Classic Pop Icons

More than fifty acts have now been confirmed for the 34th annual Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis. The event takes place from Friday, April 30 to Sunday, May 2nd, and among the acts scheduled to play are Jeff Beck, Booker T. & the MGs, Jerry Lee Lewis, Leon Russell, Hall & Oates, Limp Bizkit, the B-52s, the Goo Goo Dolls, Colbie Caillat, and Earth, Wind and Fire.

The Beale Street Music Festival was launched on Beale in 1977 and moved to Tom Lee Park in 1990. It forms part of the Memphis in May International Festival, which also includes the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, the Sunset Symphony and an international cultural exchange program. This year’s event looks like it will be a blast, with a great mix of talent, old and new. The eclectic nature of the Festival is summed up by the fact that Colbie Caillat is set to follow Jerry Lee Lewis on stage on the Saturday night.

Click here to purchase Beale Street Music Festival tickets

The Million Dollar Quartet stage show is transferring to Broadway and the New York Times has reported that it will retain the same cast as the Chicago production.

The show is inspired by the 1956 session at Sun studios in Memphis when Elvis Presley visited his former label and jammed with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. There’s some debate over whether Cash was involved in the session, as he doesn’t seem to appear anywhere on the tapes, but he was definitely in attendance as he features in the photos taken on the day. That said, the musical aims to entertain and doesn’t claim to be historically accurate.

The Million Dollar Quartet musical will feature Eddie Clendening as Elvis Presley, Lance Guest as Johnny Cash, Levi Kreis as Jerry Lee Lewis and Rob Lyons as Carl Perkins. All are making their Broadway debuts. The show will begin previews on March 13 at the Nederlander Theater and open on April 11.

Click for Million Dollar Quartet ticket details

The Observor has produced a great series on some of some of the living legends of American music, as recalled by the stars they influenced.

In addition, photographer Jamie-James Medina spent a year taking portraits of these legends for Observor Music Monthly. The results are impressive and are presented with the articles.

The following articles are included in the series:

Jerry Lee Lewis: the hellfire pianist by Ray Davies

Chuck Berry: hail, hail, rock ‘n’ roll by Bobby Gillespie

Little Richard: the outrageous pianist by Richard Hawley

Pete Seeger: pioneer of protest by Billy Brag

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: folk pioneer by Roger McGuinn

Etta James: blues powerhouse by Adele

Smokey Robinson: the soul of Motown by Corinne Bailey Rae

Little Anthony: the original teen dreamer by Pete Waterman

Ornette Coleman: jazz revolutionary by Seb Rochford

Sonny Rollins: sax colossus by Charlie Watts

Dave Brubeck: piano’s gentle giant by Jamie Cullum

Jimmy Scott: a voice from another world by Sufjan Stevens

Wanda Jackson: rockabilly queen by Imelda May

Kris Kristofferson: the thinking man’s outlaw by Steve Earle

Charlie Louvin: the singer of God-fearing country by Emmylou Harris

Ralph Stanley: preaching the gospel of bluegrass by Martin Carthy

T-Model Ford: boss of the blues by Dan Auerbach

Honeyboy Edwards: Delta bluesman by Paul Jones

Pinetop Perkins: the oldest living bluesman by Seasick Steve

Buddy Guy: guitar visionary by John Mayer

Les Paul: the innovator by Slash

The Living Legend series was conceived before Les Paul’s death, but the portrait and tribute remained part of the series.

Like many of the great early rockers, including Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis. He had already been turned down by both the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride when he arrived at Sun Studios in November 1956. After an impressive audition, he began recording for the label both as a session musician and solo artist. In late 1956/early 1957, Lewis played piano on tracks such as Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox”, “Your True Love”, “You Can Do No Wrong”, and “Put Your Cat Clothes On”, and Billy Lee Riley’s “Flyin’ Saucers Rock’n'Roll.

Jerry Lee was present at a Carl Perkins’ session in December 1956 when Elvis Presley dropped by and the legendary Million Dollar Quarter jam session took place. Some now simply call this the Million Dollar sessions because, although Johnny Cash was there on the day, he does not appear to feature on the recordings.

Jerry Lee Lewis’ breakthrough year was 1957 with his monster international hits “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire”. Unfortunately, this initial success was cut short due to scandal. In May 1958, while on a British tour, it emerged that Lewis’ new wife, Myra Gale Brown, was his first cousin once removed and only 13 years old. The scandal caused the tour to be cancelled after three concerts and once back in the USA he was blacklisted from radio.

After sporadic success in the early and mid-60s, Jerry Lee Lewis made a comeback as a country artist in the late 60s. In 1968, his single “Another Place, Another Time” hit the top ten and a string of other top ten hits followed, including a number one with “To Make Love Sweeter For You”.

Jerry Lee Lewis was one of the first inductees into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. That year also saw a return to his musical roots at Sun Studios, where he recorded Class of ‘55 with Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.

In 1989, a popular biopic was released called Great Balls of Fire, which starred Dennis Quaid. Jerry Lee did a great job re-recording his old hits for the soundtrack and the movie brought him a lot of much deserved attention.

After making little chart noise for years, Jerry Lee released a new album in 2006 called Last Man Standing. This well received CD featured duets with guest stars such as Jimmy Page, Bruce Spingsteen, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Little Richard, B.B. King and Kid Rock. The Last Man Standing CD is available from Amazon.

The CD was followed up by the Last Man Standing Live DVD, which had concert footage of duets with Willie Nelson, Tom Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, Chris Isaak, Norah Jones, Kid Rock and others. The Last Man Standing Live DVD is available from Amazon.

If you want to discuss Jerry Lee Lewis, head over to his section of the Classic Pop Icons forum.

For great Jerry Lee Lewis videos, check, the video section.

Happy Birthday Jerry Lee Lewis.