Jerry Lee Lewis 1935-2022

 

One of Rock & Roll's original bad boys has died:

Jerry Lee Lewis, the influential singer and pianist whose unbridled performances and scandalous life defined the personal rebellion at the heart of rock-and-roll music, died Oct. 28 at his home in Southaven, Miss. He was 87.

His death was announced by his publicist Zach Farnum, who did not give a cause.

Mr. Lewis, a Louisiana tenant farmer’s son and the cousin of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, performed with a riveting, maniacal quality. On storming 1950s hits such as “Great Balls of Fire,” “Breathless” and “High School Confidential,” he slashed up and down the keys with his right hand, deliberately sped up tempos in mid-song and often finished songs onstage by standing on the piano.

His high-energy music was a distinctly Southern synthesis of rhythm and blues, country, gospel and boogie-woogie, and his barely contained stage frenzy thrilled and unnerved audiences. He was called “The Killer” because of his ability to completely overshadow other performers. His Rock & Roll Hall of Fame biography — he was inducted in 1986 as a member of the inaugural class — describes him as “the wild man of rock and roll, embodying its most reckless and high-spirited impulses.”

Lewis was one of the original inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, as well as being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022.

(Photo: Lewis with Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash in December 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis)