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The longevity of the earliest rock 'n' roll pioneers has made me happy. Little Richard also lived to 87, Fats Domino 89, and Chuck Berry 90, all pretty recently.
Sadly Jerry Lee may be the last of them. I'm only seeing Tony Bennett as a living major artist who made music in the 1950's.
EDIT: Composer Stoller (of Leiber/Stoller) is alive at 89.
Ooh, you're forgetting the ageless Johnny Mathis. He's STILL touring! I wouldn't call him (or Bennett) "Rock" though ... But I agree with the longevity comment.
"When Myra Williams looks back on her life — her marriage to her cousin, singer Jerry Lee Lewis, in 1957 when she was just 13 years old, their good and bad times together, the two children they had, the permanent damage that their relationship inflicted on Lewis’ career and legacy — she sometimes wonders whether it was all a dream.
“But it happened,” the 78-year-old author and former real estate agent told The Times by telephone from her home in Atlanta, one day after Lewis’ death. “It did. It all happened to me.”
Williams did her best to hold back tears when talking about Lewis’ death, which occurred a few weeks after the death of her father, J.W. Brown, a musician in his own right and Lewis’ cousin. It was Brown who went to Natchez, Miss., where Lewis was living as an unknown musician and brought him to Memphis, Tenn., to record with Sam Phillips at Sun Records, Williams said. He also invited Lewis to live in his home with his family, which is how Lewis and Williams fell in love."
Jerry Lee Lewis: A toxic cocktail of scandal, addiction and violence:
Jerry Lee Lewis was the original wild man of rock'n'roll.
On stage, he performed in a state close to frenzy. A savage, raw energy burning within him, he hammered the keyboard like a man possessed.
His life was a toxic cocktail of scandal, addiction and violence. Two of his seven wives died in suspicious circumstances; another was a 13-year-old child.
This was the man who - legend has it - once drove to Graceland, high on alcohol and pills, with a gun on the dashboard. "Come out," he said to Elvis Presley, "and we'll soon find out who's King."
Lewis was disgraced many times. But those early tracks - A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On and Great Balls Of Fire - were so deeply part of the soundtrack of the 20th Century, that he never quite faded from the scene.
Sixty years after their recording, he still played to packed houses. And somehow - despite the drink and drugs - Lewis outlived many fellow rock'n'roll pioneers.
Jim Morrison tried to settle down also, he moved to Paris in 1971 and became a poet, but for him it was unfortunately too late.
Last edited by Metamorphosis69; 11-23-2022 at 03:00 AM..
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