In May 1958 Jerry Lee Lewis was at the height of his rock
& roll career. ...The piano-pounding wildman from Ferriday, Louisiana,
was considered heir to Elvis' vacated throne. (Presley was drafted into
the Army in mid-1957...) ...But during Jerry Lee's premiere tour of England,
all hell broke loose...
...In 1957, when he moved in with his bassist cousin J.W.
Brown, 21-year old Lewis fell in love with Brown's 13-year-old daughter,
Myra Gale....They courted on the sly, and then married in late 1957, not
revealing it to her parents, with whom they both were living!...
...Their secret was kept until his deput concert tour of
England. ...At Heathrow Airport, ...a reporter pulled Myra Gale aside and
asked who she was. Myra, too naive to lie...revealed she was Mrs. Jerry
Lee Lewis, and that she was 13....His tour was cancelled and he was hounded
out of the country.
Back in America his professional life collapsed...and Lewis
found his bookings canceled, his records not being played...and his former
friends...turning their backs on him.
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