Posted on 08/09/2015 12:57:25 AM PDT by nickcarraway
At nearly 80, Jerry Lee Lewis has outlived his rivals and is preparing for his final tour. He talks about why his seventh wife is the love of his life, how he became known as ‘the Killer’, and why Elvis was just a hillbilly
We’re waiting for the Killer to get home. Judith, wife number seven, is telling me how best to get on with her husband. Jerry Lee Lewis, one of the founding fathers of rock’n’roll and reputedly the baddest of the bad boys, is known to have a temperamental side. There was the time he drove up to Graceland, drunk on liquor and high on pills, with a gun on his dashboard, demanding that Elvis come down from the house on the hill to prove who was the real king. And the time he shot his bass player, Butch Owens, in the chest, accidentally, he insists – Owens won $125,000 in damages. There were the two wives who died in tragic, some have said suspicious, circumstances. But this is the past, says Judith in her deep Mississippi drawl, and the past is a faraway country.
“OK, you have to talk loud and slowly to Jerry. And don’t mention any bad words, and nothing negative,” says the formidable Judith, a former basketball player, and ex-wife of the brother of wife number three, Myra. Myra was the most controversial, because she was only 13 years old when Lewis wed her. “You can ask about me, but as far as all his wives and stuff goes, he doesn’t like to talk about personal stuff,” Judith says.
Jerry Lee Lewis is preparing for his final tour to the UK next month, to coincide with his 80th birthday. Sixty years on from the birth of rock’n’roll, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On and Great
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
That time when Ray Charles played piano with Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Little Richard, and James Brown with Bo Diddley and BB King playing guitar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DofQHvU_6oo
full concert here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_zywFj7vrk
PS, the man introducing James Brown at the beginning of the show introduced James at pretty much all of the shows. He was there when Little Richard was just getting started and he learned of James Brown. Came a point in time when James Brown had to do the Little Richard shows while Richard was on the road. He said that Little Richard was the ‘hardest working man in show biz’ because he was two places at once. But as James Brown established himself, he realized just how hard working James really was and it stuck.
Mickey Gilley is also his cousin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4r94FRlSy8
Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q0uwQ0sou8
The Jaycees sponsored a James Brown Concert here . I helped with the clean up. Five pairs of women’s panties were in all the trash on the floor. There was also one ladies watch
I think YouTube is a wonder because you can browse thru and listen to many versions of songs recorded/performed by many artists thru the many years/decades.
Lucky Old Sun is one such song. A couple of other songs that Jerry Lee and many others performed that are very old(1920s) are Trouble in Mind and Waiting on a Train(Jimmie Rogers). Yes, Jerry Lee knows how to yodel.
Dave Brubeck and Marian McPartland did an event where I was one of the technical people and the only one who did a particular job. I wasn’t deemed important enough to meet them but it didn’t matter to me.
Anyway everything was banked to tape and turned them over to the very detail oriented and good guy executive producer for final efitng.
It went through and I never thought about it again. A couple of years later I was making a run of copies and watched the credits. The jerk manager’s favorite who wasn’t there was credited instead of me. I asked about it but he didn’t have an answer. He was probably told to. Or the editor was.
The PD told me he was planning on remastering it and would fix it. Doubt it happened since he died later and I left the agency.
If he wats to call Jimmy, that’s a looooong distance call. Jimmy passed away a few years ago.
CC
Yes, I mentioned that.
“Makes me wonder if there is a story there that we are never going to hear about.”
Jealously
“Jimmy passed away a few years ago.”
Jimmy is still much alive and preaching in Baton Rouge just about every Sunday morning.
Jerry Lee married for the first time at 17. And he was still older than any of his sisters at their first marriage.
He married for the second time just after he turned 18 and before his first divorce was final.
I believe he also married Myra before his divorce from his second wife was final.
I stand corrected.
CC
Jerry Lee Lewis has had to earn his position, where it seems everything was just handed to Elvis. It can create a contemptuous attitude.
Bump for later listening
I always thought it was looks, Elvis was better looking than Jerry, and Elvis crossed over to a wider audience. He sang gospel, country and rock n roll and it seemed everything in between. I was never a big Elvis fan either.
“Myra was the most controversial, because she was only 13 years old when Lewis wed her.”
This was the reason why Elvis (reluctantly) married Priscilla.
When he first met her in Germany, she was only 14 years old. After he was discharged from the Army, Elvis wanted Priscilla to move to Graceland. She was still underaged. He had to cajole and pour on the charm and make all sorts of promises to convince her parents to let Priscilla move to Memphis. They eventually relented.
Years go by and the novelty of having Priscilla around has long since worn off. In all the years Priscilla has been living at Graceland, Elvis was never faithful to her.
Priscilla and her parents were tired of waiting around for Elvis to do right by her and started putting the screws to Elvis. They were calling in their chips and there was a hint of possible blackmail as Elvis started going around with Priscilla when she was 14 and if Elvis broke it off with her, there was the possibility of Priscills parents were threatening to sue for breach of promise and go to the gossip sheets to tell all about the relationship.
This terrified Elvis. What happened to Jerry Lee Lewis resided in the back of his mind. It was cemented there. Jerry married his 13 year old cousin and Jerry lost it all as a consequence.
Elvis loved his bachelorhood. He didnt want to get married to Priscilla or any other girl. He went to his Father and his manager Parker to ask them what he should do. The both of them said “marry the girl”. So Elvis proposed to Priscilla. Afterwards he was literally crying to his friends how he didnt want to get married.
On the day of the wedding, just before they were to leave for the ceremony, one of his best men (Marty Lacker) went to retrieve Elvis from his bedroom because Elvis was stalling. Elvis was sitting on the edge of his bed saying how he didnt want to get married. Marty told him, “then dont” and call it off. But Elvis couldn’t be swayed. He was convinced that if he didnt go through with the wedding, he would lose it all the same way jerry lee lewis did. It didnt occur to him that the late 60s was a different world from the late 50s and that all his fans wouldnt have cared and would have been quite forgiving.
Musicianship and production: two different worlds.
Thanks! Listening to it now. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.