Ferriday, US
pop, rock
2.2bn all-time streams (13 Jan '26)
Singer and pianist Jerry Lee Lewis channeled the sanctity of gospel and the seduction of the blues into some of early rock ’n’ roll’s most joyfully furious singles.

A former divinity student born in Louisiana in 1935, he brought the ecstasy of church music to pounding rockers like 1957’s “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On," kicking loose his piano stool with the gleeful savagery of any future guitar-destroying punk (he was known to his rockabilly peers as The Killer).