The arrival in the United Kingdom of one of the biggest figures in rock and roll was looked forward to with great anticipation in May of 1958. Nowhere in the world were the teenage fans of the raucous music coming out of America more enthusiastic than they were in England, and the coming tour of the great Jerry Lee Lewis promised to be a rousing success. 鈥淲hole Lotta Shakin鈥 Goin鈥 On鈥 and 鈥淕reat Balls Of Fire鈥 had both been massive hits in the UK, and early demand for tickets was great enough that 27 appearances were booked in what promised to be the biggest tour yet by an American rock-and-roll star. There was just one problem: Unbeknownst to the British public and the organizers of the coming tour, Jerry Lee Lewis would be traveling to England as a newly married man, with his young wife in tow. Just how young that wife really was would be revealed on May 22, 1958, when Jerry Lee 鈥淭he Killer鈥 Lewis arrived at Heathrow Airport.
It was an inquisitive reporter for the Daily Mail named Paul Tanfield who unwittingly broke the scandal when he inquired as to the identity of the young woman he鈥檇 spotted in the Killer鈥檚 entourage. 鈥淚鈥檓 Myra, Jerry鈥檚 wife,鈥 said Myra Gail Lewis. Tanfield followed up with a question for the Killer himself: 鈥淎nd how old is Myra?鈥 The answer Jerry Lee gave was a lie: 鈥淔ifteen.鈥
Myra Gail Lewis was actually only 13 years old, a fact that would soon come out along with certain other details, such as the fact that she was Jerry Lee鈥檚 first cousin (once removed) and that the pair had married five months before his divorce from his second wife was made official. Jerry Lee tried to set minds at ease on this last point鈥攖he second marriage was null and void, he explained, because it had taken place before his divorce from his first wife鈥攂ut even the most skilled public-relations expert would have had a hard time spinning the unfolding story in Jerry Lee鈥檚 favor.
As the press hounded Jerry Lee and Myra Gail Lewis over the coming week, the Killer tried to go on with business as usual, but his first three shows drew meager audiences, and those that did buy tickets showered him with boos and catcalls. When the Rank chain of theaters cancelled the rest of his dates and his fashionable Mayfair hotel encouraged him to seek lodgings elsewhere, Jerry Lee Lewis left the UK, less than a week after his dramatic arrival on this day in 1958. Back home, he would face a blacklisting from which his career would never fully recover.
