Gerry Lee

In the 21st century, Lewis continued to tour worldwide and released new albums.

Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935 – October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer and songwriter.

Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man".

Jerry Lee Lewis was born on September 29, 1935, to Elmo Kidd Lewis Sr. and Mary "Mamie" Herron Lewis in Ferriday, Louisiana.

He grew up in an impoverished farming family in Eastern Louisiana.

In his youth, he began playing the piano with two of his cousins, Mickey Gilley (later a popular country music singer) and Jimmy Swaggart (later a popular televangelist).

His parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano.

Lewis was influenced by a piano-playing older cousin, Carl McVoy (who later recorded with Bill Black's Combo), the radio, and The Sounds from Haney's Big House, a black juke joint across the tracks.

On November 19, 1949, Lewis made his first public performance of his career, playing with a country and western band at a car dealership in Ferriday.

The hit of his set was his performance of R&B artist Stick McGhee's "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee".

On the live album By Request, More of the Greatest Live Show on Earth, Lewis is heard naming Moon Mullican as an artist who inspired him.

His mother enrolled him at the Southwest Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas, so that he could sing evangelical songs exclusively.

When Lewis daringly played a boogie-woogie rendition of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly, it ended his association with the school the same night.

Pearry Green, then president of the student body, related how during a talent show Lewis played some "worldly" music.

The next morning, the dean of the school called Lewis and Green into his office to expel them.

A pioneer of rock 'n' roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and early recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.

After that incident, he went home and started playing at clubs in and around Ferriday and Natchez, Mississippi, becoming part of the burgeoning new rock and roll sound and cutting his first demo recording in 1952 for Cosimo Matassa in New Orleans.

Around 1955, he traveled to Nashville, where he played in clubs and attempted to build interest, but was turned down by the Grand Ole Opry, as he was already at the Louisiana Hayride country stage and radio show in Shreveport.

"Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the Southern United States, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to worldwide fame.

He followed this with the major hits "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless", and "High School Confidential".

His rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old first cousin once removed.

His popularity quickly eroded following the scandal, and with few exceptions, such as a cover of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say", he did not have much chart success in the early 1960s.

His live performances at this time were increasingly wild and energetic.

This reignited his career, and throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, he regularly topped the country-western charts; throughout his seven-decade career, Lewis had 30 songs reach the Top 10 on the Billboard Country and Western Chart.

His No. 1 country hits included "To Make Love Sweeter for You", "There Must Be More to Love Than This", "Would You Take Another Chance on Me", and "Me and Bobby McGee".

Lewis's successes continued throughout the decades, and he embraced his rock and roll past with songs such as a cover of The Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" and Mack Vickery's "Rockin' My Life Away".

His 1964 live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is regarded by many music journalists and fans as one of the wildest and greatest live rock albums ever.

In 1968, Lewis made a transition into country music and had hits with songs such as "Another Place, Another Time".

Lewis was inducted into the inaugural class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and his pioneering contribution to the genre was recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

He was also a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.

He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022.

In 1989, his life was chronicled in the movie Great Balls of Fire, starring Dennis Quaid.

In 2003, Rolling Stone listed his box set All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology at number 242 on their list of "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

In 2004, they ranked him No. 24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Lewis was the last surviving member of Sun Records' Million Dollar Quartet and the album Class of '55, which also included Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Presley.

Music critic Robert Christgau said of Lewis: "His drive, his timing, his offhand vocal power, his unmistakable boogie-plus piano, and his absolute confidence in the face of the void make Jerry Lee the quintessential rock and roller."

His 2006 album Last Man Standing was his best-selling release, with over a million copies worldwide.

This was followed by Mean Old Man in 2010, another of his bestselling albums.

Lewis had a dozen gold records in rock and country.

He won four Grammy awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and two Grammy Hall of Fame Awards.