American rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis has died at the age of 87.
– He was the last of the original artists who invented rock, says entertainment journalist Jan Gradvall after the news of Lewis’ death.
Jerry Lee Lewis was born in 1935 on a small farm outside Ferriday in Louisiana, USA. His father used to burn his own liquor, but stopped it to be a better role model. The family mortgaged their house to buy young Jerry Lee a piano. It is said that the boy was kicked out of the church when he started playing a gospel song in boogie woogie version.
The big breakthrough in 1957
December 4, 1956 has forever been written into rock history, when Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash were in the studio when Carl Perkins recorded. Elvis Presley came by and together the four started jamming old gospel songs and new hits. Sam Philips let the band roll and the famous jam session was later released on CD as “Million Dollar Quartet”.
Hear entertainment journalist Jan Gradvall tell more about the rock icon in the clip above