Myra Gale Brown, 13, married 22-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis in Hernando, Mississippi, a marriage that virtually ended Lewis’ career.
Jerry Lee Lewis married Myra Gale Brown in 1957, at the age of 22.
Lewis has been married twice previously. His second marriage in September 1953 caused quite a stir when people discovered it occurred 23 days before his first divorce was finalized.
That uproar was nothing compared to what his third marriage would provoke. Though he married again before his divorce was finalized, it was revealed that his new bride was actually his third cousin, a 13-year-old named Myra Gale Brown.
Myra Gale Brown was the daughter of J.W. Brown, Lewis’ cousin and bassist in his band. At the time, she had no idea there was anything wrong with her connection with Lewis. Elvis Presley, the world’s biggest rock singer, was dating 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, who would eventually become his wife. Infatuation with a youngster seemed to come with the rock and roll lifestyle.
And, Myra later said, she felt ready for marriage.
“My generation was taught to hide under our desk when the bomb came, so you always had in the back of your mind that any minute, any day, life could come to an end,” Brown recalled in an interview. “What I wanted was a baby in my arms, a home, a husband, a kitchen to cook in, a yard to raise roses. My little brother was born because I begged my parents for a baby at ten years old.”
Lewis planned to take Brown on a tour of England after their wedding on December 12, 1957. Elvis had been drafted into the military, and Lewis was preparing to take his position as rock’s biggest star. The England tour was intended to build a British fan base, which would hopefully lead to a global audience.
However, when Jerry Lee Lewis arrived in the UK with his child bride, it was evident that the Brits were not on board with him. His managers had warned him about the British press’s fondness for ripping down American superstars, but Lewis had not listened.
“If Myra doesn’t go,” he told them, “I’m not going.”
So, the tale was made up. Lewis had informed everyone that Brown was his wife but had forgotten to divulge her actual age, instead stating that she was 15. He told them that in America, it was perfectly acceptable to marry at the age of 15, or even at the age of 10, as long as you could find a husband.
Myra Gale Brown, on the other hand, had not been told the narrative and hence did not fall for it.
“I could so easily have said, ‘I’m J.W. Brown’s daughter,’” she said, looking back on the day it was revealed she was 13 and Jerry Lee Lewis’ spouse. “Because that was the truth! If anybody had told me anything, I could have prevented this thing. But they didn’t, and I didn’t, and the rest is history, I guess.”
Yes, it was. After only a few gigs in England, the tour was canceled. The British people, driven by tabloids describing Lewis as a “cradle robber” and a “baby snatcher,” effectively drove him out of the country, passionately opposing his connection.
Unfortunately, coming home did nothing to quell the outpouring of hatred toward Lewis and Brown. Not only were they attacking her age, but they also pointed out that Jerry Lee Lewis had remarried before his divorce was official. Furthermore, his last track, “High School Confidential,” was unrelated to his relationship and did not help his case.
Before he knew it, his ticket rates had plummeted dramatically, from $10,000 per night to a measly $250. Despite Lewis’s remarriage to Brown, this time in a legal ceremony in which he was not already married, and subsequent move in with her parents, the public remained staunchly opposed to him.
His marriage to Myra Gale Brown irrevocably marred Jerry Lee Lewis’ rock career, but he eventually succeeded in country music.
Jerry Lee Lewis and Myra Gale Brown had two children before their divorce in 1970; one di3d as a youngster, and the other now manages his career. Though they were no longer together, they maintained their friendship throughout Lewis’ subsequent marriages and continued communicating with one another.
Myra Lewis Williams has no hard emotions about the relationship and yet blames the media for making it into something evil. In the end, she claims, Jerry Lee Lewis’ demise was more important than her age. Despite Elvis’ triumph, Brown believed that the world wasn’t ready for rock & roll.
“They were looking for a place to stick the knife into rock & roll,” she told me. “And Jerry gave it to them—well, I did, I opened my mouth. That’s exactly what it was.”
After reading about Jerry Lee Lewis’ third wife, Myra Gale Brown, look into Lori Maddox and Sable Starr, two adolescent groupies who made a career out of chasing rock stars.
