Liberace thought there had to be another piano hidden in the wings). In spite of all the peaks and troughs that came later, Lewis remained mostly famous for the life he briefly led in 19 when he got to hang out on an MGM set with Elizabeth Taylor (“I ain’t never seen a woman that beautiful in my life”) and leave Liberace speechless (he couldn’t believe anyone, not even Jerry Lee Lewis, could play piano that fast, that well, and sing at the same time. He followed it with an even bigger hit, and a UK No 1, Great Balls of Fire in early 1958. His piano sounded like it was going to break through the floorboards on his second single, the super-sexual Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, and the result was an international hit. The blend of R&B and country on his early Sun singles was just as powerful, and as definitively southern, as Elvis Presley’s. In late 1956, Elmo Lewis sold 33 dozen eggs and financed a trip to Memphis where Jerry Lee would successfully audition for Sam Phillips and Sun Records. Like so many other southern boys, he was blown away by Elvis Presley, and spotted an opportunity. Musically, he was colour-blind aged 14 he would sneak into a nightclub in the black part of Ferriday called Haney’s Big House, then hide behind the bar, and hear people like BB King, Muddy Waters and his favourite, Ray Charles. The first song he mastered was Silent Night, in a boogie-woogie style. When he first showed a keen interest in his uncle’s piano at the age of eight, his father Elmo had to mortgage the family’s shack to buy Jerry Lee an upright Starck. His life story would provide rich enough material for two extremely strong biographies.īorn in Ferriday, Louisiana, Jerry Lee Lewis’s family was very poor. “If you are lukewarm, the Lord will spew you forth from his mouth.” He would spend much of his life wrestling with his southern upbringing and his conscience, torn between his piano and the pulpit he had outlived two wives and two children by the time he was 60. “You are either hot or cold,” he would say.

He considered himself a “stylist” – not just a musician but a complete package, fully formed from his very first record.

Given that he spent his life so close to the edge that he was usually dangling over it, it was always going to be tricky to separate the myths and legends of a man nicknamed “the Killer” from bare Top 40 statistics. Jerry Lee Lewis always hoped that his music was what he would be remembered for.

Me and bobby mcgee jerry lee lewis