Jerry Lee Lewis is an American pianist, singer, and songwriter who also has been described as “rock n’ roll’s first great wild man and one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century.”
In this article, we will cover the net worth of Jerry Lee Lewis, early life, early career years, and others. Read the full article to know everything about Jerry Lee Lewis, from his net worth to his personal life.
What Is the Net Worth of Jerry Lee Lewis?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the estimated net worth of Jerry Lee Lewis is around $10 million. He gained popularity for successful songs like “Great Balls of Fire!,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” and “Would You Take Another Chance On Me.”
After taking a dig into Jerry Lee Lewis’s net worth, let’s have a look at his childhood development.
Early Life
Jerry was born in Ferriday, Louisiana on September 29, 1935, into a poor family. His father used to do farming. At a very young age, Jerry began playing the piano along with two of his elder cousins. His parents put their farm on the mortgage in order to be able to buy a new piano after discovering his passion for music.
In November 1949, he performed for the first time in public. Jerry’s family was very spiritual, and as a result of which he was sent to the Southwest Bible Institute in Texas by his mother in order to make Jerry able to sing gospel songs only.
Lewis was asked to drop out of school after Jerry played a boogie-woogie edition of the track titled “My God is Real,”. He got back home and started performing at nightclubs and local bars.
Personal Life
Jerry has been married seven times and had 6 children with his several wives. During his early career years, his wedding to his 13-year-old first cousin attracted immense criticism. Lewis was twenty-two when they married. Lewis’ sixth wedding ran for the longest period of time (21 years).
Career Beginnings
Jerry Lee Lewis has earned himself good fortune and net worth from his career. Let’s have a look at how he started. Jerry went to Nashville in 1955 with the hope of cracking a record deal but couldn’t succeed and eventually departed for Memphis in 1956 for a deal with the label Sun Records.
He then went on to perform a version of the song “Crazy Arms” by Ray Price as well as “End of the Road” which was his own composition; he was recorded by Jack Clement, a sound engineer. The following month, Jerry started recording with the label.
Jerry also made appearances on several other artists that Sun Records had signed. The songs in which Jerry was featured include Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox,” “Put Your Cat Clothes On,” and “Your True Love,” “Flyin’ Saucers Rock’n’Roll” by Billy Lee Riley.
In less than a month of signing with the label, Jerry was at the studio when Johnny Cash went to visit Carl Perkins and later Elvis Presley showed up. They had a spontaneous jam session, which was taped and then rolled out on an album named “Million Dollar Quartet.” The year 1957 saw his career rise as a solo artist.
He used to roll out his music under the name Jerry Lee Lewis and his Pumpin’ Piano. Shortly after, he recorded successful songs like “Great Balls of Fire,” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” with the former gaining him recognition internationally whereas the latter was picked for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in the year 2014.
All the above-mentioned projects played an important role in building Jerry Lee Lewis’ net worth. Despite Jerry’s early success, he found his tracks to be contradictory to his Christian belief and used to be concerned that he was taking his audiences as well as himself to hell. Still, he became capable of functioning in his long career without any religion-related interference.
He used to do a signature move while performing and that was thumping the keys using his heels, knocking away the piano bench, and lastly moving his hands all over the keys for striking visualization. In July 1957, this move was seen for the first time on “The Steve Allen Show”.
Sun Records launched two new state-of-the-art recording studios in 1960, first in Memphis and the other one in Nashville. The following year, he recorded his successful cover of “What’d I Say” by Ray Charles. In 1963, Lewis’ contract ended with Sun Records after which Smash Records signed him.
Jerry recorded several rock genre albums with the label including “Memphis Beat,” “Soul My Way,” and “The Return of Rock,” though none of them was a hit, neither commercially nor critically.
But, the 1964 live concert album “Live at the Star Club, Hamburg” with the Nashville Teens is recognized to be one of the hit live albums by a lot of people. Jerry Lee Lewis has earned a considerable net worth from his career.
Country Music and Success
By the year 1968, Jerry had become annoyed because of not achieving successful projects with Smash Records. Hence, when he was asked by his manager whether he would like to record a country album, Jerry agreed. Then a cover of “Another Place, Another Time,” (originally sung by Jerry Chestnut) was released by him and surprisingly it became successful.
The song reached number four on the Billboard country music charts and continued to hold that place for 17 weeks. His trial into the country genre gave a boost to his career.
He had 17 Top 10 songs on Billboard’s country music charts from 1968 to 1977 and a few of them are “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out of Me),” “Once More with Feeling”, “She Still Comes Around (To Love What’s Left of Me),” “One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)”, and “Sometimes A Memory Ain’t Enough.”
All of these have contributed a lot to Jerry Lee Lewis’ net worth. Soon he became one of the most successful country musicians during that period. Country Music helped Jerry Lee Lewis a lot to earn his net worth.
“Sun Records” which was the first label he signed, acquired Smash Records, and his older country singles were reworked and rolled out as an album in 1970. His song “One Minute Past Eternity” reached number two on the country charts.
The year 1971 saw his comeback to the pop genre and he released his songs titled “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Chantilly Lace,” the next year; which apparently helped to grow Jerry Lee Lewis’ net worth. He recorded the album entitled “Southern Roots: Back Home to Memphis,” which managed to receive positive reviews from critics but didn’t top the chart.
Following his signing with the label Elektra, his album titled “Jerry Lee Lewis,” came out and was critically acclaimed but failed commercially. He was called up into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. A feature film titled “Great Balls of Fire!” came out in 1989, which was based on his early life and career; adapted from a book written by one of his former wives.
Jerry Lee Lewis has earned a decent net worth throughout his career. Stay tuned to our website to get all the latest updates.
