Jerry Lee Lewis was born on 29 September 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana, USA, as is a singer, songwriter, pianist and musician widely known as an icon of rock ‘n’ roll and country music. He was considered one of the pioneers of rock ‘n’ roll and is the only surviving member of the Sun Records Million Dollar Quartet and Class of 55’ which included Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley. His exploits in music have raised his net worth to where it is now.
How rich is Jerry Lee Lewis? As of early-2016, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $15 million, mostly acquired through a successful career in the music industry. Jerry Lee has released a plethora of songs and albums, making the top of the charts and selling many records. His music has also given him multiple awards and recognition. He continues to play and to increase his net worth.
Jerry Lee Lewis Net Worth $15 Million
Jerry started learning how to play the piano at a young age, performing with two cousins, one of whom would be country singer Mickey Gelley. Jerry’s family was poor and they even had to mortgage their farm to buy him a piano. He went to school at the Southwest Bible Institute with his mother hoping he would become an evangelical singer however, his boogie rendition of “My God is Real” saw him expelled from the school. He then started performing in clubs and tried his hand at auditioning for recording companies.
In 1956, Lewis auditioned for Sun Records and was eventually signed by the company. He would soon earn a name for himself and one of his first recordings, “Crazy Arms” sold over 300,000 copies. Soon he would work with other artists like Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, and by December of the same year Elvis Presley would join them in a jam session on what would eventually be released as the “Million Dollar Quartet”. By 1957, Jerry had started to become known as a solo artist and released a few of his biggest hits including “A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire”. He’d continue to play music, and boost his net worth, despite his religious upbringing and how the church negatively viewed his type of music at the time.
Jerry received a large amount of controversy in 1958, as during Lewis’ British tour a journalist reported that his third wife was his first cousin once removed and was only 13 years old. It resulted in his tour being cancelled and many radio stations chosing to boycott him. From this point his career would enter a steep decline and his performances from $10,000 a night became a measly $250 a night. During the next few years, he’d try to continue and release more tracks, but to no avail, and he even tried to go under a pseudonym but was quickly discovered.
It wouldn’t be until 1968 when Lewis would find success again after a suggestion that he record and perform pure country music album. He released the song “Another Place, Another Time” and it went on to become a huge success. Eventually propelling his career back into place, he continued to release country songs and did some of his classic rock and roll performances in concerts. Eventually he would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In his personal life, Jerry Lee Lewis has been married seven times, latterly to Judith Brown in 2012, and had six children during the span of all these marriages. Only four of these six children are alive today and Jerry continues to perform even in his advanced years.
