YEAR
1986
INDUCTED BY
Hank Williams Jr.
CATEGORY
Performers
Raising hell with the devil’s music.
That’s what Jerry Lee Lewis does best. He pounded the piano with such abandon that it’s a wonder it didn’t come apart. He is a defiant, reckless, indefatigable wild man that can rock you into oblivion.
Jerry Lee Lewis
"Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On"
Hank Williams Jr Inducts Jerry Lee Lewis
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Michael Hill
The mere titles of his tunes confirmed that Jerry Lee Lewis had the stuff of rock & roll legend. “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Great Balls of Fire” and “Breathless” succinctly describe the man and his music. Audacious and arrogant, rollicking and rowdy, Jerry Lee Lewis took spontaneity to the brink of danger.
He was an unrepentant, wild example for the naysayers to use when they spoke out against what even Lewis himself called “the Devil’s music.”
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