up in an impoverished farming family in Eastern Louisiana.  Around 1945 Lewis’ father mortgaged the family farm to buy Jerry Lee his first piano.  Lewis taught himself to play piano and gave his first public performance at the age of 14.  He quit school and started playing clubs around Ferriday and Natchez, Mississippi.  Jerry Lee's frenetic and innovative playing style incorporated elements of boogie and the styles he copied from black musicians that traveled through the area.  In 1952 he cut his first demo recording for Cosimo Matassa in New Orleans.  

In November 1956, Lewis traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to audition for Sun Records.  Sun label owner Sam Phillips was in Florida, but producer and engineer Jack Clement recorded Lewis's rendition of Ray Price's "Crazy Arms" and Jerry Lee's own composition "End of the Road".  When he returned to Memphis, Phillips recognized that Jerry Lee had the potential to follow in the footsteps of Elvis Presley, who'd recently left Sun for RCA.  Phillips signed Lewis immediately.  

Jerry Lee Lewis began recording frequently at Sun, both as a solo artist and as a session musician.  He backed other Sun artists, including Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.  His distinctive piano playing can be heard on many tracks recorded at Sun in late 1956 and early 1957, including Carl Perkins's "Matchbox", "Your True Love", and "Put Your Cat Clothes On" and Billy Lee Riley's "Flyin' Saucers Rock'n'Roll".

On December 4th, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on Phillips to pay a social visit.  Carl Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks with Lewis backing him on piano, and Johnny Cash was also in the studio.  The four then started an impromptu jam session, and Phillips left the tape running.  These recordings were first released in Europe in 1981 as The Million Dollar Quartet with 17 tracks.  A few years later more tracks were discovered and released as The Complete Million Dollar Session.  In 1990, the recordings were released in the United States as Elvis Presley: The Million Dollar Quartet. 

Jerry Lee had been performing the song "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" in his stage act.  In February 1957, at his second recording session for Sun Records, he recorded it.  Lewis radically changed the original song, adding his propulsive boogie piano and some additional suggestive spoken asides.  In April 1957 Sun released the song as a single.  "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart.  The single also hit #1 on the country charts, and #8 in the UK Singles Chart.  Lewis became an instant sensation, showing that a driving piano could be the focus of a rock 'n' roll tune.  In 1999, the 1957 recording on Sun Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  In 2005, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.  

As part of his stage act, Lewis pounded the keys with his heel, kicked the piano bench aside and played standing, raking his hands up and down the keys.  He also played while sitting on the keyboard and would sometimes stand on the piano.  On July 28th, 1957 he demonstrated these aggressive moves on TV when he appeared on The Steve Allen Show.  Jerry Lee's dynamic performance style can also be seen in films such as High School Confidential and Jamboree. 

Then in October Jerry Lee Lewis went into Sun's Memphis studio and recorded his biggest hit, "Great Balls of Fire".  In November 1957 Sun Records released the song, and on the record's label Lewis was billed as "Jerry Lee Lewis And His Pumping Piano".  It sold one million copies in its first 10 days of release in the United States, making it one of the best-selling singles in the United States at that time.  The song "Great Balls of Fire" reached #2 on the Billboard pop charts, #3 on the R&B charts, and #1 on the country charts.  It also reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart, and brought him international fame.  The Jerry Lee Lewis 1957 recording was ranked as the 96th greatest song ever by Rolling Stone magazine.  The original Sun cut of "Great Balls of Fire" was elected to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. 

In February 1958 Sun released the single "Breathless".  It would become Lewis' third Top10 hit, peaking at #7 in April 1958.  The song also reached #4 on the country chart, #3 on the R&B chart, and #8 in the UK.  "Breathless" spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Lewis's turbulent personal life was hidden from the public until a May 1958 British tour.  Word got out that Lewis's third wife, Myra Gale Brown, was actually Jerry Lee's first cousin once removed.  Also Myra was only 13 years old when they married.  The publicity caused an uproar, and the British tour was canceled after only three concerts.  The resulting scandal effectively dried up Jerry Lee Lewis' career.  For several years afterward he would be relegated to playing one-nighters in remote bars and honky tonks.

Lewis's recording contract with Sun ended in 1963.  He went to Smash Records, where over the next few years he made several rock recordings.  These recordings did not further his career, and none of Lewis's early Smash albums were commercial successes.  Despite the failure of his studio recordings, Jerry Lee did receive deserved acclaim for the concert album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg, which he recorded with the Nashville Teens in 1964.  

By 1968 Jerry Lee was increasingly frustrated and was planning on leaving the label.  However, Smash promotions manager Eddie Kilroy suggested that Lewis record a pure country record in Nashville.  Lewis agreed to record the song "Another Place, Another Time", which was released as a single on March 9th, 1968.  Amazingly, "Another Place, Another Time" shot up the country charts, peaking at #4 and remaining on the charts for 17 weeks.  The rebirth of Jerry Lee Lewis' musical career had begun.  What followed was a string of hits that no one could have predicted, although country music always remained a major part of Lewis's repertoire.  Surprisingly, Jerry Lee Lewis would emerge from his de facto blacklisting to become one of the most bankable country stars in the world.  Between 1968 and 1977, Lewis had 17 Top 10 hit singles on the Billboard country chart, including four #1's.  

In 1979, Lewis switched labels to Elektra and produced the critically acclaimed LP entitled Jerry Lee Lewis.  He would continue to tour and record for parts of the next three decades.  In 1989, a major motion picture based on his early life in rock and 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.  A year later, in 1990, Lewis made minor news when a new song he recorded called "It Was the Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me)" was included in the soundtrack to the movie Dick Tracy. 

Jerry Lee Lewis wound up closing out his career in the 21st century with a trio of records.  Those three albums were filled with superstar guests, illustrating Lewis' long and lasting influence on popular music.  Before he permanently retired, he also periodically appeared in television shows, tribute specials, and did live performances at award ceremonies.   

Jerry Lee Lewis was the epitome of the rock and roll rebel.  On stage, with his innovative and flamboyant piano playing style, he was a fiery showman.  He often played with his fists, elbows, feet, and backside, and sometimes even climbed on top of the piano during gigs.  Lewis's piano-attacking, wild man rockabilly style became synonymous with rock and roll.  He would influence Elton John and generations of other piano players.  Off stage, his life was often a mess.  Besides the lengthy controversy that dogged him for marrying his under-age cousin, he had difficulty staying in relationships and married seven times.  He misused drugs and alcohol.  He found himself embroiled in legal trouble and had several brushes with the law.  He owed back taxes to the IRS.

Accolades and honors that Jerry Lee Lewis has received are numerous.  Here are just a few:

•In 1986, Jerry Lee Lewis was one of the inaugural inductees into Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

•In June 1989, Lewis was honored for his contribution to the recording industry with a star on Hollywood Boulevard on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

•In February 2005, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by The Recording Academy.

•In October 2007, Lewis received the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's American Music Masters Award. 

•On November 5th, 2007, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, honored Lewis with six days of conferences, interviews, a DVD premiere, and film clips, dedicated to him and entitled The Life And Music of Jerry Lee Lewis.

•In June 2008, Lewis was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. 

•In December 2019, Lewis was honored with a Mississippi Country Music Trail marker at his ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi to celebrate his contributions to country music.

•On October 16th, 2022, Lewis was inducted as a member-elect to the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Twelve days later, on October 28th, 2022, Jerry Lee Lewis died at his home in Nesbit, Mississippi, at the age of 87.

Thank you for listening to Rock and Roll Flashback!  In this podcast episode I discussed the career of the dynamic musician and performer known as "The Killer":  Jerry Lee Lewis!  I'm Jumpin' John McDermott and, until next time, Rock On!