Rock ‘n’ roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis he was very sick
Two days ago it was a a report from US publication TMZ initially said the 87-year-old had died today (26 October) at home in Memphis.
Jerry Lee Lewis, whose hammering boogie-woogie piano, unleashed-tomcat voice, and unapologetic bad-boy persona made him an architect of rock & roll and an early rival of Elvis Presley, has died. Lewis’ publicist confirmed his death to Rolling Stone, but a cause of death was not immediately available; he was 87.
He died of natural causes at his home in DeSoto County, Mississippi. “Judith, his seventh wife, was by his side when he passed away at his home in Desoto County, Mississippi, south of Memphis,” a statement said. “He told her, in his final days, that he welcomed the hereafter, and that he was not afraid.”
Lewis’s energetic performances on songs including Great Balls of Fire helped install rock’n’roll as the dominant American pop music of the 1950s. He was born in Louisiana in 1935, the son of a poor farming family who mortgaged their home to buy Lewis his first piano. While learning the instrument and studying at an evangelical school, he was kicked out for performing a boogie-woogie version of My God is Real that was deemed irreverent.
Considered one of the pioneers of rock’n’roll, the piano player was born on 29 September, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana.
Jerry Lee Lewis, along with the late country singer Keith Whitley and music executive Joe Galante, are among the 2022 inductees into The Country Music Hall of Fame.
Lewis, 86, will be inducted in the “Veterans Era Artist” category, while Whitley will join the “Modern Era Artist” category and Galante will enter the “Non-Performer” category.
At 21, Lewis arrived in Memphis and started his career under the guidance of Sam Phillips at Sun Records, playing alongside Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley in the Million Dollar Quartet. Lewis energy immediately burst out in early rock hits like “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” Today, “Great Balls of Fire” is in the Grammy Hall of Fame, and “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” is part of the National Recording Registry. (Americansongwriter)
Mick Jagger and Jerry Lee Lewis Met at Sun Records - Jagger traveled to Memphis to work on Sam Phillips biopic based on Peter Guralnick’s excellent biography.
By PATRICK DOYLE Rolling Stone Mick Jagger posted a photo under the iconic entrance of Sun Records, the spot where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded classics that helped set Jagger on his own legendary path.
The visit became even more intriguing when Jagger posted a follow-up photo from inside the studio with Lewis himself. “Great time running down memory lane with Mick Jagger yesterday at Sun Records,” Lewis wrote on his Facebook page, including another image of the duo together.
A source close to Lewis tells Rolling Stone that the duo gathered for a “planning session” for an upcoming biopic on Sun founder Sam Phillips. Jagger is currently producing a Paramount Pictures film based on Peter Guralnick’s excellent 2014 book Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘’N’ Roll, which Leonardo DiCaprio has signed on to star in.
Jagger and Lewis have known each other for a long time. “I have known them back when they were real young kids,” Lewis said in 2008. “Ain’t that something? They ain’t kids no more.'” Since 2006, they have released two duets together: “Dead Flowers” and “Evening Gown” on Lewis’ comeback albums Last Man Standing and Mean Old Man.
At Sun studios Memphis pic.twitter.com/LeIvYuQi9J
— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) September 13, 2018
It's been a long time, but Jerry Lee Lewis is confident that the Rolling Stones remember who he is. The rock'n'roll legend is planning a blues-tinged album for next year, with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards both making guest appearances.
Accompanying the group was Bing, 53, a Jagger friend and veteran movie producer ("The Polar Express") who has worked with the rock star on several projects (including the Stones music documentary "Shine a Light") and is among the announced producers of the Phillips biopic.
