Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American singer who was often known by his nickname, 'The Killer'. He has been described as 'rock & roll's first great wild man.'
Unconventional in every aspect of his life, as part of his stage act, Lewis pounded the keys with his heel, kicked the piano bench aside and played standing, raking his hands up and down the keyboard for dramatic effect, sat on the keyboard and even stood on top of the instrument. Lewis told the Pop Chronicles that kicking over the bench originally happened by accident, but when it got a favourable response, he kept it in the act'.
Lewis's turbulent personal life was hidden from the public until Ray Berry, a news agency reporter at London's Heathrow Airport in May 1958 (the only journalist present), learned about Lewis's third wife, Myra Gale Brown .and publicly confronted Jerry. She was Lewis's first cousin once removed, and was only 13 years old, even though Brown, Lewis, and his management all insisted that she was 15. The publicity caused an uproar, and the tour was cancelled after only three concerts. Despite his lax morals, or perhaps because of them, Jerry Lee's music was said by some critics to have been born in the bowels of hell and the fires of damnation.
Love and peace. Bill xxx