Jerry Lee Lewis – 1964 Coventry Matrix Hall

 

Jerry Lee Lewis – 1964 Coventry Matrix Hall

By Pete Clemons

During 1964 Jerry Lee Lewis toured extensively in the UK. He had been struggling for any success back home in the States. He had recently moved from Sun to Smash Records (Philips in the UK), and Smash had a plan to get him back on track again. Shortly before touring the UK, Jerry Lee had recorded what many were sure would be his comeback hit: 'I’m on Fire'. But sadly the single failed to set the charts alight.

During the tour Jerry Lee Lewis gave what many called 'outstanding performances', among them a Manchester TV Special and a concert at The Matrix Hall in Coventry. Gene Vincent, The Animals, The Paramounts and The Nashville Teens, who were Jerry's backing group, all appeared on the bill.

Here is how the gig was reported at the time:

Jerry Lee Lewis can be seen in action at Coventry's Matrix Hall on Saturday night, and it is likely that among his repertoire will be his new Philips single 'I'm on Fire' coupled with 'Bread and Butter Man'.

Jerry Lee, who is getting on for 30, sounds like a teenager on the disc which should prove a firm favourite with his many thousands of fans up and down the country. Hundreds of them, as reported on here recently, are travelling from far and wide to see him in Coventry.

Many people don't realise that Jerry Lee's first ideal was to become, not a rip roaring fire tongued pop singer, but a preacher. He studied a the bible institute at Waxahachie, Texas but was sent down, he claims, 'for rocking the accompaniment to a religious song'.

Jerry Lee's special singing style, I suppose, developed a few years later when he began incorporating boogie and blues of the South with country music.

Today one of the fastest recording artists, Jerry is married to his third cousin, Myra Gale Brown, and has two children – a son by a former marriage, and a baby daughter born in August last year.

He lives at Oora Lake, Memphis and his spare time interests include motor cycling, duck hunting and fishing. Jerry Lee Lewis can play, and I mean play – not mess about with, almost any instrument.

He has never learnt to read music but is a master of improvisation, and almost any tune gets more tuneful when caught between the keys of a piano and the nimble fingers of Jerry Lee.

From his piano he drifted almost automatically into entertainment. It started with him tickling the drums or playing the violin in local clubs. Soon he was sitting in whenever a group happened to be a man short.

Nowadays his style incorporates the boogie and blues with the country and western, but somehow he still fits in with the contemporary scene. That's why Coventry's Matrix Hall will be packed to capacity on Saturday night. The new Jerry Lee disc is in the shops now.

Full concert 1964