The marriage that derailed a career

Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis performs in concert at Harrah's Resort on April 12, 2014, in Atlantic City, N.J.
Owen Sweeney | Invision | AP 2014

Sixty years ago, Jerry Lee Lewis married Myra Gayle Brown in a private ceremony in rural Mississippi.

He was 22 and it was his third marriage. She was 13 and it was her first.

A few months later when they arrived together in London for a tour, the newlyweds were met by the British press. Controversy ensued when the tabloids found out Brown's age, that she was Lewis' cousin and that he hadn't divorced his second wife yet.

The tour was canceled after three shows and when he returned to the U.S., Lewis' ascendancy as a rock star was derailed. The couple stayed together for 13 years and had two children. It was the second longest of his seven marriages.

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