Born 91 Years Ago Today in Louisiana, the Rock Pioneer and Country Star Who Was Accused of Trying to Kill Elvis Presley

On this day (September 29) in 1935, Jerry Lee Lewis was born in Ferriday, Louisiana. He was a musical prodigy, inspired by gospel and country music as well as the boogie-woogie he heard in juke joints. In the first half of his career, he was a rock and roll pioneer. However, his star fell as quickly as it rose due to the controversy that almost constantly surrounded him. Eventually, he made a comeback in country music. However, he was no less controversial. It was during his time as a country star that he drunkenly tried to kill his former labelmate, Elvis Presley.

Lewis was raised in a musical household. The family sang hymns in church every Sunday. Other days, his father, Elmo, would play guitar and sing Jimmie Rodgers songs. When he was eight, Lewis approached the piano at his aunt and uncle’s house and plinked at the keys until he could play “Silent Night.” Soon, his father mortgaged the family farm to buy a used upright piano. Before long, he was playing for hours a day, learning his favorite songs by ear.

According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Lewis was only 13 when he performed in public for the first time. He played at a car dealership and earned $14 ($196 in 2026). Soon, he was playing in juke joints. He played country hits, Tin Pan Alley favorites, and a long list of gospel tunes. In his teens, he and his cousins, Jimmy Swaggart and Mickey Gilley, would sneak out and go to Haney’s Big House, a Black nightclub. There, they heard future legends, including Ray Charles, B.B. King, and Muddy Waters, play. This further informed Lewis’ personal self-taught style.

Jerry Lee Lewis Goes to Nashville

When he was 21, Jerry Lee Lewis traveled to Nashville in search of a record deal. However, he left town empty-handed. Then, in 1956, he went to Memphis to audition for Sun Records. Sam Phillips was out of town. However, Cowboy Jack Clement was there. When Lewis told him he played piano like Chet Atkins played guitar, he was so intrigued that he directed the young man to a piano. “I said, ‘Where in the hell did this man come from?’ I mean, he played that piano with abandon,” Clement recalled. Soon, he was added to the Sun Records roster.

His 1956 debut single, a cover of Ray Price’s genre-defining “Crazy Arms,” failed to chart. Then, the next year, he released “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On.” It topped the country chart and reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. He saw further crossover success with “Great Balls of Fire” later that year and “Breathless” in 1958.

That year, a British reporter learned that the 22-year-old rock star had married Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin. The news broke as Lewis’ first UK tour started. After only three poorly attended shows, he canceled the tour and returned to the United States. The news followed him across the Atlantic. His hits dried up, and his name was all over the tabloids. It looked very much like his career was over.

Decades later, in 1986, he was one of the inaugural inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Jerry Lee Goes Country

In 1963, Jerry Lee Lewis’ Sun Records contract expired. While he was a rock and roll pioneer, his incestuous marriage to a middle school student didn’t bode well for sales. They didn’t renew the contract. Later that year, he signed with Smash Records. After five years, he hadn’t found a hit.

Eventually, Smash presented the idea of going to Nashville and cutting a country record. Lewis’ prospects couldn’t get much worse. So, he agreed. In 1968, he released “Another Place, Another Time” backed with “Walking the Floor Over You.” It reached No. 4 on the country chart. He enjoyed consistent commercial and critical success throughout the late 1960s and early ’70s. Lewis continued to notch hits sporadically through the 1980s. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022.

That Time Jerry Lee Lewis Tried to Kill Elvis

Two days before Thanksgiving in 1976, a very drunk Jerry Lee Lewis arrived at the gates of Graceland. He wanted to see Elvis Presley. However, it was three in the morning, and he was drunk and waving a .38 caliber pistol around. The security guards refused to let him in.

He had been there a day earlier, in a different car and without a gun, but just as drunk. Later that day, he wrecked his Rolls Royce and was arrested for reckless driving. When he showed up the second time, they called the police.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1958, a Simple Introduction Destroys Jerry Lee Lewis’ Career]

According to Far Out Magazine, Lewis complained to the arresting officers that Presley was the star that he should have been. He said he resented Presley’s success. However, he swore that the events at the gate were just a misunderstanding and he never meant to hurt anyone.

Over the years, he claimed that he and Presley were close friends, a claim that those close to the King deny. He claimed several times that he held no ill will for his former label mate. However, he told a different story in a 1978 interview with the Austin American-Statesman. “What did Elvis ever do except take dope that I couldn’t get ahold of?” he asked the interviewer.

Later, he admitted that they weren’t friends, and revealed his true intentions for the late-night visit. “I’d never seen him for 15 years,” he admitted. “I tried to get in his gate, and they locked me up. They said I was going to shoot him, and I was if I could have got to him,” he continued.

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