Jerry Lee Lewis was born in Ferriday, Concordia Parish, Louisiana on September 29, 1935. His father was a farmer, and the family was impoverished. He began playing the piano at a young age with his two older cousins, and his parents mortgaged their farm to purchase him a new piano. In November 1949, he gave his first public performance. His family was deeply religious, and his mother enrolled him at the Southwest Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas, so he could only sing gospel songs. He was asked to leave the school after performing a boogie-woogie version of the song “My God is Real.” When he returned home, he began performing at local bars and nightclubs.
Personal Life
Lewis married seven times and had six children with each of his wives. Early in his career, he was chastised for marrying his thirteen-year-old first cousin. Lewis was twenty-two years old when they married. His sixth marriage, which lasted twenty-one years, was his longest.
Career
Lewis travelled to Nashville in 1955 but was unable to secure a record deal, so he moved to Memphis the following year to pursue a deal with the label Sun Records. Lewis performed “Crazy Arms” by Ray Price and his own composition “End of the Road,” which was recorded by sound engineer Jack Clement. The following month, he began recording with the label. In addition to working as a solo artist, he appeared on the albums of several other Sun Records artists. Carl Perkins’ songs “Matchbox,” “Your True Love,” and “Put Your Cat Clothes On” featured him, as did Billy Lee Riley’s song “Flyin’ Saucers Rock’n’Roll.”
Lewis was at the studio less than a month after being signed, while Johnny Cash was visiting Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley dropped in. The three got together for an impromptu jam session, which was later recorded and released on the album “Million Dollar Quartet.” Lewis’ career as a solo musician really took off in 1957. As a solo artist, he released music under the name Jerry Lee Lewis and his Pumpin’ Piano, and he quickly recorded hits such as “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire.” The latter single brought him international fame and popularity, while the former was chosen for permanent preservation in the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry in 2014.
Despite his early success, Lewis saw his songs as antithetical to his Christian faith, and he worried that he was leading both his audiences and himself to hell. Johnny Cash described this personal oddity, but Lewis was able to function in his relatively long career without religion interfering. When performing, Lewis had a signature move that included pounding the keys with his heels, kicking the piano bench away, and then running his hands over all the keys for dramatic effect. In July 1957, he performed this act for the first time on “The Steve Allen Show.”
Sun Records opened two new state-of-the-art recording studios in Memphis and Nashville in 1960. The following year, Lewis recorded his hit cover of Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say?” When his contract with Sun Records expired in 1963, he decided to sign with Smash Records. He recorded several rock albums for the label, including “The Return of Rock,” “Memphis Beat,” and “Soul My Way,” but none of them was commercially or critically successful. Many consider Lewis’s 1964 live concert album “Live at the Star Club, Hamburg” with the Nashville Teens to be one of the best live albums ever recorded.
Lewis had grown frustrated with his lack of hits with Smash Records by 1968, so when his manager asked if he’d record a country album, he agreed. He had a surprise hit with a cover of Jerry Chestnut’s song “Another Place, Another Time.” The single peaked at number four on the Billboard country music charts and stayed there for seventeen weeks.
His foray into the country genre boosted his career significantly. Lewis had seventeen Top 10 singles on Billboard’s country music charts between 1968 and 1977, with hits such as “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out of Me),” “She Still Comes Around (To Love What’s Left of Me),” “Once More with Feeling”, “One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)”, and “Sometimes A Memory Ain’t Enough.” He quickly became one of the most successful country music stars at the time. Sun Records bought Smash Records, and his older country songs were reworked and released as an album in 1970. The single “One Minute Past Eternity” reached number two on the country charts.
In 1971, he returned to pop with the singles “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Chantilly Lace,” which were released the following year. He released the soulful rock album “Southern Roots: Back Home to Memphis,” which did not chart but received positive reviews from critics. After signing with Elektra, he released the critically acclaimed album “Jerry Lee Lewis,” which was a commercial flop. Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and a feature film based on his early life and career, “Great Balls of Fire!,” was released in 1989. It was based on the book of one of his ex-wives.
Net Worth
Jerry Lee Lewis was an American singer and pianist who died with a net worth of $10 million. Jerry died at the age of 87 on October 28, 2022. Jerry Lee Lewis is best known for the songs “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Great Balls of Fire!” and “Would You Take Another Chance On Me?”
Facts
| Net Worth | $10 Million |
| Date of Birth | Sep 29, 1935 – Oct 28, 2022 (87 years old) |
| Place of Birth | Ferriday |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.803 m) |
| Profession | Singer, Songwriter, Keyboard Player, Pianist, Musician, Actor, Singer-songwriter |
| Nationality | United States of America |
