Rock pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis was born 88 years ago today
Rock pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis was born 88 years ago today
Jerry Lee Lewis
Photo by Henry Horenstein
Jerry Lee Lewis was born 88 years ago today.
The rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist was 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 continued to tour to audiences around the world. One recent album, titled Last Man Standing, was 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 had a minor stroke in Memphis on February 28, 2019.[92] He had to cancel several appearances.[93]
Lewis died at his home on October 28, 2022, in Nesbit, Mississippi, at the age of 87.
Lewis' funeral was held on November 5, 2022, in his hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana. The service was officiated by his cousin Jimmy Swaggart and Swaggart's son.
Lewis was 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.”
Anita Ekberg, London, 1955
Photo Bob Haswell
Anita Ekberg was born 92 years ago today.
A Swedish-Italian actress, model and sex symbol, Ekberg played the role of Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film, La Dolce Vita in 1960.
Ekberg worked primarily in Italy, of which she became a permanent resident in 1964. In her teens, she was a fashion model. Ekberg entered the Miss Malmö competition in 1950 at her mother's urging, leading to the Miss Sweden contest which she won.
She consequently went to the United States to compete for the Miss Universe 1951 title despite speaking little English. Although she did not win the Miss Universe pageant, as one of six finalists she did earn a starlet's contract with Universal Studios, as was the practice at the time.
As a starlet at Universal, she received lessons in drama, elocution, dancing, horseriding and fencing. She appeared briefly in the 1953 Universal films, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, and The Golden Blade.
Ekberg skipped many of her drama lessons, restricting herself to riding horses in the Hollywood Hills. The combination of her voluptuous physique and colorful private life (such as her well-publicized romances with Hollywood's leading men, such as Frank Sinatra, Tyrone Power, Yul Brynner, Rod Taylor and Errol Flynn) appealed to the gossip magazines.
She soon became a major 1950s pin-up, appearing in men's magazines like Playboy. Additionally, she participated in publicity stunts and once admitted that an incident where her dress burst open in the lobby of London's Berkeley Hotel was prearranged with a photographer.
Federico Fellini gave Ekberg her best known role in La Dolce Vita (1960), performing as Sylvia Rank, the unattainable "dream woman" of the character played by Marcello Mastroianni. The film features a scene of her cavorting in Rome's Trevi Fountain alongside Mastroianni, which has been called "one of cinema's most iconic scenes.”
Ekberg died on January 11, 2015 at the age of 83 in Italy.
Here is the Trevi Fountain clip from La Dolce Vita.
Gene Autry and his horse, Champion
Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, was born 116 years ago today.
From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films and 91 episodes of The Gene Autry Show television series. During the 1930s and 1940s, he personified the straight-shooting hero — honest, brave and true. He profoundly touched the lives of millions of Americans.
Autry was also one of the most important figures in the history of country music, considered the second major influential artist of the genre's development after Jimmie Rodgers. His singing cowboy movies were the first vehicle to carry country music to a national audience.
In addition to his signature song, "Back in the Saddle Again,” Autry is still remembered for his Christmas holiday songs, "Here Comes Santa Claus,” which he wrote, "Frosty the Snowman” and his biggest hit, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Autry was owner of a television station and several radio stations in Southern California. He also owned the Los Angeles and California Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.
Autry is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio and live performance. The town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma was named in his honor.
Included for many years on Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans, Autry slipped to their "near miss" category in 1995 with an estimated net worth of $320 million.
Gene Autry died of lymphoma three days after his 91st birthday at his home in Studio City, California. His death on October 2, 1998 came fewer than three months after the death of another celebrated cowboy of the silver screen, radio and TV — Roy Rogers.
Here, Johnny Cash answers his son’s question, “Daddy, Who Is Gene Autry?”
Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, was born 116 years ago today.
From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films and 91 episodes of The Gene Autry Show television series. During the 1930s and 1940s, he personified the straight-shooting hero — honest, brave and true. He profoundly touched the lives of millions of Americans.
Autry was also one of the most important figures in the history of country music, considered the second major influential artist of the genre's development after Jimmie Rodgers. His singing cowboy movies were the first vehicle to carry country music to a national audience.
In addition to his signature song, "Back in the Saddle Again,” Autry is still remembered for his Christmas holiday songs, "Here Comes Santa Claus,” which he wrote, "Frosty the Snowman” and his biggest hit, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Autry was owner of a television station and several radio stations in Southern California. He also owned the Los Angeles and California Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.
Autry is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio and live performance. The town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma was named in his honor.
Included for many years on Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans, Autry slipped to their "near miss" category in 1995 with an estimated net worth of $320 million.
Gene Autry died of lymphoma three days after his 91st birthday at his home in Studio City, California. His death on October 2, 1998 came fewer than three months after the death of another celebrated cowboy of the silver screen, radio and TV — Roy Rogers.
Here, Johnny Cash answers his son’s question, “Daddy, Who Is Gene Autry?”
Terre and Suzzy Roche, Gerde's Folk City 50th anniversary reunion, 2009
Photo by Frank Beacham
Suzzy Roche is 67 years old today.
Originally from Park Ridge, New Jersey, Roche is best known for her work with the female vocal group, The Roches, alongside sisters Maggie, who died in January, 2017, and Terre.
Suzzy is the youngest of the three, and joined the act in 1977. She has written a book, Wayward Saints, published in 2012.
Roche is also an active associate member of The Wooster Group and has appeared in a number of the group's productions as well as composing original music for the group's performances.
She was briefly a member of Four Bitchin' Babes, appearing on their album, Some Assembly Required.
In 2004, Roche appeared on Crash Test Dummies album, "Songs of the Unforgiven.” In addition to singing, she is an actress, having appeared in the 1988 romantic comedy, Crossing Delancey, as well as a 1982 film, Soup for One.
Roche also appeared with her siblings (playing themselves) in the 1996 comedy, A Weekend in the Country.
With musician, Loudon Wainwright III, Roche has a daughter, Lucy Wainwright Roche. Lucy's half-siblings, Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, are also singer-songwriters.
Here, the Roches in full concert at the Capital Theatre, 1978.
On this day in 1975 — 48 years ago — Jackie Wilson had a heart attack while performing live in Dick Clark's Good Ol' Rock and Roll Revue on stage at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Wilson collapsed into a coma suffering severe brain damage. Ironically, he was in the middle of singing one of his biggest hits, “Lonely Teardrops” and was two words into the line, "....my heart is crying" when he collapsed to the stage, striking his head heavily.
At first, audience members initially thought it was part of the act. Clark, however, sensed something was wrong and then ordered the musicians to stop the music.
Cornell Gunter of the Coasters, who was backstage, noticed Wilson was not breathing. Gunter was able to resuscitate him and Wilson was then rushed to a nearby hospital.
Medical personnel worked nearly 30 minutes to stabilize his vitals, but the lack of oxygen to his brain caused him to slip into a coma. He briefly recovered in early 1976, and was even able to take a few wobbly steps but slipped back into a semi-comatose state.
Wilson was a resident of the Medford Leas Retirement Center in Medford, New Jersey when he was admitted into Memorial Hospital of Burlington County in Mount Holly, New Jersey due to having trouble taking nourishment.
Wilson died at age 49 on January 21, 1984 from complications of pneumonia.
He initially was buried in an unmarked grave at Westlawn Cemetery near Detroit. In 1987, a fundraiser collected enough money to purchase a headstone.
Mexico and the United States began the first telephone service between the two countries on this day in 1927 — 96 years ago.
President Calvin Coolidge and his Mexican counterpart, Plutarco Elías Calles, exchanged pleasantries via telephone to celebrate the start of new telephone service between the two countries. Previously, a dispute over land rights in Mexico had soured relations.
Both leaders needed interpreters, but they each saw promise in the communications advancement. Calles hoped it would aid “an era of good will and mutual understanding, which cannot fail to put an end to all those needless misunderstandings.”
The American president praised the engineers who completed the critical piece of infrastructure that made the call possible — a telephone line system more than 780 miles long linking Mexico City with Laredo, Texas.
The music at the festivities celebrating the telephone connection was also notable. Mexico’s national anthem was played for Coolidge in Washington. In Mexico City, “The Star Spangled Banner” was performed at the National Palace for the first time since 1846.
The same year commercial transatlantic telephone service also began. And, the first AT&T videophone call was also made that year between Washington, D.C and New York City by then-Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover.
Thanks New York Times
Bohemian life in Paris, 1950s
Photo by Ed van der Elsken