Jerry Lee Lewis - 1959 First vinyl LP - HA - S.2138
£
46
$
61
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Description
Sadly the death of Jerry Lee Lewis marks the passing of the last of the first wave of rock and roll superstars from the 1950s. Jerry Lee follows Elvis, Chuck Berry, the Everlys, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Rick Nelson, Little Richard and Fats Domino and no doubt a few more. Ironically he was probably the wildest and most outrageous of the lot but lasted the longest. The Keith Richards of the 1950s.
Jerry Lee was born in Louisiana in 1935 and like so many of those early US artists had a very poor childhood but learnt to play the piano from an early age. His first public performance was at the age of 14 but his big break came in 1956 when he auditioned for Sun Records in Memphis. This led to a contract with the legendary Sam Phillips and he became a member of the latterly titled "Million Dollar Quartet" comprising Elvis, Jerry Lee, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. A hit musical was created about these 4 Sun artists.
Jerry Lee's first recording was the Country classic "Crazy Arms" which features on this album. Whilst people remember Jerry Lee's wild antics as a rock and roller it is often forgotten that his roots are in Country music and this album features many great country songs as well as he big UK hit "High School Confidential" from 1959.
Replaying this album reminds me of how superb he was. I saw him live in Birmingham on his 1958 tour and also about 40 years later in Brighton in a show with Chuck Berry. Scandal was never very far away from him with 7 marriages and his UK tour was cancelled when it was discovered he had just married his 13 year old cousin.
The first record I ever bought was Jerry Lee's "Great Balls of Fire", his only UK No 1 hit in late 1957. It is for this number and "Whole Lotta Shakin' goin' on" and "Breathless" for which he is most famous and his hits pretty well dried up amongst controversy in the very early 1960s. It made no difference to those of us who were raised on early rock and roll and Jerry Lee Lewis will always be one of the truly great legends of Rock and Roll. What an artist and showman!!!
I'm only selling this album because I have all the numbers on CDs. It has to be a must for collectors of classic vinyl.i
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