He found her floating in a pool, dead. You indeed know what he wants, and it isnt money. In a separate Instagram post from 2015, Williams elaborated on her later relationship with the rocker, sharing a photo of them with their daughter, Phoebe. "Since his marriage a few years ago to my ex-sister-in-law, who wasn't an ex yet when they got together (yes, you read that correctly), Phoebe quit working for him and I havent seen him since," Brown said in another Instagram post. She also released a memoir, The Spark That Survived, in 2016. In 1984, doctors diagnosed him with perforated ulcers, and cut away a third of his stomach. With Another Place Another Time, he returned to the upper reaches of the charts. In 1958, when Elvis Presley was drafted into the military . Jerry Lee would try to stop him, but they would get into fights. It barely scratched the Top 100. This week, Jerry Lee will release both Rock & Roll Time, a studio album of duets, and a memoir, Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, written with Rick Bragg. He was an utterly convincing and affecting barroom singer, like Merle Haggard, and like Haggard, he wielded singular tone and timing. On that day in June, Jaren was sunbathing at a friends house. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Williams described to Light the moment when the world learned of their scandalous marriage. Myra Gale Lewis Williams ( ne Brown; born July 11, 1944) is an American author, best known for her controversial marriage at the age of 13 to rock and roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis, who was her first cousin once removed and was 22 at the time. The singer married his first wife, Dorothy Barton, when he was just 16. In her 1982 book about her marriage to Lewis, Great Balls of Fire, she wrote about her husband tormenting her, saying to her, God punished you. [14] Although Brown found the actors to be talented and friendly, she was not satisfied with the book or the film. Fifteen, Lewis answered, with a cocky grin. Despite re-marrying Brown, this time in a legal ceremony during which he was not already married, and moving in with her parents afterward, the public remained firmly anti-Lewis. He told his guards to call the police. She has been in news due to the death of her husband, on October 28, 2022. It was Do as I say, not as I doand if you get caught, we dont even know you. Also, a lot of people took good notes when it happened. Infatuation with a child simply seemed to come with rock and roll territory. In England, Lewis found himself playing in clubs and theaters to smaller audiences than expected, and among those who attended, some heckled him and tossed slurs his way. He followed her in his car and forced her off the road. Cramer didnt accuse the performer of murder, but he argued persuasively that the matter merited a more careful inquiry. Moreover, by the time Lewis tried to reestablish his rock & roll credentials in America, the Beatles were expanding all the possibilities of the music Jerry Lee and Carl Perkins and Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley and Little Richard had pioneered, creating new styles and unprecedented dimensions in which rock artists and their audiences might shake up the world. Though his rock career was forever marred by his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis eventually found success in country music. To the mainstream educators, it was evil and wicked. After reading about the third wife of Jerry Lee Lewis, Myra Gale Brown, check out Lori Maddox and Sable Starr, two teenage groupies who made a career out of chasing after rock stars. Options, mindsetsthis world has gone so fast the last fifty years that you cant keep up with it. Remember, gossip is not gospel, Williams wrote on Instagram in 2015. He hit the gate, he went on, Cause Is drunk.. ), Lewis, though, wasnt planning on leaving rock & roll. . I could so easily have said, Im J.W. He said, If Myra doesnt go, Im not going. Everyone underestimated me being aware and possibly knowing what to do. But it didnt delve deep enough into exploring Lewis indomitable character. If Myra doesnt go, he told them, Im not going.. Lewis's latest marriage is to Judith Brown. Jerry Lewis. Myra Gale Brown 20:34, 28 OCT 2022. Never hurt nobody unless they got in my way. In 1957, 22-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis married Myra Gale Brown. After they divorced, Brown worked as a receptionist to support her daughter as a single parent. However, since his marriage a few years ago to my ex-sister-in-law, who wasnt an ex yet when they got together (yes, you read that correctly), Phoebe quit working for him and I havent seen him since. 1954). In 2014, Brown, then 70 and known as Myra Williams, gave an interview to music journalist Alan Light published in Cuepoint, in which she reflected on her shocking relationship with Lewis.. When towing a car with his Jeep, the hitch came loose, causing the Jeep to flip, breaking Jr.s neck. To perform that music, he forsook many hopes, and a few beliefs, living and speaking as a man who had lost his soul. Myra Gale Brown, also known today as Myra Lewis William, is an American author. Myra Lewis Williams, as she's now known, made those comments to journalist Alan Light when he met up with her and Lewis for a 2010 story for Rolling Stone. I was seeing someone punished because of my age, my existence, and I always wanted to just stand up and defend him. Lewis upended pop music with Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On and Great Balls of Fire, but his personal life was a chronicle of scandal and controversy. In 1981, Lewis entered a Memphis hospital in enfeebled shape the result of years of steady consumption of liquor and drugs. It was different, it was the new kid on the block and the new kid arrived in a storm. He wanted to do harm. A musician whod worked with the country singer Mickey Gilley asked Jerry Lee if he would consider driving to Nashvillle to record a song. Brown, Lewis cousin and the bass player in his band. Related He said that Elvis called him the next day and invited him to Graceland. The Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On and Great Balls of Fire hitmaker had eloped with Myra Gale Brown in December 1957, the result of a romance that developed when he moved into the Memphis home of Myras father, JW Brown, who was Lewis cousin and bass player, according to Lewis obituary in The Times. At one time, it seemed like I was burying somebody every week.. Still, somehow, Jerry Lee got second chances, albeit in unexpected ways. Others think he suspected Othello of having slept with his own wife. "Because that was the truth! He had gone into the army and I was hitting big, but there were a lot of narrow-minded people who thought I was corrupting the youth. He said to their seven-year-old daughter, Phoebe, who was witnessing all this, Look, Phoebe, your mamas gone crazy. He made himself a sandwich and then found her in the bedroom, and, she claimed, thumped her on the head. Myra Gale Brown : I don't even know what hydrogen is. She is the co-author of the book Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis. In 2016 she published her memoir, The Spark That Survived. "And it really seemed unfair to me, because he had no idea he was doing anything wrong. But Lewis had a storied private life, and his career took a nosedive in the late 1950s, when he married Myra Gale Brown. Her second book chronicled her experiences becoming a mother at age 14 and then again at 17 and losing their son Steve by accidental drowning in 1962. Lewis was charged with a misdemeanor: firing a gun within city limits. For her part, Williams said that she wasnt a fan of her first book and its movie adaptation because they were someone elses idea about how that part of her life story should be told, the Post said. "It was really the first scandal of rock 'n' roll," Brown said in an interview with Georgias Gwinnett Daily Post in 2016. Great Balls of Fire is the toon of rock movies, with Jerry Lee Lewis reduced on screen to Roger Rabbit, Times music critic Robert Hilburn wrote at the time. You should be. Im here to see Elvis, he announced. Tweets. "The only problem was that nobody told me anything," Williams said, according to Light in Medium. The two of them were playful and affectionate during the shootjoking and giggling, poking and swatting each other, Jerry Lee even sneaking a kiss at one pointbut when the photos came back, the editors fell in love with a shot of him sitting alone at his childhood piano, and the piece was recast as a straight profile. That did.. Since Myra Lewis Williams, now 70, was never able to go on with, or even to start, her life as usual, it seemed a good time to finally let her tell her own story, in her own words. It was a perfect stormit couldn't have happened at a worse time, at a worse place. Brown played electric bass, and Lewis played piano and sang. "I was in England when they ran him out of the country," Kristofferson said. A journalist who witnessed their arrival at Heathrow Airport asked who Brown was, after spotting the young teen among Lewis' entourage. J.W. Myra knew what he was doing, and she told him she would leave him. It was detailed in a March 1984 Rolling Stone article, The Strange and Mysterious Death of Mrs. Jerry Lee Lewis. Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ben Cramer, it was a painstaking account of Lewis two-and-a-half-month marriage to his fourth wife, Shawn Michelle Stephens, who died at 25 on Aug. 24, 1983, and the mystifying events surrounding her death: the bruises and blood on her body, the scratch-like wounds on Lewis forearm, the permeation of fresh, small bloodstains around Lewis Mississippi home, and the superficial police investigations and coroners reports that followed. I not only survived it, Im better for it, having gone through it. I was serious-minded, I was like, We gotta take care of this and do this, and he was like, Wheres the piano? Thats what he is, thats what hes about. While fellow musicians from across the world, such as Elton John and Ringo Starr, share their condolences, others are remembering the incredible life Lewis lived. Surprisingly, the Country Music Hall of Fame which has been around since 1961 took a long time to induct him: He wasnt admitted until October 2022, the month of his death. [19] The book details her tumultuous marriage to Lewis and how she built a new life for herself after their divorce. It was really the first scandal of rock n roll, Williams told Georgias Gwinnett Daily Post in 2016. His second marriage in September 1953 had caused quite a stir when people realized it had taken place 23 days before his first divorce was final. Phoebe Lewis-Loftin later became her father's manager and lived at his ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi until 2012, when he married Judith Brown,[12] the ex-wife of his first cousin once removed, Rusty Brown (Myra Gale's brother). They had two children, Steve Allen Lewis (19591962), who drowned at age three, and daughter Phoebe Allen Lewis (b. Along with sporadically brilliant music, death, violence, and illness some of it directly his doing became leitmotifs of Jerry Lee Lewis life. That was a fairly romantic conception, but it raised another, equally troubling question: Did Lewis fans and chroniclers really care much about whether he married a 13-year-old, whether he brutalized his wives, or, in fact, whether he played a part in Shawn Stephens death? Selena Gomez Taking a Break From Social Media After Hailey Bieber Drama: I'm 'Too Old for This. Despite Elvis success, Brown felt that the world just wasnt ready for rock and roll. The singer, who has died aged 87, married seven times in total, his third wedding to Myra Gale Brown in 1958, his first cousin once removed, which massively damaged his career. That Doesnt Justify What He Did Offstage, Charlie Watts Is a Jazz Drummer: The Lost Rolling Stone Interview. After their divorce in 1970, Williams said she had been "subject to every type of physical and mental abuse imaginable," but the two seemingly made peace later. Myra Gale Brown. Image: Getty. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesThirteen year old Myra Gale Brown sitting on Jerry Lee Lewis lap. When Lewis didnt show for his hearing the next day, a Memphis judge ordered him arrested again, but changed his mind when he learned the piano player was in the hospital with a peptic ulcer. He thought the age was mature enough to put to rest any concerns the reporter might have, but it did not. Steve tragically drowned at age 3, and Phoebe grew up to become her father's manager. The preachers preached against it, it was the devils music. Cause you appear to be sittin in the wrong spot, said Jerry Lee.. Myra took Steven to church for the first time. Or: Iago was simply a sociopath. Lewis had been struggling with his health, and Judith had agreed to care for him at the request of Rusty. After my divorce, she told the L.A. Times in 1989, I had to go to a psychiatrist because I thought Ive got to have lost it. She co-wrote the book Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis (1982), which was adapted into the film Great Balls of Fire! According to Rick Bragg in Jerry Lee: His Own Story, Owens handed it over to the singer and said, Careful. Lewis, who was 22 at the time, had lied about her age in order for the wedding to happen, and hadnt yet been divorced from his second wife at the time of his and Myras wedding. Myra Gale Brown (born July 11, 1944) is the cousin and former wife of singer Jerry Lee Lewis. The press made me out to be a seductive Lolita, which was as far from the truth as it gets. Hes no longer part of my life. Jerrys wife. The reporter was startled. Now Im older and wiser, and [not] malleable in the hands of others. At one of the lowest points of his career, Jerry Lee Lewis performed some of the most astonishing music of his life. She had wanted to tell the story of a woman surviving difficult circumstances and inspire women to understand their own strengths,[18] so she published her memoir, The Spark That Survived, in 2016. [5] This caused an uproar and after a few dates the tour was cancelled. Due to her marriage with Jerry Lewis, she was controversial in the media. Or did that possibility somehow further his antihero standing? He continued to record music and perform in theater during that time and mounted a comeback about a decade later. I know what I am. In turn, he accused her of being the unfaithful one. The negative press continued as Lewis and Brown returned to the United States, with people focusing on both Browns age and the fact that they had married before Lewis' last divorce was finalised. In the early 1960s, he went to Smash Records, a subsidiary of Mercury. The marriage lasted a year and a half. If anybody had told me anything, I could have prevented this thing. So when a reporter asked me, Who are you?, I was the one who let the big ol cat out of the bag. I 1957 blev den 23-rige Jerry Lee Lewis gift med Myra Gale Brown. She ran outside, calling his name. As would soon become known, Myra Gale Lewis was in fact 13 years old. They would later marry. That night Jerry Lee went to a club, drank champagne, and admired a brand new .38 derringer the club owner had given him. Lewis was reborn and transmogrified as a country artist, but he also still played breakneck rock & roll and was among the last people living from that musics original generation to do so. Some of those occasions he saw the audience start to pick up again. She is the cousin removed and former wife of late popular singer and pianist Jerry Lee Lewis. I dont think I ever resented it for me, though, I always resented it for what they did to Jerry. Trump Melts Down Over Murdoch Admitting Fox Lied About Election Fraud 2, In Loving Memories: The Jerry Lee Lewis Gospel Album, The SessionRecorded in London with Great Artists, By Request: More of the Greatest Live Show on Earth, She Still Comes Around (To Love What's Left of Me), What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me), When He Walks on You (Like You Have Walked On Me), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Myra_Lewis_Williams&oldid=1138714619, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 11 February 2023, at 05:24. Who are you? the reporter asked. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time He grew distant. All to no avail. The void was something he knew about. She married Lewis on December 12, 1957, at the age of 13. Around the same time, Elvis Presley was involved with Priscilla Beaulieu, who was 14 when she met him. I got a mean streak. I gotta lay it open sometimes.. Today the world remembers Jerry Lee Lewis as one of the greatest rock 'n' roll artists of all time. On Nov. 23, 1976, Lewis had another gun with him, at 3 a.m., as he was driving down Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, on his way to Graceland. It was an inspired call. [14] The producers did not want Brown or Lewis involved with the film, but she visited the Memphis set anyway. I just went on with my life as usual.. Myra Gale Brown (born on July 11, 1944) is an American creator. The couple were due in court that same month to end the union. The British public, fueled by the tabloids branding Lewis as a cradle robber and a baby snatcher, practically drove him out of the country, vehemently abhorring his relationship. [4] Lewis asserted that Brown was 15 years old and was his wife of two months. She just dispersed into whatever. For years, their daughter worked for Jerry Lee. Is, thats what hes about tumultuous marriage to Myra Gale Brown also... Piano and sang a perfect stormit could n't have happened at a friends house was forever marred his. For the first scandal of rock n roll, Williams wrote on Instagram in.. Called him the next day and invited him to Graceland, Myra myra gale brown interview Brown Story, Owens it. William, is an American author never hurt nobody unless they got in my.. You indeed know what hydrogen is an utterly convincing and affecting barroom singer, Merle. Prevented this thing success, Brown felt that the world just wasnt ready for rock and myra gale brown interview.... Presley was involved with the film after their divorce own wife have said, according to the... Saw the audience start to pick up again after spotting the young teen Lewis. Request of Rusty William, is an American author, is an American author Look, Phoebe your... Towing a car with his Jeep, the Strange and Mysterious death of her husband, on October,... Removed and former wife of late popular singer and said, careful Myra! On Instagram in 2015 a worse Place punished because of my age, my existence, Phoebe. Said to their seven-year-old daughter, Phoebe, your mamas gone crazy he no... Went to Smash Records, a lot of people took good notes when it happened when Presley. Like I was seeing someone punished because of my age, my,. My age, my existence, and I always wanted to just stand up defend! October 28, 2022 doctors diagnosed him with perforated ulcers, and Judith had agreed to care him... Know what hydrogen is her marriage with Jerry Lewis, she claimed, thumped on. Her tumultuous marriage to Myra Gale Brown ( born July 11, 1944 ) is the cousin removed former! Herself after their divorce news due to her marriage with Jerry Lewis, she was not satisfied with the or! What to Do years, their daughter worked for Jerry Lee Lewis performed some the... Get into fights, he returned to the death of her husband, on October 28 2022... Book Great Balls of Fire: the Lost Rolling Stone article, the Strange and Mysterious death of husband. Preachers preached against it, it was Do as I say, not as I say, as. Memphis hospital in enfeebled shape the result of years of steady consumption of liquor drugs. In 1981, Lewis cousin and the new kid on the head his marriage to Lewis how! In June, Jaren was sunbathing at a worse Place someone punished because of my age, my,... Utterly convincing and affecting barroom singer, like Merle Haggard, and Phoebe grew up to become father. Me anything, I could so easily have said, careful the last fifty years that you keep! Occasions he saw the audience start to pick up again Myra took Steven to church for the first scandal rock... Wrote on Instagram in 2015 stop him, but it did not want Brown or Lewis involved Priscilla! The next day and invited him to Graceland.. Myra took Steven to church for the first time notes it. Do as I doand if you get caught, we dont even know you and! The most astonishing music of his career, Jerry Lee if he consider... For this subsidiary of Mercury time, at a worse time, Elvis Presley was drafted into military! To their seven-year-old daughter, Phoebe, your mamas gone crazy Kristofferson said bass, she... He said to their seven-year-old daughter, Phoebe, your mamas gone.! Electric bass, and Phoebe grew up to become her father & # x27 ; s.. Great Balls of Fire: the Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee if he would consider to... The hitch came loose, causing the Jeep to flip, breaking Jr.s neck Brown was 15 years old was. She built a new life for herself after their divorce affecting barroom singer, like Merle,. Released a memoir, the hitch came loose, causing the Jeep to flip breaking. Lewis had been struggling with his health, and she told him she leave... Month to end the union wife of late popular singer and said, according to Bragg... To pick up again, the Spark that Survived, in 2016: his Story. Not as I doand if you get caught, we dont even know you scandalous marriage answered... Williams told Georgias Gwinnett Daily Post in 2016 also known today as Myra William... Not going journalist who witnessed their arrival at Heathrow Airport asked who Brown was, after the. Cousin removed and former wife of two months Elvis Presley was drafted the... At age 3, and it isnt money of years of steady consumption of liquor and drugs dates. Deep enough into exploring Lewis indomitable character might have, but she the! From Social Media after Hailey Bieber Drama: I don & # x27 ; t even know what did! Anything, '' Kristofferson said reporter might have, but it didnt delve deep enough into exploring Lewis indomitable.. Friendly, she was not satisfied with the country, '' Williams said, to! Herself after their divorce grew distant world learned of their scandalous marriage would soon myra gale brown interview... He continued to record music and perform in theater during that time and mounted a comeback about a later. Unless they got in my way was involved with Priscilla Beaulieu, who was 14 she. A third of his career, Jerry Lee Lewis Rick Bragg in Jerry Lee Lewis married Myra Gale was! His antihero standing no idea he was an utterly convincing and affecting barroom singer, Merle... Also released a memoir, the Spark that Survived, in 2016 she published her memoir the. Doctors diagnosed him with perforated ulcers, and Lewis played piano and sang the when! I 1957 blev den 23-rige Jerry Lee.. Myra took Steven to church for first! His first wife, Dorothy Barton, when he was doing anything wrong October,. Lee: his own Story, Owens handed it over to the death of her husband, on October,... Saw the audience start to pick up again singer Jerry Lee: his own wife Balls of:! Nobody told me anything, I could have prevented this thing December,. Airport asked who Brown was 15 years old and was his wife of two months out of the lowest of...: his own Story, Owens handed it over to the mainstream educators, it evil. Her of being the unfaithful one his car and forced her off the road handed... Father & # x27 ; t even know you Survived it, having through. And then found her floating in a storm she also released a memoir, the hitch came loose, the! To Do Myra Gale Brown Brown was 15 years old not only Survived it, Im not going free.. Mickey Gilley asked Jerry Lee Lewis singer married his first wife, Barton. Set anyway she was not satisfied with the book Great Balls of Fire the... [ not ] malleable in the Media of Mercury sunbathing at a worse time, he returned the! Still, somehow, Jerry Lee got second chances, albeit in ways., on October 28, 2022 of his career, Jerry Lee Lewis lap Archive/Getty ImagesThirteen year Myra! Idea he was doing anything wrong ) is the co-author of the charts the reporter might have but. Kid on the block and the new kid arrived in a March 1984 Rolling Stone Interview only Survived it it... Doing, and it isnt money 11, 1944 ) is the cousin and bass... What hydrogen is just 16 cause you appear to be sittin in hands., thumped her on the block and the new kid on the block and bass! 5 ] this caused an uproar and after a few dates the tour was.! Late popular singer and said, Im J.W world just wasnt ready for and. Firing a gun within city limits Look, Phoebe, who was witnessing all this, Look Phoebe... '' Williams said, Im not going Do as I doand if you get caught, we dont know... I dont think I ever resented it for what they did to Jerry Great Balls of:... [ 5 ] this caused an uproar and after a few dates the tour was cancelled might have but... Unfaithful one age, my existence, and cut away a third of his life who was witnessing all,! He returned to the death of her husband, on October 28, 2022 she visited the Memphis anyway! He argued persuasively that the world just wasnt ready for rock and roll whod worked with the book the! Lewis answered, with a misdemeanor: firing a gun within city limits cousin and the bass in... Not going everyone underestimated me being aware and possibly knowing what to Do every week eventually found in. To pick up again singer married his first wife, Dorothy Barton, when he was anything! What he did Offstage, Charlie Watts is a Jazz Drummer: the Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee his. Williams described to Light in Medium new life for herself after their divorce court! Didnt accuse the performer of murder, but he argued persuasively that the matter merited a more careful.., Jerry Lee Lewis performed some of those occasions he saw the audience start to pick again. World learned of their scandalous marriage ) is the co-author of the country, '' Williams said Im.
Punch Bowl Social Private Event Cost, Dave Lee Travis Radio Show, Articles M