Jerry Lee Lewis, the hard-living, hard-playing pianist and singer whose offstage exploits often grabbed as much attention as his electrifying performances and genre-spanning recording career, has died. He was 87.
The last survivor of a generation of groundbreaking performers that included Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, Lewis died at home in Memphis, Tenn., representative Zach Farnum said in a release.
Lewis had suffered a minor stroke in 2019 but frequently performed live shows until then. More recently, he was unable to attend his Country Music Hall of Fame induction due to illness.
Lewis’s legacy was largely established on the mostly raucous sides cut over a three-year period at Sun Records in Memphis: Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, Great Balls of Fire, Breathless and High School Confidential.
A serendipitous session there of future music legends on Dec. 4, 1956 would also loom large — with the songs recorded by the so-called Million Dollar Quartet of Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins sold and repackaged in the ensuing decades.
Lewis’s appeal to baby boomer kids entranced by the new genre called rock ‘n’ roll was boosted by manic performances on The Steve Allen Show and in the motion picture High School Confidential. Lewis’s hair flipped and flopped as he pounded the keys, yipped and yodelled, kicked the piano bench aside and played standing up or even with his feet.
“The Killer” — Lewis’s nickname stemming from a colloquial childhood greeting — was inducted into the inaugural 1986 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Grammy lifetime achievement award.
Not a prolific songwriter, Lewis received credit for putting his definitive stamp on songs that originated across genres — R&B, country, gospel, he loved it all.