This has been happening WAY too often lately ...
A notification comes out about a celebrity death ... only to be overturned a few hours later with a "Oh no, they're still alive" announcement. (In this age of immediate news, it would seem to me that this should be less likely than ever before. Back in the good old days, when a story actually had to circulate through whatever means was available at the time (and be verified and triple-checked in the process), these misannouncements were far less frequent. In fact, I can honestly say that I don't remember them ever happening at all!)
And yet, once again, the news came out that the great Jerry Lee Lewis had passed away (announced by TMZ, no less, who seem to have representatives hiding behind the door of every single celebrity around the world, just waiting to scoop the world with their shocking announcements.)
They quickly back-pedaled, of course ... but as we've seen time and time again of late (Tony Dow and Tanya Roberts immediately come to mind) in the short time it takes to print the retraction, the celebrity in question actually DOES pass away in the meantime ... leading one to conclude that MOST of this information is well-founded and these news sources are jumping the gun just a bit in wanting to be the first to announce the inevitable. (In all fairness, and I do not mean this at all in any sense as a hurtful criticism, but Jerry Lee has LOOKED like death for close to twenty years now ... and much more so over the past few years where he appears almost skeletal ... like a light breeze could blow him over!)
But for right now anyway ... as I type this ... The Killer is still with us.
He was there for the Birth of Rock And Roll ... and truly believed in his heart that it should have been HIM and not Elvis that le d the attack on our teenage youth, winning them over with his rollicking, foot-stomping piano ... and all the theatrics that went along with it. (Lewis was in the inaugural class of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1986.)
But he burned out his own flame too quickly when he married his 13 year old cousin ... the backlash side-railed his career literally overnight ... and although he continued to play shows for another 65 years (when he chose to actually show up, that is ... I was the victim of THREE Jerry Lee Lewis no shows during those 65 years!), his career never came close to measuring up to what many believe it could have ... and SHOULD have ... been.
After decades of playing country music (and hitting Billboard's Country Singles Chart an amazing 65 times between 1957 and 1989, including SIX #1 Hits), he quietly semi-retired, only coming out briefly and sporadically over the past 15 years or so to do an occasional concert. (Incredibly, I remember watching part of his live internet show during the heart of Covid a year or two ago ... so the man DEFINITELY had balls!)
When it comes to Pop Hits, he hit The National Top 40 seven times ...
"Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On" (#3, 1957), "Great Balls Of Fire" (#2, 1958), "Breathless" (#7, 1958), "High School Confidential" (#20, 1958), "What'd I Say" (#30, 1961), "Me And Bobby McGee (#40, 1972) and "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" (#25, 1973).
Lewis carried a tarnished reputation for most of his career (and always seemed to come up with new ways to keep it that way) ... but there is no question as to the lasting impact he had on the roots of rock and roll.
Yes, he was known as "The Killer" for most of his career ...
But perhaps that nickname was better earned than you might suspect ...
One of the most fascinating profiles I've ever read can be found here:
(The complete article runs ten pages - and my guess is that once you start reading it, you likely won't be able to stop. Check it out for yourself ... and then let us know what YOU think.)
Lewis and Elvis Presley were one-time labelmates at the infamous Sun Records in Memphis early in their careers. While Elvis had to leave Sun in order to reach national acclaim, Jerry Lee's first ten Top 100 Billboard Chart Hits came on the Sun record label. (In Lewis' mind, there was always a jealousy between himself and Presley ... Jerry Lee believed he was the bigger, more outrageous and flamboyant star, who always fell in Presley's shadow. At one point, years later, Lewis, in a drunken stupor, crashed his car through the gates of Graceland and, brandishing a pistol and a bottle of champagne, wanted to have a "face-to-face" meeting with The King. He was subsequently arrested ... just one more pit stop on his road to self destruction.)
After leaving rock and roll in the late '50's (through no choice of his own, really ... it simply wasn't having him anymore!), Lewis carved out a very successful country music career (where drinking and carrying on is all part of the accepted and expected mystique.) He returned to his rock and roll roots, however, in 1973 to cut an album of rockers with some of Great Britain's elite players (Peter Frampton, Albert Lee, Alvin Lee, Kenney Jones, Gary Wright, Klaus Voorman and more.) That "Sessions" LP (a two-record set) put Jerry Lee back in pop music's Top 40 when his version of the old Sticks McGhee tune "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee O'Dee" raced up the charts. Honestly, Lewis never sounded better.
My hope here is not to have to follow up this piece with a quick obit in the next day or two ... but rather to honor Jerry Lee Lewis while he is still with us. Outrageous? Yes. Insane? Absolutely. But boy, what an entertainer! (And thank goodness they didn't crop his performance at the waist!!! Check out Jerry Lee on The Steve Allen Show, circa 1957!) kk
