Jerry Lee Lewis is famous for being one of the greatest musicians to ever explore the genre of Rock ‘n’ Roll with his hit song, “Great Balls of Fire.” He passed away at the age of 87 on October 28, 2022. Throughout his life, the singer had been married a total of seven times.
He is survived by his seventh wife, Judith Brown, whom he married in 2012. Lewis also had six children: Jerry Lee Lewis Jr., Phoebe Lewis, Lori Lee Lewis, Jerry Lee Lewis III, Steven Allen Lewis, and Ronnie Guy Lewis.
Jerry Lee Lewis’ relationships and marriages
Lewis first tied the knot with Dorothy Barton in 1952. The relationship did not last long as the pair decided to go their separate ways in 1953. Following this, he got married to his second wife, Jane Mitchum, in 1953. The pair stayed together for nearly four years before getting a divorce in 1957.
RELATED: Jerry Lee Lewis’ Teenage Bride Myra Williams Opens Up About Their Controversial Marriage
A year later, the late singer found love again and married Myra Gale Brown and they stayed married until 1970. In 1971, Lewis tied the knot with Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate but the two decided to end their marriage in 1982. After his divorce in 1983, he went on to marry Shawn Stephens but their relationship ended the same year.
Following this, Lewis got married Kerrie McCarver in 1984 and stayed together until 2005 when they decided to split up.
Meet Jerry Lee Lewis’ six children:
Jerry Lee Lewis Jr.
Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. was the oldest child of a singer and he was born in 1953 during Lewis’s marriage to Jane Mitchum, his second wife.
Unfortunately, the child passed away in 1973 at the young age of 19. The Guardian reported that the teenager, tragically “overturned” his Jeep and died in the car accident. In a 2015 interview with the news outlet, the late music star discussed his son’s death. “Well, I don’t know if it made me stronger or not, sir, but it got my attention real good, I know,” Lewis said. “That was a very hard time, a very sad time for me. But I pulled through it. I buried my own. I took care of everything.”
Ronnie Guy Lewis
Lewis welcomed his second son, Ronnie Guy Lewis with Jane Mitchum in 1956. The couple called it quits a year later and they got divorced in 1957. At the moment, Ronnie is 66 years old.
Steven Allen Lewis
In the year 1958, Jerry tied the knot with his first cousin, Myra Gale Brown. The former couple welcomed two kids together. Myra gave birth to their first child, a son, Steven Allen Lewis in 1959.
However, tragedy struck again as the young boy died when he was just three years old after a drowning accident.
Phoebe Lewis
Myra and Jerry welcomed their second child together, daughter Phoebe Lewis, in 1963 nearly four years after their son Steven was born.
She followed in the footsteps of her father and pursued a career in music before moving on to work on the 2004 movie, Benji: Off the Leash. At that time, TMZ reported in 2017 that Lewis sued his daughter for allegedly giving him drugs. He stated that his daughter gave him a “heavy cocktail of psychotropic drugs” to keep him under her control while she was his manager from 2000 to 2012. Documents obtained by the media outlet revealed that Phoebe forced her father to go on tours despite his poor health.
Lori Lee Lewis
The late singer welcomed a daughter, Lori Lee Lewis in 1972 with his wife, Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate and she is his second daughter.
Lori’s mother, Jaren, tragically died in a friend’s swimming pool in 1982 while suing Jerry for divorce. In an interview with The Guardian, Lewis revealed how he coped with having lost a few of his kids and ex-wives. “I get down sometimes,” he said. “A little bit down. I pull myself out of it. I pray, and I think about the things I have now.”
Jerry Lee Lewis III
Lewis welcomed his last child, Jerry Lee Lewis III, in 1987 with his sixth wife, Kerrie McCarver, nearly three years after getting married. The 35-year-old has a profile on the social media platform Instagram with 1.2k followers. He is also very active on the video live-streaming service, Twitch.
On the occasion of his father’s death, Jerry III paid a heartfelt tribute to his dad on Instagram with a video that had the Elvis star Tom Hanks talking about his dad, Jerry Lee Lewis. “There will never be another like you Dad. I love you,” he wrote in the caption.