Obituary for Jerry Lee Lewis: Rest in Peace, Killer

In fact, rock ‘n’ roll star Lewis had two careers – the one before and the one after he married his underage cousin. Even then it was a scandal, today probably unthinkable.

It is April 5, 1964, at Große Freiheit 39, in the Hamburg Star Club. Where the Beatles had played two years earlier.

In the legendary music shed in St. Pauli, someone who had long since been written off is celebrating a triumphant comeback: Jerry Lee Lewis. The big, wild man of rock ‘n’ roll. The “Killer”, as his fans call him.

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The killer pulls out all the stops in the beer haze and cigarette smoke of the Star Club, a massive rock ‘n’ roll eruption that is recorded, released on LP and crowned the biggest, wildest live album of all time.

According to Rolling Stone, “Live at The Star Club, Hamburg, isn’t just an album, it’s a crime scene: Jerry Lee Lewis butchered his rivals in a 13-song set that feels like one endless tremor. “

The singer and pianist was accompanied by a British band he had never shared a stage with before, the Nashville Teens. “Live at The Star Club is not country, boogie, bop or blues, but a rock’n roll showdown – without survivors! Except for one: the killer!”

marriage to a minor

That the 1935 born in rural Louisiana, whose hits like “Great Balls of Fire” or “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” from the late fifties would report back so impressively, even his hardcore fans hadn’t expected that.

After the career break at the end of 1957: Lewis had married his own cousin, Myra Gale Brown, then 13 years young, in his third marriage. “They freaked out when they found out how young I was,” Myra recalled of the UK tour, which Lewis had to abandon when the tabloids pounced on his marriage to the underage. To make matters worse, it turned out that the killer was not even divorced from his second wife.

She could never forgive herself for that, Myra says today. The scandal marriage failed. In total, Jerry Lee Lewis was married seven times.

Musically reoriented

Despite his triumphant Hamburg rock’n’roll comeback, Jerry Lee Lewis changed musically: Country, gospel and blues were his styles from then on.

He had experienced all the ups and downs, the killer smiled when he had passed 80 despite his excessive rock’n’roll lifestyle. Most recently, he lived a secluded life in Memphis, Tennessee after suffering a stroke. Jerry Lee Lewis died of natural causes at the age of 87 at the side of his seventh wife. Rest in peace killers!