Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer, songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Lewis began playing piano in his youth and his parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano. Influenced by a piano-playing older cousin, the radio, and the sounds from the black juke joint across the tracks, Lewis developed his own style, mixing rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, gospel, and country music. He paid his dues in clubs in Mississippi and became a part of the emerging rock and roll sound, cutting his first demo in 1954. During December 1956, Lewis began recording prolifically, both as a solo artist and as a session musician at Sun Records.
In 1957, Lewis recorded hit singles “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire,” which was his biggest hit, bringing him national and international fame. During a May 1958 British tour, it was reported that Lewis’ third wife, Maya Gale Brown, was his first cousin once removed and only 13 years old. The publicity cause an uproar and the tour was canceled after only three concerts. The scandal followed Lewis home to America, and as a result, he was blacklisted from radio and almost vanished from the music scene. 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.
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