JERRY LEE LEWIS MUSIC BIO:

JERRY LEE LEWIS

Jerry Lee Lewis moreso than any other rocker from
the 1950s defined the true spirit of that era & brought
an art & class to rock ‘n’ roll just as Frank Sinatra had
done for the popular music of the 1930s & 1940s. He
was also,by far,the most talented of all the rockers &
the one who best used that talent.
Jerry Lee was born in the small town of Ferriday,
Louisiana on September 29th,1935. His background
was Religious & his family were poor & that echoed
the background of many other ‘50s rockers. Also,in
common with his rock ‘n’ roll contemporaries,the
young Jerry Lee found his first taste of music from
the church. The gospel & spiritual standards so often
sung at church services (and especially at Assembly of
God services,which was the Lewis’ religion) permeated
Jerry’s soul. Many of these (‘I’ll fly away’, ‘Old rugged
cross’, ‘Old time religion’) would remain big favorites
of Lewis,who would later record them in studio.
The next major influence on Jerry Lee was country
music - especially Jimmie Rodgers (his father,Elmo’s
& mother Mamie’s favorite Hillbilly artist & soon
Jerry Lee’s as well),whose songs Jerry would listen
to over & over & learn to sing. Al Jolson,who was a
phenomenon for most of the first half of this century,
was another big favorite of Jerry Lee’s. He was certainly
not a country artist,but many of his songs echoed the
spirit of the Rodgers tracks in their individuality &
confidence.By now,Jerry Lee had his mind made up
(and was still a very young boy);There were only 2
stylists that ever lived: Jimmie Rodgers & Al Jolson.
Also,as a young boy,Jerry Lee always showed a
natural talent for music & could learn,sing & play
many of his favorite songs on Uncle Lee Calhoun’s
piano. When his parents saw Lewis play,they made up
their minds that he was so good that they’d get him his
own piano & mortgage their home to buy it. Jerry Lee
had a natural ability to sing & play piano comparable
to the natural ability of great sportsmen. He was also
an original,a unique talent & no copy of anyone,even
this early on,when he was just 8 or 9 years old.
The next big influence for Jerry Lee was the blues.
At Haney’s Big House in Ferriday,Lewis soaked up
the sounds of artists like Muddy Waters,Big Maceo,
Champion Jack Dupree,B.B King,Albert King,Ray
Charles,Wynonie Harris & many others & was so
taken with their sound - unlike anything he had ever
heard before - that he had made up his mind that this
was to be his style someday when he’d be a star. Jerry
would learn songs like Kokomo Arnold’s ‘Milk cow
blues’,Johnny Temple’s ‘Big legged woman’ & Piano
Red’s ‘Rockin’ with Red’ & recreate them in his own
style. As he became a teenager,Jerry’s boogie beat
was firmly in place. He had a fully fledged style &
was equal as a bluesman,gospel performer & country
country singer.
Jerry Lee’s big inspiration on piano was Aubrey
‘Moon’ Mullican,who was a country hitmaker in
the ‘40s & ‘50s. He was,however,not your ordinary
country singer - in fact,Mullican was the Jerry Lee
of his era:a fully fledged bluesman,a superb country
balladeer & an outstanding & distinctive boogie woogie
pianist. Jerry Lee knew that this was something totally
different;this was not the pure C&W of Ernest Tubb &
so many like him,Lewis was thinking as he heard ‘I’ll
sail my ship alone’, ‘Jole blon’’, ‘Pipeliner blues’, ‘I
was sorta wondering’ & so many more by Moon
Mullican - this was a fusion of all styles of music he
had heard & more.This was the beginning of something
new.
Another artist was also exciting Jerry Lee at the same
time - this one is now often considered Lewis’ biggest
influence of all. Hank Williams,like Moon Mullican,
was a country artist soaked in the blues. He was not
a pianist,but Jerry Lee could easily adapt his many
compositions to a piano based style. Jerry Lee acknowledged
Hank even moreso than Jimmie Rodgers & Al Jolson:Jerry
Lee heard ‘Lovesick blues’ in 1949 & noted the song would
have suited either Rodgers & Jolson & that this new artist
(Hank) was up there with them.Many of Williams songs
appear in Lewis’ repetoire,from 1956-57 (‘I can’t help it’,
‘Cold cold heart’ & ‘You win again’) up until his 1995
version of ‘I’ll never get out of this world alive’.
By 1949,Jerry Lee Lewis was ready to perform for
others & did a version of Stick Mc Ghee’s blues hit
‘Drinkin’ wine spodee odee’ at a concert to celebrate
the Ford Car company’s new models. His performance
went down well & his style was distinctive,fully fledged
& confident.
From then on,Jerry wanted to record & finally got an
audition for Slim Whitman on the Louisiana Hayride
in 1954,where he sung Hank Snow’s ‘I don’t hurt
anymore’ & Eddie Fisher’s/Joni James’ ‘If I ever needed
you,I need you now’. Both were present hits & were
country in style,but Lewis turns them both into great
blues tunes,with excellent vocals & energetic piano.
These auditions & other attempts in Nashville didn’t
get Jerry Lee the contract he deserved. Finally,in 1956
Sam Phillips Sun Records (which Jerry Lee had read
all about as a place where you could be yourself &
not be turned into what someone else wanted) was
the place that accepted him.
In 1956,rock ‘n’ roll was all the rave & Jerry Lee
wanted to be part of it & be its greatest star. People
like Big Joe Turner,Louis Jordan,Professor Longhair,
Amos Milburn & Fats Domino were permeating the
souls of many whites with their uptempo blend of R&B,
who were sick of the schmaltzy music their own artists
were making. Jerry Lee was one such person. Bill Haley
was the first white person to see the potential of covering
such artists records & after his version of Joe Turner’s
‘Shake rattle & roll’ became a hit,rock ‘n’ roll was a
strong & healthy baby. His follow-up, ‘Rock around
the clock’ cemented the style forever.
How much Haley actually influenced Lewis can only
be guessed at,but what is certain is that Haley opened
the door for Jerry Lee & countless others. To Sun had
come Elvis Presley,Carl Perkins,Johnny Cash & Roy
Orbison,who,like Lewis,all shared a Hillbilly blues
upbringing & wanted to be part of something new.
Presley had covered 5 blues standards,3 country
standards & 2 country originals for 5 singles at Sun
& then was sold to RCA in 1955 because Sam Phillips
needed cash. Elvis went on to become a total
phenomenon on RCA & Phillips needed to get
more artists who could rival him.
Carl Perkins seemed like the answer as he had a
similar blend of blues & country & to boot,he could
do 2 things Presley couldn’t : Carl was an exceptional
songwriter & an outstanding musician;Presley was
neither. When Carl’s ‘Blue suede shoes’ reached
the top of the country,R&B & pop charts in 1956,
that seemed like Sam Phillips’ dream come true.
Unfortunately,for Carl,a car accident later in 1956
left him severely injured & his brother dead. By
the time he had recovered,Elvis Presley had become
bigger & Carl’s chances were doomed. Johnny Cash
was primarily country & not a rocker (but was Sam’s
most consistently successful artist at the time). Sam
needed a rocker & Roy Orbison didn’t seem right
either (he was always more of a balladeer & that’s
what he was best at).
Sun Records’ answer was Jerry Lee Lewis,a man
with more talent than any of the others. Jerry Lee
could sing,play piano,write songs & arrange songs
in a new style. The first records he cut on Sun
showed off his style well;the coupling of ‘Crazy
arms’ & ‘End of the road’ was in Sun’s tradition
of coupling a country song with a blues for a single.
‘Crazy arms’ was a Ray Price country song that
Jerry Lee gives a bluesy interpretation of,while
‘End of the road’ was a superb self-written ragtime
influenced Hillbilly blues. To really show Jerry Lee’s
early versatility at its greatest,one should listen to his
rarer early Sun songs:he does a bluesy version of Gene
Autry’s ‘You’re the only star in my blue heaven’,then
he can turn to gutbucket blues boogie as on ‘Deep Elem
blues’, ‘Honey hush’ & ‘Crawdad song’. He can master
tender country & swing balladry as on ‘Goodnight Irene’,
‘Born to lose’, ‘I love you so much it hurts’ & the like.
Rocking up older blues & country standards like ‘Silver
threads among the gold’ & ‘My Carolina sunshine girl’
is second nature to Jerry Lee & all rehearsals for his
impending rock ‘n’ roll stardom.
A rewritten version of a rocking blues standard produced
a massive hit in 1957; ‘Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on’ was
the perfect record to define early rock ‘n’ roll - more gutsy,
confident & freewheeling than any other artist could ever
capture & one that made Jerry Lee Lewis a household name.
The b-side ‘It’ll be me’ was further evidence of Jerry Lee’s
distinctive blues style. The single hit the R&B,country & pop
charts & topped the first 2;the follow-up single was one written
especially for Jerry by top songwriter Otis Blackwell. The title
was ‘Great balls of fire’ & this became an even bigger Jerry
Lee hit than ‘Whole lotta shakin’’ - topping all 3 U.S charts as
well as the British charts,too.
Jerry Lee was now the King of rock ‘n’ roll - he had more huge
rock ‘n’ roll hits like ‘Breathless’, ‘Down the line’, ‘Highschool
confidential’ & ‘Break up’ & was also hitting big with slower
country numbers like ‘You win again’, ‘Fools like me’ & ‘I’ll
make it all up to you’ & all this was in the space of the year
1957 - 1958.
However,Jerry Lee was essentially a blues singer,not a pop
star & pure blues boogies were only going to irritate the more
conservative members of the public as being suggestive &
dangerous to morals. So,as a result,Jerry Lee’s marriage to
13-year-old cousin,Myra Gail Brown spelt the end to his pop
career (as this was the perfect case to destroy one rock ‘n’ roll
career). And,it was also the end for blues-based music on the
pop charts ; real rock ‘n’ roll was dead. Chuck Berry was in
jail,Little Richard turned to Religion,Elvis was in the army &
when he came out,he was a clean pop star. Even the milder &
less dangerous people like Buddy Holly,Eddie Cochran &
Ritchie Valens were dead,so it looked like rock was finished.
Only Jerry Lee,Gene Vincent & Carl Perkins were recording
it & by no means really penetrating.
Jerry Lee did have a few minor hits in the late ‘50s & early
‘60s like ‘Lovin’ up a storm’, ‘Big blon’ baby’, ‘Livin’ lovin’
wreck’, ‘Old black Joe’,’Cold cold heart’ & ‘Baby baby bye bye’,
but these weren’t big enough to revive his career. A 1961 version
of Ray Charles’ ‘What’d I say’ was a U.K top 10,but there was
no repeats.
Jerry Lee stayed at Sun until 1963,when he switched labels to
Smash,a subsidiary of Mercury. An excellent single ‘I’m on fire’
was destined to be his comeback hit,but the British bands kept
it from being so. He cut some marvelous albums at Smash like
‘Soul my way’, ‘Memphis beat’ & the like that showed Jerry
Lee’s blues side off well. Excellent live albums from 1964
also proved what Jerry Lee was capable of.
In 1968,after 5 years at Smash,Jerry Lee recorded a country
album & hit No.4 on the C&W charts with its title track
‘Another place another time’ & hit No.2 with ‘What’s made
Milwaukee famous’ as well. Other No.2 hits followed with
‘She still comes around’ & ‘She even woke me up to say
good-bye’. In 1969,Jerry Lee had his first No.1 country
hit since the ‘50s with ‘To make love sweeter for you’.
In the early ‘70s,Jerry Lee was the hottest Southern
country artist - the only rocker then who didn’t have
to rely on his past for fame. More No.1 hits like ‘There
must be more to love than this’, ‘Would you take another
chance on me’ & ‘Think about it darlin’’ followed. Other
of his many top 10 hits in the ‘70s included the excellent
‘Touching home’, ‘He can’t fill my shoes’, ‘Sometimes
a memory ain’t enough’ & ‘Let’s put it back together
again’. ‘Chantilly lace’ & ‘Bobby Mc Gee’ were not
only country No.1s,but also were pop hits. Jerry was
now on the main Mercury label & one of its greatest
assets.
Jerry’s cousin Mickey Gilley was also following
in Jerry Lee’s footprints to C&W success & Charlie
Rich owed Jerry Lee a lot. Jerry Lee also decided
1973 was time for a blues/rock comeback & the
‘Session’ album was indeed a great seller & the
version of ‘Drinkin’ wine spodee odee’ was a pop
& country hit. Jerry became less & less country
orientated from 1973 onwards & albums like ‘Odd
man in’, ‘Boogie woogie country man’ & ‘Keeps
rockin’’ took a bluesier style. In 1979,Jerry Lee
switched labels to Elektra & recorded 3 great
blues albums there & had a No.1 hit with ‘When
2 worlds collide’,a country ballad. Other hits he had
then included ‘39 & holding’, ‘Rockin’ my life away’,
‘I wish I was 18 again’ & ‘Over the rainbow’.
Jerry Lee left Elektra in 1982 & recorded albums
occasionally for other labels including MCA. In 1989
a film was made on his life that failed in everyway
despite Jerry Lee’s excellent soundtrack for it. 1995s
album ‘Young blood’ (on Sire label) is another superb
set of Jerry Lee doing what he does best & is charactar-
ised by the same energy as the Sun sessions of 40 years
earlier.
Jerry Lee is without a doubt the greatest vocalist,
pianist & interpreter of styles that the world has ever
known & someone who has made roots music an art.
Jerry Lee’s the King of all music & is not just a rock
‘n’ roll monarch.

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