Jerry Lee Lewis: Rock and roll star dies aged 87
Rock and roll star Jerry Lee Lewis, best known for the 1957 hit Great Balls of Fire, has died at the age of 87.
Lewis died at home in Memphis, Tennessee, his representatives said.
The rock and roll pioneer – who called himself The Killer – was also known for the song Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On and was the last survivor of a generation of groundbreaking performers that included Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard.
He was once described as “a one-man stampede”. During a 1957 performance of Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On for a TV show, chairs were thrown at him.
“There was rockabilly. There was Elvis. But there was no pure rock ‘n’ roll before Jerry Lee Lewis kicked in the door,” he famously said about himself after the show.
He became known for his famous stage antics, such as playing the piano standing up and even lighting the occasional one on fire.
However, his private life was mired by scandal.
Jerry Lee Lewis performs in New York in 2005
For a brief time, in 1958, he was a contender to replace Presley as rock’s number one, after Elvis was drafted into the army.
But while Lewis toured in England, the press discovered he was married to 13-year-old (possibly even 12-year-old) Myra Gale Brown. She was his cousin, and he was still married to his previous wife.
His tour was cancelled, he was blacklisted from the radio, and his earnings dropped overnight to virtually nothing.
“I probably would have rearranged my life a little bit different, but I never did hide anything from people,” Lewis told the Wall Street Journal in 2014 when asked about the marriage. “I just went on with my life as usual.”
‘Mental cruelty’
Over the following decades, Lewis, who was married seven times, struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, legal disputes and physical illness.
Brown divorced him in the early 1970s, and would later allege physical and mental cruelty that nearly drove her to suicide.
“If I was still married to Jerry, I’d probably be dead by now,” she told People magazine in 1989.
Lewis reinvented himself as a country performer in the 1960s, and the music industry eventually forgave him.
He won three Grammys, and recorded with some of the industry’s greatest stars, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Sheryl Crow and Tim McGraw.
Lewis had six children. One son, Steve Allen Lewis, drowned in a swimming pool in 1962 aged three, and another, Jerry Lee Jr, died in a traffic accident at 19 in 1973.
Among tributes paid to the musician was one from Elton John who remembered him as a “trailblazing inspiration”.
The veteran musician, who has previously cited Lewis as an influence for his love of the piano, shared a photo of them together on his Instagram.
He wrote: “Without Jerry Lee Lewis, I wouldn’t have become who I am today.
“He was groundbreaking and exciting, and he pulverised the piano.
“A brilliant singer too. Thank you for your trailblazing inspiration and all the rock n’ roll memories.”
The Country Music Association tweeted: “It is with great sadness we’ve learned about the passing of Jerry Lee Lewis, who was just inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this month.”
US
Brother pays tribute to relatives killed in Hudson River helicopter crash – as cause remains unclear
The brother of a woman killed alongside her family in a helicopter crash in the Hudson River has said they died “without suffering”, and thrown flowers into the water in their memory.
Joan Camprubi’s sister, Merce Camprubi Montal, 39, died alongside her husband Agustin Escobar, 49, and their three children after the aircraft broke apart and plunged into the water in New York City on Thursday.
The helicopter’s pilot, Sean Johnson, was also killed.
New York Mayor Eric Adams accompanied Joan Camprubi to speak to reporters next to the Hudson River. Pic: AP
New York Police scuba teams have been searching for debris from the crash. Pic: AP
Mr Camprubi said the family, from Barcelona, Spain, “left together” and “without suffering” following the sightseeing flight over the city. “As a family, we want to [remember] and honour their happiness and their smile forever,” he added.
One of their children, Mercedes, was due to celebrate her ninth birthday on Friday, the day after the crash. The other children were Victor, who was four, and 10-year-old Agustin.
Mr Camprubi told reporters on Saturday: “We will never forget you. And we will keep your smile alive every day of our lives. And that, I think, is the greatest legacy that we can give.”
Agustin Escobar and Merce Camprubi Montal. Pic: Facebook
New York Mayor Eric Adams joined Mr Camprubi to throw flowers and lamented that “what should have been a joyful vacation turned into an unimaginable tragedy”.
He also paid tribute to Mr Johnson, a former US Navy Seal, but said “no words can fill the void, the loss” that bereaved relatives are enduring.
Pic: AP
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators have not yet determined the cause of the crash.
There were reports of a loud boom when the aircraft, a Bell 206, broke apart, and officials previously said they were looking into reports of a large flock of birds being seen beforehand.
As divers continued to pull pieces of the wreckage from the Hudson on Saturday, NTSB officials said they were checking the flight control system. The helicopter was not equipped with any black box flight recorders.
Its main rotor, main gear box, tail rotor, and a large portion of the tail boom are still missing, the NTSB said.
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Witness saw ‘parts flying off’ helicopter
Witnesses, including Aleesha Alam, described seeing the main rotor blade flying off moments before it dropped out of the sky.
The main fuselage, including the cockpit and cabin, the forward portion of the tail boom, the horizontal stabiliser finlets, and the vertical fin have been recovered.
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The helicopter had last been inspected on 1 March and completed seven tour flights earlier on Thursday.
The accident took place during the aircraft’s eighth flight of the day, according to the NTSB.
It comes less than three months after 67 people died when an army helicopter and American Airlines jet collided over the Potomac River in Washington DC.
Iran says “indirect talks” over the country’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme have taken place with US officials, with more to come next week.
The discussions on Saturday took place in Muscat, Oman, with the host nation’s officials mediating between representatives of Iran and the US, who were seated in separate rooms, according to Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry.
After the talks concluded, Oman and Iranian officials reported that Iran and the US had had agreed to hold more negotiations next week.
Oman’s foreign minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi tweeted after the meeting, thanking Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff for joining the negotiations aimed at “global peace, security and stability”.
“We will continue to work together and put further efforts to assist in arriving at this goal,” he added.
(L-R) Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi meets his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi. Pic: Iranian foreign ministry/AP
Iranian state media claimed the US and Iranian officials “briefly spoke in the presence of the Omani foreign minister” at the end of the talks – a claim Mr Araghchi echoed in a statement on Telegram.
He added the talks took place in a “constructive atmosphere based on mutual respect” and that they would continue next week.
American officials did not immediately acknowledge the reports from Iran.
Mr Araghchi said before the meeting on Saturday there was a “chance for initial understanding on further negotiations if the other party [US] enters the talks with an equal stance”.
He told Iran’s state TV: “Our intention is to reach a fair and honourable agreement – from an equal footing.
“And if the other side has also entered from the same position, God willing, there will be a chance for an initial agreement that can lead to a path of negotiations.”
Reuters news agency said an Omani source told it the talks were focused on de-escalating regional tensions, prisoner exchanges and limited agreements to ease sanctions in exchange for controlling Iran’s nuclear programme.
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Trump on Monday: ‘We’re in direct talks with Iran’
President Donald Trump has insisted Tehran cannot get nuclear weapons.
He said on Monday that the talks would be direct, but Tehran officials insisted it would be conducted through an intermediary.
Mr Trump also warned Iran would be in “great danger” if negotiations fail.
“Hopefully those talks will be successful, it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are successful,” he said. “We hope that’s going to happen.”
He added Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if the talks aren’t successful, I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran”.
The comments came after Mr Trump’s previous warnings of possible military action against Iran if there is no deal over its nuclear programme.
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Saturday’s meeting marked the first between the countries since Mr Trump’s second term in the White House began.
During his first term, he withdrew the US from a deal between Iran and world powers designed to curb Iran’s nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief.
He also reimposed US sanctions.
Iran has since far surpassed that deal’s limits on uranium enrichment.
Tehran insists its nuclear programme is wholly for civilian energy purposes but Western powers accuse it of having a clandestine agenda.
Mr Witkoff came from talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday, as the US tries to broker an end to the war in Ukraine.
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