Jerry lewis biography 2015 net worth

Myra Lewis Williams, also known as Myra Gale Brown, was the third wife of late rock ’n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and — more infamously — his 13-year-old cousin at the time they got married.

So whatever happened to her? Williams, 78, said in 2016 that she’s been “right here” the whole time — but she apparently no longer had a relationship with her notorious ex-husband after 2015.

Lewis, who died Friday at age 87, weathered professional exile in 1958 after a reporter covering his arrival in London inquired about the young girl in his entourage who ultimately introduced herself as “Jerry’s wife.”

The “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire” hitmaker had eloped with Myra Gale Brown in December 1957, the result of a romance that developed when he moved into the Memphis home of Myra’s father, JW Brown, who was Lewis’ cousin and bass player, according to Lewis’ obituary in The Times.

Lewis was 22 and Williams was 13, and the press came down hard on him when it was revealed that she was also his second cousin and that Lewis was still married to his second wife, Jane Mitchum, when they wed.

The revelation resulted in the abrupt cancellation of Lewis’ tour; he was blacklisted by radio and his earnings dropped overnight. (Couples married young in his Louisiana hometown of Ferriday, and he wed for the first time when he was 16 and had seven wives over the course of his life.)

He continued to record music and perform in theater during that time and mounted a comeback about a decade later.

“When Jerry Lee and I went to England there was a whole lotta trouble going on... The press made me out to be a seductive Lolita, which was as far from the truth as it gets. Remember, gossip is not gospel,” Williams wrote on Instagram in 2015.

“It was really the first scandal of rock ’n’ roll,” Williams told Georgia’s Gwinnett Daily Post in 2016. “What was happening back then, ro

J.W. Brown was working for Memphis Light, Gas and Water when he had a horrible accident working on power lines and nearly died. He spent a year rehabbing and when he healed, he was told he would return to the power lines.

Brown decided he wanted to form a band instead, and he sought out his first cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis, a talented but unknown piano player from Louisiana. He took Lewis to Sun Studio to meet Sam Phillips, the famed music mogul of the era. After some cajoling, Phillips agreed to sign the new band.

Within months Lewis, known as “The Killer,” would become a megastar in the rock-n-roll world with hits like “Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On,” and “Great Balls of Fire.” In the middle of this whirlwind, he did something that nowadays seems unthinkable. Without permission, he married Brown’s 13-year-old daughter, Myra, now Myra Williams.

The couple remained married for 13 years and would have two children, she told Talk Business & Politics. Lewis, 87, died Oct. 28 in Mississippi and was buried Saturday (Nov. 5).

“If it weren’t for my father, J.W. Brown, the world would have never known Jerry Lee Lewis,” she said.

Lewis’s career, like many other rock-n-roll artists of the era, took off in fantastical fashion. He recorded many songs at Sun Studios and his piano playing can be heard in several songs by other musicians. He worked with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and many others. Lewis played at numerous honky-tonks and juke joints across eastern Arkansas up and down Highway 67, “the Rock N Roll Highway.”

Perkins reportedly had studio time booked at Sun on Dec. 4, 1957, and Lewis was slated to play piano during the session. Perkins had just released his song “Blue Suede Shoes.” J.W. suggested that Phillips record a song the band performed on the road “Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On” and it had been released earlier that year along with “Great Balls of Fire.”

Cash, dubbed “The M

American rock and roll musician (1935–2022)

This article is about the musician. For the comedian, see Jerry Lewis. For other uses, see Jerry Lee Lewis (disambiguation).

Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935 – October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and early recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. "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", and "High School Confidential".

His rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old first cousin once removed. His popularity quickly eroded following the scandal, and with few exceptions, such as a cover of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say", he did not have much chart success in the early 1960s. His live performances at this time were increasingly wild and energetic. His 1964 live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is regarded by many music journalists and fans as one of the wildest and greatest live rock albums ever. In 1968, Lewis made a transition into country music and had hits with songs such as "Another Place, Another Time". This reignited his career, and throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, he regularly topped the country-western charts; throughout his seven-decade career, Lewis had 30 songs reach the Top 10 on the Billboard Country and Western Chart. His No. 1 country hits included "To Make Love Sweeter for You", "There Must Be More to Love Than This", "Would You Take Another Chance on Me", and "Me and Bobby McGee".

Lewis's successes continued throughout the decade