Jerry Lee Lewis dead at 87: The Great Balls of Fire singer has passed away at his home in Memphis

Jerry Lee Lewis, the rock and roll legend behind Great Balls Of Fire, has died aged 87.

Lewis died Wednesday at his home in Memphis, according to… TMZ.

Lewis’ first hit was the 1957 song Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, followed by the iconic song Great Balls Of Fire, which was even featured in both Top Gun films.

Lewis’s pioneering music career, nicknamed The Killer, began in the 1950s and both Rolling Stone Mick Jagger and Beatle Paul McCartney cited him as their source of inspiration.

In an interview, Jagger said, “Jerry Lee Lewis is a pioneer who has taken the world to a whole new level of showmanship.”

Elvis Presley once said that if he could play the piano like Lewis, he would stop singing.

Lewis is known for his showmanship – he once played a burning piano – a turbulent private life and seven marriages.

He had huge hits including Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, Breathless and High School Confidential in the 1950s, but his career faltered in the wake of his 1958 marriage to 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, his cousin’s daughter. .

Amid widespread outrage, some churches ordered his records burned and his tracks banned from radio in America’s religious Deep South.

A star in Lewis’s honor was unveiled on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 1989, the same year a film about his life – starring Dennis Quaid as the rocker – was released.