- Along with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, Lewis was a member of the celebrated "Million Dollar Quartet", so named because they were moneymakers for Sam Phillips' Sun Records label.
- Hated his ex-wife Myra Lewis' biographical book about his life entitled "Great Balls of Fire".
- Father, with Myra, of a boy named Steven Allen Lewis (1959-1962) and a girl named Phoebe Allen Lewis (b. 1963).
- Was in the process of finalizing a divorce from his fourth wife, Jaren, when she drowned in a swimming pool in 1982. They had separated in 1974.
- Contrary to public assumption, Lewis said that he actually had the nickname "Killer" ever since childhood. As a boy, he had the habit of calling acquaintances and friends "Killer", and they would return the greeting. The nickname has stuck with him since.
- Hated the film based on his life, Great Balls of Fire! (1989).
- He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammy Awards in 2005.
- Father, with Kerri McCarver, of a boy named Jerry Lee Lewis III (b. 1987).
- His eldest son, Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. (b. 1953), was killed in an auto accident in 1973. His second son, Steven Allen Lewis (b. 1959), drowned, at age three, in 1962.
- At her ten-year high school reunion, Janis Joplin introduced her younger sister to Lewis, who was a guest. Lewis commented to her that "you wouldn't be half-bad-looking if you weren't trying to look like your sister." Janis slugged Lewis for the comment. Lewis slugged her back, saying, "If you're gonna act like a man, I'm gonna treat you like one!".
- Revitalized his career in the late 1960s as a country singer.
- He was voted the 24th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
- Portrayed by Dennis Quaid (in Great Balls of Fire! (1989)), by Waylon Payne (in Walk the Line (2005)), and James C. Victor (in Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story (1999)).
- Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
- The use of his middle name Lee, helped the record buying public as well as record distributors distinguish him from comedian Jerry Lewis, who in 1956, at the height of his career, had a Top 10 recording with "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", a song first made famous by Al Jolson. That same year, Jerry Lewis also has a bestselling album. Coincidentally, both Jerry and Jerry Lee have cited Al Jolson, seen playing the piano in The Jazz Singer (1927), as a major influence. He also went by his full name to avoid confusion with actor Jerry Lewis, which is now no longer a concern, as both of the men are now deceased.
- Son of Elmo Lewis and Mamie Ethel Lewis. Cousin of Jimmy Swaggart and Mickey Gilley. His first cousin, once removed Myra Lewis was 13 years old when they married.
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6631 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- Was on the critical list in a Memphis hospital in November 1985.
- Recorded his song "What'd I Say" with guitarist Hank Garland.
- Siblings: Linda Gail Lewis (b. 1947), Frankie Jean Lewis (b. 1944) and Elmo Lewis Jr.
- Father, with Jane Mitchum, of two boys named Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. (1953-1973) and Ronnie Guy Lewis (b. 1956).
- By the time Jerry Lee made his made first appearance July 27, 1957 on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956), he had already caught the public's attention, "in name only". One year earlier, in 1956, comedian Jerry Lewis embarked on what was initially a successful recording career. He had a #10 US Pop hit with the Al Jolson standard "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", in addition to a bestselling LP of standard tunes. Coincidentally, Jerry Lee has cited Al Jolson as one of his influences.
- On September 27, 1957, he played New York City's legendary Apollo Theater.
- On October 15, 2004, he performed in Prague, the Czech Republic and refused a meeting with the Czech president. On October 18, he was on stage in Sofia, Bulgaria and refused to give an interview for the National Television.
- By the time of the British Invasion (1964) in the United States, there was a keen interest in American rock stars in Great Britain. Jerry Lee appeared to have renewed his career on that side of the Atlantic. He appeared on the television show Ready, Steady, Go! (1963), and the fans were mesmerized by his performance.
- Recorded with legendary Nashville session guitarist Hank Garland.
- He suffered a stroke on 28 February 2019.
- His parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano.
- In his youth, he began playing the piano with two of his cousins, Mickey Gilley (later a popular country music singer) and Jimmy Swaggart (later a popular televangelist).
- When Jerry Lee Lewis was 16, he married Dorothy Barton, the daughter of a preacher. Their union lasted for 20 months, from February 1952 to October 1953.
- His 1964 album "Live at the Star Club, Hamburg" has been widely hailed as the hardest, pure rock 'n' roll ever recorded.
- His mother enrolled him at the Southwest Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas, so that he could sing evangelical songs exclusively. When Lewis daringly played a boogie-woogie rendition of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly, it ended his association with the school the same night.
- Lewis's turbulent personal life was hidden from the public until a May 1958 British tour where Ray Berry, a news agency reporter at London's Heathrow Airport (the only journalist present), learned about Lewis' third wife, Myra Gale Brown. She is Lewis's first cousin once removed and was 13 years old when they married - though Lewis, who was 22 years old at the time, claimed she was actually 15. The publicity caused an uproar, and the tour was canceled after only three concerts.
- He had six children during his marriages. In 1962, his son Steve Allen Lewis drowned in a swimming pool accident at age three, and in 1973, Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. died at the age of 19 when he overturned the Jeep he was driving.
- His sixth marriage, to Kerrie McCarver, lasted 21 years, from April 1984 to June 2005. They have one child: Jerry Lee Lewis III (b. 1987).
- In December 2019, Lewis was honored with a Mississippi Country Music Trail marker at his ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi to celebrate his contributions to country music.
- Lewis was an incendiary showman who often played with his fists, elbows, feet, and backside, sometimes climbing on top of the piano during gigs and even apocryphally setting it on fire. Like Chuck Berry's guitar playing, Lewis's piano style has become synonymous with rock and roll, having influenced generations of piano players.
- In 1988, Lewis filed for bankruptcy, petitioning that he was more than $3 million in debt, including $2 million he owed to the IRS.
- In 1993, Lewis moved to Ireland with his family in what was suggested (but denied) to be a move to avoid issues with the Internal Revenue Service. He lived in a rented house on Westminster Road in Foxrock, Dublin, and during his time there was sued by the German company Neue Constantin Film Production GmbH for failure to appear at a concert in Munich in 1993. Lewis returned to the US in 1997 after his tax issues had been resolved by Irish promoter Kieran Cavanagh.
- Lewis almost killed his own bass player, Butch Owens, on September 29, 1976 (Lewis's 41st birthday), when a .357 Magnum accidentally went off in his hand.
- Lewis was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 16, 2022, just twelve days before his death on October 28, 2022.
- He grew up in an impoverished farming family in eastern Louisiana.
- On November 19, 1949, Lewis made his first public performance of his career, playing with a country and western band at a car dealership in Ferriday. The hit of his set was a cover of R&B artist Sticks McGhee's "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee".
- On October 27, 2020, to celebrate Lewis' 85th birthday, a livestream aired on YouTube, Facebook and his official website. The livestream special, Whole Lotta Celebratin' Goin' On, featured appearances and performances by Willie Nelson, Elton John, Mike Love, Priscilla Presley, Joe Walsh, and others. John Stamos served as the host.
- Lewis was influenced by a piano-playing older cousin, Carl McVoy (who later recorded with Bill Black's Combo), the radio, and the sounds from Haney's Big House, a black juke joint across the tracks.
- Pearry Green, then president of the student body, related how during a talent show Lewis played some "worldly" music. The next morning, the dean of the school called Lewis and Green into his office to expel them. After that incident, he went home and started playing at clubs in and around Ferriday and Natchez, Mississippi, becoming part of the burgeoning new rock and roll sound and cutting his first demo recording in 1952 for Cosimo Matassa in New Orleans.
- On the live album By Request, More of the Greatest Live Show on Earth, Lewis is heard naming Moon Mullican as an artist who inspired him.
- In 1984, doctors cut away a third of his stomach, after he was diagnosed with perforated ulcers. He was given a 50% chance of survival.
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