The death of Jerry Lee Lewis turned out to be just as controversial as his life. Nothing but one great ball of fire. Recently, the media falsely reported his demise. Soon after his publicist debunked the rumor, he passed away for real. One can’t help wondering if the untimely misreport had something to do with that. His blazing hot singing career went down in flames when he eloped with his 13-year-old second cousin. Now 78, Myra Williams looks back and explains their relationship may have been controversial but it was a loving one. Until the drug binges.
Jerry Lee Lewis in love
Myra Williams reflected with the LA Times on her child-bride marriage to recently deceased rock music pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis. Back in 1957, she was only 13 when she ran away to marry her second cousin.
Her life she relates, sometimes feels like a dream “but it happened.” She’s also been an author and real estate agent over the intervening decades. Now, she’s mostly retired. “It did. It all happened to me.”
All the “gigantic” stuff happened in her teenage years. After her marriage at the tender age of 13, she gave birth at 14, then lost the child at 17. Steve Allen Lewis drowned at the age of 3. She had a second child at 19.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Outrageous Rock ‘n’ Roll Star, Dies At 87 https://t.co/NtHyDugdvF #jerryleelewis
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“Yes, it was turbulent as a teenager to be a wife and mother,” she recalls, “but in going through it, I’ve found my strength. And there’s almost nothing that can knock me off my block at this point.” Her dad literally almost killed Lewis when he found out they eloped.
Myra’s father was musician J.W. Brown and first cousin to Jerry Lee Lewis. Brown helped launch Lewis’ career by bringing him to Natchez, Mississippi to record with Sam Phillips at Sun Records. His big mistake was inviting Jerry to live at his home. Jerry had great balls of fire himself.
When Brown got the word they ran off, “he got his gun. That was not a happy moment. Daddy felt very betrayed by that. I was his 13-year-old little girl. The minute Daddy left the house, my mother called Sam Phillips and said, ‘Oh my God, you’re not gonna believe what’s happened, Sam.‘ Mom said, ‘Jerry and Myra have gotten married. And Jay [J.W.] has his pistol. He’s on his way to Sun Records. You better get Jerry out of there.‘” Jerry split for a few days while Phillips got J.W. calmed down.
A real talker
“Sam Phillips was a real talker, let’s put it that way. He could convince you that whatever you were seeing wasn’t there.” J.W. came to accept the inevitable. “There was just no choice. I mean, killing Jerry was not an option. It was his first thought, but it wasn’t an option.”
When Jerry got back all he could say is “you better be good to my girl.” Myra quickly turned out to be much more of an “adult” than Jerry. While their marriage became the primary reason Lewis became shunned and ostracized, leading to his eventual addiction problems, Myra “didn’t miss a beat. I took care of everything.”
While Lewis was out on the road, she bought their home. He wanted a red Cadillac convertible, so she bought one for him. “I mean, I didn’t even have a driver’s license. I did all the work and made all the decisions and did all the running and taking care of business and that kind of stuff.” When she went to the bank to deposit his money, the cops thought she was up to something shady.
“One time I went to the bank with a big sack of money to deposit it and the teller said to me, ‘Myra, there’s a policeman sitting there outside in his car and he followed you here. So when you get ready to leave, I’ll drive you home.‘”
That’s when Jerry Lee Lewis discovered drugs. “His personality just became mean. And nasty. It was like a whole different man. Just bad, you know?” They eventually divorced in 1970 but “stayed in touch over the years because of the bond they shared through their daughter, Phoebe Allen Lewis.”
They had a falling out “after he married her former sister-in-law, Judith Brown, in 2012.” That, she notes, “was a hurt that cut deep.“
