Myra Lewis

"a stick to fish the filemot frith for treasures" What the hell does that mean? Well, neither Myra nor co-author Murray M. Silver, Jr. is no Tosches Nick and should leave the language stunts alone, but this is all-in-all a good music biography about The Killer and the Golden Age of Rock for which he was "a dream ... that is coming to birth". Like Elvis and others, he was drawn from a largely impoverished and illiterate South not unlike we pick out military (Ambush at Fort Bragg).

This book is show more really built around Jerry's marriage to his first cousin once removed, Myra. There are three acts: life from obscurity to fame in the Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll and marriage to Myra. Act II is the fall from grace and wilderness years after he exposure of his child bride in England with a soundtrack from the syrupy crooner era. The final act is reclaiming the throne in Elvis' twilight and the ascendancy of The Beatles and Rolling Stones while sparking the career of Tom Jones. The remaining decades covered are compressed into a breathless epilogue that touches on shooting his own bass player and other highlights of the couple's rebound years. show less

I'm uncertain whether Myra Lewis Williams is a musical person herself but she certainly holds a unique place in the history of rock 'n' roll; her father was the first person to play an electric guitar on US national television (and possibly anywhere in the world), some of her many cousins are accomplished musicians, and, apparently her marriage to her cousin Jerry Lee Lewis, the greatest of all musicians, when she was 13, was somewhat controversial.

This is Williams's second book; her first, show more Great Balls of Fire, had a movie based on it and while The Spark That Survived probably won't replicate the success of her first, it is still a good read, an authentic voice of someone who has been through more than most and still retains her sanity.

If anything, Williams seems to tone down the level of abuse she received from the Killer, and skips past much drama, whether it be husband related or the death of her son, to get to the present and exclaiming how wonderful husband no. 3 is. show less

I am a collector of most things Jerry Lee Lewis, including biographies of the man (which now number over 1/2 dozen). This one, "Great Balls of Fire", is written by Myra Brown, better known as Myra Gail Lewis, the thirteen year old cousin bride of Jerry Lee, so there's more intimate knowledge of the topic present than most biographies.

Any coverage of the Killer tends to include Old Testament references, which seems to fit Jerry Lee like a glove. Mixed in as well are the many wives of the show more Killer and the countless pitfalls he faced, many self-inflicted, as well as Myra's recollection of her own pre-teen sexual assault.

Not the best Jerry Lee Lewis biography out there but certainly not the worst. show less