Jerry Lee Lewis is 86 years old today.
The rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist is known as "The Killer.” An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis had hits in the late 1950s with songs such as "Great Balls of Fire,” "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On,” "Breathless" and "High School Confidential.”
However, Lewis' rock 'n' roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown. Brown was Lewis's first cousin once removed and he was 22 years old. The publicity over the marriage caused an uproar and his British tour was cancelled after only three concerts.
Lewis had little success in the charts following the scandal until his popularity recovered in the late 1960s after he extended his career to country and western music with songs such as "Another Place, Another Time.” More country hits soon followed over the late 1960s and through the 1970s.
Lewis's successes continued throughout the decade and he embraced his rock 'n' roll past with songs such as a cover of the Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" and "Rockin' My Life Away.”
In the 21st century, Lewis continues to tour to audiences around the world and still releases new albums. One recent album, titled Last Man Standing, is his best selling to date at over a million copies sold worldwide.
Lewis’s live album, Live at the Star Club, Hamburg, is often regarded by many as one of the wildest and greatest rock and roll concert albums ever.
Lewis is the last surviving member of Sun Records' Million Dollar Quartet and the Class of '55 album, which altogether included Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley, as well as Lewis himself.
Here, Lewis performs “Great Balls of Fire”
Jerry Lee Lewis performs “Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On,” (Farm Aid, 2008)
In 1976 — 45 years ago — enjoying his own birthday celebrations, Jerry Lee Lewis accidentally shot his bass player, Norman Owens, in the chest.
Lewis had been blasting holes in an office door.
Owens survived, but sued his boss.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash — The Million Dollar Quartet — at Sun Records, December 4, 1956
Lewis is the only survivor today.
Jerry Lee Lewis' piano at his home in Mississippi
Photo by Jim Herrington