Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story

By Nick Tosches

A Book Review

by Mary Reger

April 2010

Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story by Nick Tosches is a biography of Jerry Lee Lewis covering his life up to 1981 when the book was written. Tosches takes the reader into Jerry Lee’s life and reveals the good and bad and the struggles Jerry Lee fought with throughout his entire life. He acquaints us with the entire extended family and how they all influenced Jerry Lee. He does not paint Jerry Lee as a hero but as a human with great talent and the struggles he deals with while sharing his talent with the world.

Tosches begins with an introduction that summarizes Jerry Lee’s ancestral background, giving the reader knowledge of his great grandfather, grandfather, and father. This helps put Jerry Lee’s life situation into perspective. Tosches does a good job of describing the geographical moves the family took through Louisiana and how they ended up in Ferris. Jerry Lee’s Great Grandfather was a judge. Jerry’s father, Elmo, lived on land his brother-in-law owned and learned to farm it. He was a man who liked his drink and enjoyed relaxing, making his own music. His children and extended family would sing and play instruments at day’s end while they enjoyed their drink.

Tosches arranges this biography chronologically with different themes repeated throughout Jerry Lee’s story. Jerry Lee, who had natural talent for playing the piano, also grew up with a strict religious background. He struggled with wanting to play music that was not approved in his church and wanting to serve God. He knew he could not have both, and the music with in him was so strong it wins out. Death haunted Jerry Lee throughout his life. The loss of loved ones led him to become absorbed in his music, drinking, and drugs. He also had struggles in his relationships with women, except for the one with his mother, whom he held dear to his heart. His parents encouraged him to use his talents and bought a piano for him at a young age so he could develop his skills. They always supported him in his musical endeavors.

The fight within him to follow God or the devil began when Jerry Lee was just a boy. When Jerry Lee was very young a mother and daughter came to Ferris and started an Assembly of God church, in which Jerry Lee’s family became very active. In fact Jerry Lee and his cousin Jimmy Lee eventually did some preaching. This was a very significant part of Jerry Lee’s story which Tosches takes care to emphasize. In one particular sermon Jerry Lee preached about a person choosing to serve God or Mammon. “He raised his voice and preached about the rich man in hell—how that rich man cried out to Abraham for a drop of water to cool his dry tongue, and how Abraham gave him none, for no man can serve God and Mammon both” (p. 77). This sermon haunted Jerry Lee all throughout his life.

Tosches does a good job of showing how this theme keeps coming back to Jerry Lee. At one point in the book shortly after this, Jimmy Lee said that the Holy Ghost had called him to serve God so he quit playing the “devil’s music” with Jerry Lee so he could begin his part time ministry. As Jerry Lee’s life went on he was tormented by the conflict between playing the “devil’s music” and serving God. The music won out and Jerry Lee reminded himself and others that he could not serve both God and Mammon. His cousin Jimmy Lee devoted his life to God and became the famous TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. He remained close to Jerry Lee throughout their lives despite Jerry Lee’s choice to serve Mammon.

Another significant part of Jerry Lee’s life that Tosches emphasizes is the theme of the death of loved ones. It started when Jerry Lee was only three years old and his older brother was run over by a car and killed. Even though Jerry Lee was young at the time, this made an impact on his little mind. The theme is repeated when his own son, Steve Allen, drowned in the family pool at the age of three, and again when his son Jerry Lee Jr. was run over by a car and killed. He took these deaths very hard and wrestled with feelings of inadequacy and guilt, but yet was never able to turn his life over to God, even though he wanted to and tried at times. He dove into his music and used drugs and alcohol to assuage his feelings and anguish. His mother, whom he loved very much and she loved him, died later in his life. After her death his family noticed a change in him. He began drinking and using drugs even more at this point and did not know how to deal with this.

Jerry Lee was married multiple times in his life. Tosches shows the similarities between these failed marriages. He repeatedly shows how Jerry Lee accused his current wife of adultery and then she countered by accusing him of cruelty and abuse. At one point it is said that Jerry Lee’s mother never approved of any of his wives, which leads the reader to believe that perhaps none of his wives were as good as his mother.

Of course the primary theme in Jerry Lee’s life is his musical talent. He discovered at a young age, seven or eight, that he had talent on the piano. He started by playing the piano at the church and then later at his Uncle Lee’s house. Eventually his father borrowed money so he could buy Jerry Lee a Starck Upright piano. Jerry Lee was so consumed with piano music that he would often skip school to play. He would also sneak out of the house at night and go to Big Haney’s House, a black night club, and listen to the black musicians play the piano. He would take any song and change it into a boogie-woogie song. Once he broke his leg playing football in High School and had his leg in a cast from the waist down. This did not stop him from playing his music; he would play with his leg sticking straight out at an angle. He got so used to playing with his leg sticking out that he played the piano that way for the rest of his life.

His father helped him to become famous. He would take him to talent shows and contests. Eventually he moved to Memphis and began recording at Sun Studios. His song “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” was his first big hit. He practically became a legend overnight. His career was skyrocketing when he married for the third time to his thirteen year old second cousin once removed. He went on tour of England and told the people that she was his wife. The reporters dug into the story and found out how old she was. After only three appearances he was asked to leave England. His career then plummeted. He tried numerous times to make a comeback. Finally about ten years later he sold country music fairly well for a while. He played music wherever he could, night clubs or auditoriums. It’s ironic that he had more big tours in England than the United States even though he was once kicked out. Jerry Lee never gave up and never quit thinking he was the king of music. He never considered himself a rock-n-roll artist, but more of a boogie-woogie man and later a country artist with a twist of boogie. Tosches focuses on Jerry Lee’s music throughout the entire book, intertwining it with the other themes. The music was Jerry Lee’s life, and is therefore the main theme of this biography.

One weakness of the book was no sources. Many times there is dialogue that made me wonder where Tosches got it from. I was never sure if Tosches had taken it from a journal, recordings, or just wrote what he thought might have been said. In the acknowledgements he thanked people for information but there were no footnotes or a bibliography. The only primary sources were photos throughout the book. The photos brought the people to life. Captions told what the photo was, but not all of the photos had dates.

Nick Tosches is a journalist, biographer, novelist, and poet. He has written for many magazines. He has also written several biographies, this being his second one, in addition to three novels and a book of poetry. In this biography he writes the truth about Jerry Lee and does not sugar coating anything. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy learning about people from all walks of life good or bad. Tosches’s narrative flows well and is quite descriptive. While it is an easy to read book, Jerry Lee’s life is not easy to read about. It is not a fairy tale biography and it does not have a happy ending. Tosches is candid about Jerry Lee’s problems and struggles in life. He brings the real Jerry Lee to the reader and you began to feel Jerry Lee’s pains through his failed marriages, drug abuse, debt, and especially his spiritual struggle within. It encourages the reader to evaluate his own life. One might even learn valuable lessons from Jerry Lee’s mistakes.