Rock 'n' roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis has died, his publicist confirmed. He was 87.
Jerry Lee Lewis, the untamable rock 'n' roll pioneer whose outrageous talent, energy and ego collided on such definitive records as "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and sustained a career otherwise upended by personal scandal, died Friday morning at 87.
"There was rockabilly. There was Elvis. But there was no pure rock 'n 'roll before Jerry Lee Lewis kicked in the door," a Lewis admirer once observed. That admirer was Jerry Lee Lewis. Over the following decades, Lewis struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, legal disputes and physical illness. Two of his many marriages ended in his wife's early death. Brown herself divorced him in the early 1970s and would later allege physical and mental cruelty that nearly drove her to suicide.More Videos
A 1973 performance proved more troublesome: Lewis sang for the Grand Ole Opry and broke two longstanding rules - no swearing and no non-country songs. His finances were also chaotic. Lewis made millions, but he liked his money in cash and ended up owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Internal Revenue Service. When he began welcoming tourists in 1994 to his longtime residence near Nesbit, Mississippi - complete with a piano-shaped swimming pool - he set up a 900 phone number fans could call for a recorded message at $2.75 a minute.
"Great Balls of Fire," a sexualized take on Biblical imagery that Lewis initially refused to record, and "Whole Lotta Shakin'" were his most enduring songs and performance pieces. Lewis had only a handful of other pop hits, including "High School Confidential" and "Breathless," but they were enough to ensure his place as a rock 'n' roll architect.
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