Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "
rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
and
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...
music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at
Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio in
New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,[New Orleans]
Sun Records in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...
. "
Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the Southern United States, but it was his 1957 hit "
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to worldwide fame. He followed this with the major hits "
Great Balls of Fire", "
Breathless
Breathless may refer to:
Aircraft
*Paradelta Breathless, an Italian paraglider design
Film and television
* Breathless (1960 film), ''Breathless'' (1960 film) (''À bout de souffle''), a French film directed by Jean-Luc Godard
* Breathless (1982 ...
", and "
High School Confidential". His rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to
Myra Gale Brown
Myra Gale Lewis Williams ( Brown; born July 11, 1944) is an American author who is known for her controversial marriage at the age of 13