About 'The Killer,' Jerry Lee Lewis from Billboard & Rolling Stone Magazines Though he had only three Top Ten hits in the first, purely rock & roll phase of his career, many believe Jerry Lee Lewis (a.k.a. "The Killer") was as talented a 1950s rocker as Sun label-mate Elvis Presley. Some also believe he could have made it just as big commercially if his piano-slamming style was not so relentlessly wild, his persona not so threateningly hard-edged.

Lewis' first musical influences were eclectic. His parents, who were poor, spun swing and Al Jolson records. But his earliest big influence was country star Jimmie Rodgers. In his early teens he absorbed both the softer country style of Gene Autry and the more rocking music of local black groups, along with the gospel hymns of the local Assembly of God church. Lewis first played his aunt's piano at age eight and made his public debut in 1949 at age 14, sitting in with a local C&W band in a Ford dealership parking lot. When he was 15 Lewis went to a fundamentalist Bible school in Waxahachie, Texas, from which he was soon expelled. He has often said that rock & roll is the Devil's music.

In 1956 Lewis headed for Memphis (financed by his father) to audition for Sam Phillips' Sun Records. Phillips' assistant, Jack Clement, was impressed with Lewis' piano style but suggested he play more rock & roll, in a style similar to Elvis Presley's. (Presley had recently switched from Sun to RCA.) Lewis' debut single, "Crazy Arms" (previously a country hit for Ray Price), did well regionally, but it was the follow-up, 1957's "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" (Number Three), that finally broke through. The song first sold 100,000 copies in the South; after Lewis' appearance on Steve Allen's TV show, it sold more than 6 million copies nationally. "Great Balls of Fire" (Number Two, 1957) sold more than 5 million copies and was followed by more than a half million in sales for "Breathless" (Number Seven, 1958) and "High School Confidential" (Number 21, 1958), the title theme of a movie in which Lewis also appeared. Both "Whole Lotta Shakin'" and "Great Balls" were in the pop, country, and R&B Top Five simultaneously, "Shakin'" at Number Three pop and Number One country and R&B, and "Great Balls" at Number Two pop, Number Three R&B, and Number One country. Lewis' high school nickname was "the Killer," and it stuck with him as he established a reputation as a tough, rowdy performer with a flamboyant piano style that used careening glissandos, pounding chords, and bench-toppling acrobatics.

Jerry Lees' career slammed to a stop, though, after he married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, in December 1957. (She was his third wife; at age 16 he had wed a 17-year-old, and soon after that ended, he got caught in a shotgun marriage.) The marriage lasted 13 years, but at the time Lewis was condemned by the church in the U.S. and hounded by the British press on a 1958 overseas tour. His career ran dry for nearly a decade. He had a modest 1961 hit with "What'd I Say," but in 1963 he left Sun for Smash/Mercury. He toured relentlessly, playing clubs, billing his act as "the greatest show on earth." On the way, he developed a drinking problem. In 1968 he played Iago in a rock-musical version of Shakespeare's Othello called Catch My Soul.

Eventually, Lewis and his producer, Jerry Kennedy, decided to abandon rock & roll for country music. In 1968 Lewis had the first of many Top Ten country hits with "Another Place, Another Time," followed by "What Made Milwaukee Famous (Made a Loser Out of Me)." Between then and the early-1980s he had more than 30 big country hits, including "To Make Love Sweeter For You" (Number One C&W, 1968), "There Must Be More to Love Than This" (Number One C&W, 1971), "Would You Take Another Chance on Me" (Number One C&W, 1971), "Chantilly Lace" (Number One C&W, 1972), "Middle Age Crazy" (Number Four C&W, 1977), and "Thirty-Nine and Holding" (Number Four C&W, 1981). Subsequent singles were minor C&W hits, none charting higher than Number 43. In 1973 Lewis released The Season, a return-to-rock album recorded in London with a host of top British musicians, including Peter Frampton, Alvin Lee, Klaus Voormann, and Rory Gallagher, redoing oldies. It resulted in some pop chart success with "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee," an R&B song he'd performed at his public debut in 1949. In 1978 Lewis signed with Elektra and enjoyed some radio airplay with "Rockin' My Life Away." He also continued to tour, performing all the styles of his career: rock, country, gospel, blues, spirituals, and more. In 1981 Lewis played a German concert with fellow Sun alumni Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. The show was released as an album called Survivors in 1982. On June 30, 1981, Lewis was hospitalized in Memphis with hemorrhaging from a perforated stomach ulcer. After two operations he was given a 50-50 chance of survival; four months later he was back on tour. He appeared on the 1982 Grammy Awards telecast with his cousin Mickey Gilley; another cousin is TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart.

Lewis' personal life has been marked by tragedy and controversy. In 1973 Jerry Lee Lewis Jr., who played drums in his father's band, was killed in an automobile accident. (Lewis' brother had died when hit by a car when Jerry was two.) His other son, Steve Allen (named after the talk-show host), drowned in 1962 at age three. In September 1976 Lewis accidentally shot his bassist in the chest. In 1982 his estranged fourth wife, Jaren Gunn Lewis, also drowned in a pool under mysterious circumstances shortly before their divorce settlement. His fifth wife, Shawn Stephens Lewis, was found dead in their home 77 days after their wedding. Although investigative pieces, including one in ROLLING STONE, exposed discrepancies in Lewis' and various law-enforcement officials' accounts of the incident and flaws in the investigation, no charges were ever brought against Lewis. Jerry Lee Lewis remarried again, taking his sixth wife. She later gave birth to Jerry Lee Lewis III, Lewis' only surviving son (he also had a daughter with Myra).

As of this writing (10/08), Lewis is plagued by serious health problems and the IRS. He was treated at the Betty Ford Clinic for addiction to painkillers. In 1989, Lewis came to widespread public attention for perhaps the last time thanks to the biographical film Great Balls of Fire, starring Dennis Quaid as the Killer. Lewis was among the first 10 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 1995 he released Young Blood. He gigs sporadically still; in 1999 he performed in Baltimore at the Smithsonian Institution's bash celebrating the 300th anniversary of the piano. In 2006 he released Last Man Standing, a new studio album, and A Half Century of Hits, a career-summary box set.

About Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark was born November 30, 1929 in Mount Vernon, New York.He was an average student until he reached the tenth grade and discovered radio..At that time he decided radio would be his career. The summer after high school Clark was given a job at WRUN-AM radio in Rome, NY. The station was owned by his uncle and run by his father. Clark was only an office boy, but the station manager asked him to fill in for a vacationing weatherman on WRUN's new FM station. By summer's end Clark had advanced to station breaks. Clark attended Syracuse University where he majored in advertising with a minor in radio. In his senior year he had a got a job with WOLF a country station in Syracuse He came back to WRUN for a short time where he used the name Richard Clay that led to his first television job, as a newscaster at WKTV in Utica, NY. Using the name Dick Clark in 1952 he went to work for WFIL radio and television in Philadelphia, PA.That summer WFIL decided to follow the new trend of having announcers play records over the air. Shortly there after, they tried the same format on television. Bob Horn, a WRIL radio deejay, aired an early form of music video on a show called "Bandstand". Within a month teenagers were invited to come and dance while Horn played records.. The show became very successful with the high school students.

At this time Clark was hosting a similar program on WFIL radio and in 1955 when Horn went on vacation Clark filled in for him. Clark took over the show on July 9, 1956 after Horn's drunken driving arrest. Clark knew almost none of the songs, but had the insight to work with the kids. He'd ask about favorite songs, clothing trends and watched for dance fads. At 26 he was young enough to be a friend and projected a none threatening image. After several years of local success Bandstand went national. The first national broadcast of American Bandstand was on August 5, 1957 on ABC-TV from 3:00-4:30 P.M.. This was the perfect time to reach teens coming home from school. Girls that appeared on the show weren't allowed to wear slacks or tight sweaters and the boys had to wear a coat and tie. Smoking and chewing gum was not allowed. The show was built around a regular group of Philadelphia high school students who developed their own national following

With the large number of viewers having a new song played on the show virtually guaranteed that thousands of the record would be sold in the next week. A record played daily had a good chance of going top ten. Agents attempted to get their acts on the show. Soon the power of the show became a concern within the music business. Many people in the business thought Clark was more concerned with local music companies then national desires. Philadelphia's record companies were frequent guests. They also noted, Clark had invested in local record pressing plants and the records they manufactured were played more often on American Bandstand then those from elsewhere. In 1959 a US Senate subcommittee began investigating payola within the music business.Clark along with Alan Freed were of particular interest to the committee. Investigators found that Clark had partial copyrights to one hundred and fifty songs, many of them were played on his show. Also, there were ties to thirty three music related businesses, including publishers, recording companies, and pressing plants, most being located in Philadelphia. Clark admitted to accepting a fur stole and expensive jewelry from a record company president. He was admonished for only this single transgression, despite the fact that songs and artists that he held considerable financial interests were frequently feature on American Bandstand. At the end of the investigation the Senators could find nothing illegal. In mid October, 1959 ABC-TV told Clark to give up these outside businesses or leave the network. Clark sold those interests

Clark moved his headquarters to Los Angeles in the 1960s. In 1965 he produced "Where The Action Is" for ABC-TV. Hosted by Paul Revere and the Raiders it was a "Bandstand" type show. Clark continued to host American Bandstand after it left ABC-TV and went into syndication. When he quit hosting in 1989 it had become the longest running television variety show of all time. In 1973 Clark produced the American Music Awards Show. The show was to offset what younger music executives felt of the Grammy awards toward "adult contemporary music" Clark also became host for "$10, 000 Pyramid" and "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes" Shares of Dick Clark Productions began trading in 1987. In 1990s he produced made for TV films as well as theatrical movies Clarks personal taste in music was set in the 40s. This can be seen in American Bandstand he choose "Bandstand Boogie" by Les Elgarts Orchestra. The Dick Clark Show shifted away from rockers and by 1959 "pop" performers were appearing frequently Clark tried to get a feel for the music he played and genuinely liked the teenagers and performers as individuals. However, Clark said that the sole reason for his relationship with rock and roll was for the money. Asked what his main contribution was Clark replied that he was proud to present more artists on television then anyone else. However, Clark had a large share of the responsibility for changing rock and roll from a vital energized music in 1956 into the homogenized 'teenpop' in 1959

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