Jerry Lee Lewis, the foundational rock-and-roll pianist, singer, and songwriter, was always true to his nickname, the Killer. Whether he was onstage, in the recording studio, or pumping out a radio commercial for McDonald’s, a brand as much a part of the landscape of the fifties as Lewis’s voice, he was a performer of alarming abandon, thrilling audiences for well over half a century. And yet his reputation will always be sullied. Celebrities are imperfect in countless ways, but not many marry their thirteen-year-old cousins.
