Jerry Lee Lewis, US rock’n’roll pioneer, dies aged 87
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The singer and pianist nicknamed "The Killer", the rock and roll's original, Jerry Lee Lewis, dies at his home in DeSoto County, Mississippi, south of Memphis.
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Rock 'n' roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis
One of the most famous US songwriters and singers, Jerry Lee Lewis, died today at the age of 87, CNN reported, citing Lewis' publicist Zach Farnum.
The rock 'n' roll pioneer died of natural causes in his Mississippi home, the report said, and his wife was near him at the moment of death.
“He told her, in his final days, that he welcomed the hereafter, and that he was not afraid," the report added.
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Jerry Lee Lewis in 1957 (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Lewis was best known for his hits "Great Balls Of Fire,""Breathless" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On." His energetic performances on "Great Balls of Fire" helped install rock’n’roll as the dominant US pop music of the 1950s. The song reached No 2 on the US charts and became one of the rock’n’roll era's definitive songs.
Lewis was known as "The Killer," which was his childhood nickname, and was often deemed “greatest piano player that's ever lived”
Lewis was born in 1935 in East Louisiana in a poor farming family who mortgaged their house to buy Lewis his first piano. He was 18 when he first performed, and he became one of the most influential musicians of 20th century.
He received four Grammy awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 and two Grammy Hall of Fame Awards.
Lewis was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. He was also a member of the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. In 2022, Lewis was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
