I'm sorry to say I thought he'd already passed away. He was out of circulation for a long time.

RIP

According to an accompanying obituary written by Rick Bragg, the musician “suffered through the last years of his life from various illnesses and injuries that, his physicians have often said, should have taken him decades ago.”

“He is ready to leave,” his seventh wife Judith was quoted as saying before his death in his home in Desoto County, Mississippi, just south of Memphis.

A trailblazing pianist, Lewis helped popularize rockabilly and rock and roll with a run of hits in 1957 and ’58 including, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Breathless,” “High School Confidential,” and especially, “Great Balls of Fire.”