"If you know one thing about Sam Phillips — and you probably do, if you grew up on rock ’n’ roll — it’s that he discovered Elvis Presley. But award-winning author Peter Guralnick, who talks about his new biography of Phillips, says that even though Phillips was justifiably proud of that achievement, he routinely steered conversations about Presley back to the blues artists who preceded him.
“He never failed to bring the conversation around to Howlin’ Wolf,” said Guralnick. Phillips believed that Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and other rock and country musicians he made famous were great musical artists
— “but never above Little Junior Parker or Howlin’ Wolf,” Guralnick said.
From the very beginning, said Guralnick, Phillips had an inclusive, “Whitmanesque” vision of a music that would break down racial barriers, giving voice not only to African Americans, but to poor whites as well — a visceral, rhythmic, straightforward music that spoke of pain and promise, joy and despair. In other words, what we came to know as rock ’n’ roll."
Now I love Sam Phillips for this and his roots were absolutely engrained in black music; the blues and R ’n’ B of Black America. The discovery of Elvis speaks to many (all? ED) but that he was listening and recording everyone from the area without any segregation, no prejudice and just hanging on the music speak volumes about the man is far more interesting to me than the promotion of one man no matter what you think of him!
Roscoe Gordon “Chicken in The Rough” 1957 Film “Rock Baby Rock It”
This is to be, in my opinion, the best documentary on SAM PHILLIPS. This is a A&E Biography Channel UK Documentary of the man who changed the world of music. Profiling Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records in Memphis, TN., who discovered Elvis Presley and who has been called the "Father of Rock and Roll." Included: archival footage and comments from Ike Turner and Jerry Lee Lewis. Host: Billy Bob Thornton.
Totally bat guano, hatstand crazy and he may have married his cousin (13! but not illegal where he came from!!!? (well, then anyhoo!)
Happy Birthday Jerry Lee legend!
Check this version of Whole Lotta Shakin' live on the Steve Allen Show!
"We've got chicken in the barn! Whose barn? MY BARN!"
He could sing a country crooner too. You know it!
Nobody cuts the Killer!
On stage, he performed in a state close to frenzy. A savage, raw energy burning within him, he hammered the keyboard like a man possessed.
His life was a toxic cocktail of scandal, addiction and violence. Two of his seven wives died in suspicious circumstances; another was a 13-year-old child.
This was the man who - legend has it - once drove to Graceland, high on alcohol and pills, with a gun on the dashboard. "Come out," he said to Elvis Presley, "and we'll soon find out who's King."
Lewis was disgraced many times. But those early tracks - A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On and Great Balls Of Fire - were so deeply part of the soundtrack of the 20th Century, that he never quite faded from the scene.
Sixty years after their recording, he still played to packed houses. And somehow - despite the drink and drugs - Lewis outlived many fellow rock'n'roll pioneers.
YOU WIN AGAIN - Jerry Lee Lewis Austin City Limits 10/17/83
Jerry Lee doing country toons came as a [happy] surprise to me and my old friend and muso par excellence Ian Cole introduced me to whole albums full of the master ivory ticker doing such classics
for anyone thinking Jerry Lee was just a keyboard bashing rocker who had played Great Balls of Fire with his feet (sic!) and had no finesse check this outtake and as it's pouring down here . . . . . . here's a little Early Morning Rain
check out who he managed to garner as back up . . . . . . . . . YouTube poster says:
A rare glimpse into the recording of the London Sessions Jan 8-11/73 with The Killer laying down some of his most impressive tracks of the decade. Filmed by Wim De Boer, supplied by our current Superman of rare films, Daniel White and sound synched by yours truly. Thanks to Il Greco and Daniel Rossing for determining that Jerry was playing 'Early Morning Rain' on the silent film.
Superb stuff!
with thanks to Twilightzone for posting this in their …and now for something completely different! series
Jerry Lee Lewis High School Confidential Don't Knock The Rock UK TV Show
Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935 - October 28th 2022) was an American rock and roll and country music singer and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him number 24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2003, they listed his box set All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology number 242 on their list of "500 greatest albums of all time."
Lewis was born to the poor family of Elmo and Mamie Lewis in Ferriday in Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana, and began playing piano in his youth with his two cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart. His parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano. Influenced by a piano-playing older cousin Carl McVoy (who later recorded with Bill Black 's Combo), the radio, and the sounds from the black juke joint across the tracks, Haney's Big House, Lewis created his style from black artists who were unable to play to white audiences, mixing rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, gospel, and country music, as well as ideas from established "country boogie" pianists like recording artists Moon Mullican and Merrill Moore.
Soon he was playing professionally.
Lewis played 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 1954. He made a trip to Nashville around 1955 where he played clubs and attempted to drum up interest, but was turned down by the Grand Ole Opry as he had been at the Louisiana Hayride country stage and radio show in Shreveport. Recording executives in Nashville suggested he switch to playing a guitar.
Lewis travelled to Memphis, Tennessee in November 1956, to audition for Sun Records. Label owner Sam Phillips was away on a trip to Florida, but producer and engineer Jack Clement recorded Lewis's rendition of Ray Price's "Crazy Arms" and his own composition "End of The Road".
During December 1956, Lewis began recording prolifically, both as a solo artist and as a session musician for such Sun artists as Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. His distinctive piano playing can be heard on many tracks recorded at Sun during late 1956 and early 1957, including Carl Perkins' "Matchbox", "Your True Love", "You Can Do No Wrong", and "Put Your Cat Clothes On", and Billy Lee Riley's "Flyin' Saucers Rock'n'Roll".
Until this time, rockabilly had rarely featured piano, but it proved a highly influential addition and rockabilly artists on other labels soon also started working with pianists.
Lewis's own singles advanced his career as a soloist during 1957, with hits such as "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire", his biggest hit, bringing him to national and international fame, despite criticism for the songs' overtly sexual undertones which prompted some radio stations to boycott them. In 2005, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
Lewis would often kick the piano bench out of the way to play standing, rake his hands up and down the keyboard for dramatic accent, sit down on the keyboard and even stand on top of the instrument. His first TV appearance, in which he demonstrated some of these moves, was on The Steve Allen Show on July 28, 1957, where he played the song "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On." He is also reputed to have set a piano on fire at the end of a live performance, in protest at being billed below Chuck Berry.
His dynamic performance style can be seen in films such as High School Confidential and Jamboree. He has been called "rock & roll's first great wild man" and also "rock & roll's first great eclectic." Classical composer Michael Nyman has also cited Lewis's style as the progenitor of his own aesthetic.
~ SOURCE: Wikipedia
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (Don't Knock The Rock UK TV Show)
I discovered Jerry Lee Lewis as a schoolboy when my friend Maurice (Townshend) returned from the Army when he came home on furlough and had discovered bands by American squaddies he had met I guess and he played me this guy and somebody called Ray Charles!
It wasn't until much later thanks to Art Teacher and then Education Officer at MOMAO and lead guitarist of The Jet Rink Band (local rockers!) my old friend Ian Cole who played me loads of country sides Jerry Lee recorded and I was struck by how much varied stuff he actually recorded and loved that country sound. It's there you can really hear how good a [painist he actually was if you think he just banged the heck out of it! He will be missed . . . . . nobody ever quite like him and
NOBODY CUTS THE KILLER!!!
Mick Fleetwood on drums and Keith Richards with The Killer - You're Cheating Heart
Greatest pop songs of all time . . . an occasional series
On this day in music history: October 8, 1957 - “Great Balls Of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis is recorded. Written by Otis Blackwell (“Don’t Be Cruel”, “All Shook Up”, “Return To Sender”, “Handy Man”) under the pseudonym “Jack Hammer”, it is the biggest hit for the Louisiana born rock & roll musician nicknamed “The Killer”. The single is recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis, TN and is featured in the film “Jamboree”. Released on November 11, 1957 as the follow up to “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”, the single is an across the board smash, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Best Sellers, #1 on the Country and #3 on the Rhythm & Blues charts. The song is regarded as one of the most important and influential songs of the early rock era, also being covered by numerous artists over the years. The song also features prominently in the blockbuster “Top Gun” in 1986, as it is sung and used as a catch phrase by actor Anthony Edwards throughout the film. The original recording is also featured on an expanded remastered edition of the soundtrack album in 1998. The song is also used as the title for the 1989 biopic on the rock & roll icon starring Dennis Quaid, Winona Ryder and Alec Baldwin. Jerry Lee Lewis’ original recording of “Great Balls Of Fire” is also inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1998.
