Lewis, Jerry Lee  ( born Sept. 29, 1935 , Ferriday, La., U.S.American singer and pianist whose virtuosity, ecstatic performances, and colourful personality made him a legendary rock music pioneer.




In 1958 scandal nearly ended his career. While on tour in England, Lewis was scorned by the press when it was learned that he had married his 13-year-old cousin (the daughter of his bassist). That Lewis’s previous marriage was still valid only made matters worse. Despite the ensuing boycott, Lewis continued recording and performing wherever he could. In 1961 his version of Ray Charles’s “What’d I Say” was a hit. Lewis soon returned to England, this time greeted as a star. Nevertheless, his comeback was complete only in the late 1960s, after he had shifted his musical focus and had a series of hits on the country charts; his success in that genre extended into the early 1980s. As Lewis entered middle age, his recordings became more sporadic, though he won positive notice later in his life for Last Man Standing (2006), an album of duets with a panoply of rock, blues, and country legends. A similarly conceived record, Mean Old Man, was released in 2010.

The subject of biographies, documentaries, and a major Hollywood film, Lewis’s life was punctuated by erratic behaviour, alcohol and drug problems, bouts of ill health, tax debts, wild escapades, and six marriages. His talent, persistence, longevity, and huge legacy of recordings, however, guarantee his place among rock music’s royalty. Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.