Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis, the self-proclaimed "Killer," is a man of prodigous appetites and talent. Egocentric and self-absorbed, Jerry Lee is the last of the original '50s wildmen. A child prodigy who quickly mastered his instrument, Lewis claims to have no influences, but his stylistic quirks point to boogie-woogie master Cecil Gant and country-piano man Moon Mullican. After being run out of Nashville (where he was told he could be signed if he strummed a guitar instead), he came to Memphis, where his audition tape got him hooked up to Sam Phillips's Sun label. In the space of four singles released in a year's time, the Killer was suddenly running neck and neck with Elvis for King of Rock & Roll honors. When Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin in 1958, his career promptly ground to a halt, leaving him to eke out a bleak existence in the honky-tonks of America. It took 12 years of his life to fight his way back, but Lewis is nothing less than American music's consummate survivor, and his reemergence (via the county charts, with a string of smashes) was no less than his due. There are few originals in '50s rock & roll, most taking their cue from Elvis or Little Richard, but Lewis is one of the major stylists in the history of American popular music -- period. His distinctive piano style is tightly woven into the fabric of that instrument, while his vocal style is easily recognizable as well, whether tackling a mournful country weeper or storming through his prodigious catalog of rock & roll/R&B favorites, putting his individual stamp on each and every one. As he'll be the first to tell you, there is simply no one quite like the Killer. We shall not see the likes of him again in our lifetime.