Jerry Lewis is perhaps one of the most iconic singers of his generation. His nickname ‘the Killer’ is a testament to how his music was considered lethal by his fans.
These days, the singer has been grappling with some health problems. But despite some reports, he is still very much alive and kicking!
Jerry Lee Lewis American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was born on September 29, 1935. Lewis is considered the pioneer of rock’n’roll music, which is a major title for anyone to receive.
He made his first recordings in the year 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. The song he recorded, “Crazy Arms” sold about 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his song “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” that shot him to fame across the globe! After that, he produced hit after hit, with his songs, “Great Balls of Fire”, “Breathless”, and “High School Confidential”.
After his successful career in rock music, he decided to transition to country music in 1968. This was when his career in rock music was faltering. He was really able to reignite his success with country music. He made country music hits which 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”.
In 1958, when the singer was 23 years old, a scandal almost ended his career. The press learned that he had married his 13-year-old cousin, and the daughter of his bassist, Myra Gale Brown. If his bride’s age wasn’t reason enough for people to get upset, at the time of their marriage, he had still been legally married to his previous wife.
Lewis in total has been married seven times in his lifetime. His first marriage was just at the age of 16, to the local preacher’s daughter, Dorothy Barton. Their marriage only lasted 20 months and ended in October 1953.
His second marriage was to Jane Mitchum in September 1953. She filed for divorce on October 1957, they had two children during their time together, one of whom died when he was just 19 years old.
He married his 13-year-old cousin on December 12, 1957. However, people cast doubts on the validity of the union because his divorce from his previous wife had not been finalized at the time. He remarried her on June 4, 1958, to put these doubts at rest.
In 1970, she filed for divorce, citing that she had been “subject to every type of physical and mental abuse imaginable.” Their union resulted in two children, one of whom passed away at just 3 years old.
His fourth marriage was to Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate, who had filed for divorce but died due to drowning just a few weeks before proceedings could be finalized. They had one daughter during their time together.
Shawn Stephens was his fifth wife, their union lasted 77 days and ended with her sudden death.
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His sixth marriage was to Kerrie McCarver. The union lasted 21 years, ending in 2005. The couple had one child together.
And his final marriage in 2012 was to Judith Lewis. He is still married to her today. The couple famously cut all ties off with Lewis’ daughter Phoebe Lewis-Loftin, and removed her as his manager.
They also sued her on the basis that she owed them a substantial amount of money and had defamed Judith Lewis and Jerry Lewis III on Facebook. The court claimed most of the issues had passed the 3-year statute of limitation.
Lewis in his youth was incredibly unpredictable. His behavior on stage captivated fans. He would stand on pianos or even light instruments on fire; you never knew what you were going to get with him!
On November 22, 1976, he was arrested outside of Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate. He had crashed into the gates of the estate, he been drunk with a bottle of alcohol in his possession as well as a loaded gun inside his car.
He claimed that Elvis had called him a while ago and requested to see him and he had just remembered their conversation that night and decided to go ahead and visit him. Lewis explained he had no intentions of harming Presley, he said, “The cops asked Elvis, ‘What do you want us to do? And Elvis told ’em, ‘Lock him up.’ That hurt my feelings. To be scared of me — knowin’ me the way he did — was ridiculous.”
Lewis has had an incredible life, and he has made a lot of decisions that not everyone will agree with. Recently, he has had some troubles with his health. On February 28, 2019, he suffered a stroke. While he fully recovered from the stroke, it did take some toll on him and he canceled his upcoming appearances.
Last week, Lewis had finally been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. However, he was down with the flu and unable to attend the ceremony, hence Kris Kristofferson accepted the award on his behalf.
Kristofferson then drove down to Memphis, accompanied by his wife to personally deliver the award to Lewis.
Lewis wrote a letter to his fans, explaining the situation, he wrote, “It is with heartfelt sadness and disappointment that I write to you today from my sick bed, rather than be able to share my thoughts in person. I tried everything I could to build up the strength to come today.”
TMZ falsely published the news that Jerry Lee Lewis had passed away after hearing it from someone who claimed to be the country singer’s representative. However, he received news from his actual representatives that the singer was not dead, but indeed very much alive in his Memphis home.
While Lewis is alive, his health has been steadily deteriorating. He shared his condolences for Loretta Lynn when she passed away earlier this month.
Hopefully, ‘the Killer’ is able to recover soon from his flu and gets back out there!
We are sending Jerry Lee Lewis our sincere well wishes and hope he recovers very soon.
Share this article with your friends and family so they can know that the legendary singer Jerry Lee Lewis is very much alive and well!
