Myra Gale Brown

Myra Gale Brown was born on July 11, 1944 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the daughter of Lois and J.W. "Jay" Brown.[1] The Browns later had a son, Rusty Brown (b. 1954).[1] In 1949, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee when J.W. Brown took a job with Memphis Gas, Light and Water, where he worked as a lineman. When J.W. Brown was injured (electrocuted) on the job, he decided to start a band. He sought out his cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis, who was also an unknown musician at the time. J.W. Brown played electric bass, and Lewis played piano and sang.[1] They went on to make rock and roll history, recording hit singles on Sun Records. In 1956, Lewis moved in with J.W. Brown and his family.[2]

At the age of 13, Myra Brown married Jerry Lee Lewis in Hernando, Mississippi on December 12, 1957.[3][2] When Lewis arrived in London for a 37-date tour in May 1958, Brown revealed to a reporter at the airport that she was his wife.[4] Lewis asserted that Brown was 15 years old and was his wife of two months. However, it was discovered that she was only 13, and that they had been married for five months.[5] This caused an uproar and after a few dates the tour was cancelled.[4] By the time they returned to Memphis, it had been discovered that Brown was not only Lewis' wife, she was also his first cousin once removed.[6][7] In addition, Lewis had not yet divorced his previous wife, Jane Mitcham.[4] After Lewis finalized his divorce from Mitcham, he remarried Brown on June 4, 1958.[5] The scandal over the marriage destroyed Lewis' promising rock and roll career, but strengthened their marriage.[8] Lewis eventually found success once again in country music.[9]

By 1970, Lewis' drug addiction, alcoholism, and infidelity took a toll on their marriage.[10] Brown filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery and abuse,[5] charging that she had been "subject to every type of physical and mental abuse imaginable."[4][10] Their divorce was finalized on December 9, 1970. They had two children, Steve Allen Lewis (1959–1962), who drowned at age three, and daughter Phoebe Allen Lewis (b. 1963). Phoebe Lewis-Loftin later became her father's manager and lived at his ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi until he married Judith Brown in 2012,[11] who is the ex-wife of his first cousin once removed and former brother-in-law, Rusty Brown.[12]

Shortly after her divorce, Brown married Pete Malito,[13] the detective she had hired to trail Lewis and document his infidelities,[14] and moved to Atlanta, Georgia. The marriage lasted a year and a half. After they divorced, Brown worked as a receptionist to support her daughter as a single mother.[13]

Brown hired writer Murray Silver to co-write a book that was meant to be her autobiography, but after a publisher's editing it became Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis.[15][13] The book was originally released in October 1982 by William Morrow & Company. It was adapted into the 1989 film Great Balls of Fire!, starring Dennis Quaid as Lewis and Winona Ryder as Brown.[16] Brown was paid $100,000 for her story, but was resentful that she was not consulted for the script or casting of the film despite being promised.[13] The producers did not want Brown or Lewis involved with the film, but she visited the Memphis set anyway.[13] Although Brown found the actors to be talented and friendly, she was not satisfied with the book or the film. She had wanted to tell the story of a woman surviving difficult circumstances and inspire women to understand their own strengths,[17] so she published her memoir, The Spark That Survived, in 2016.[18] The book details of her tumultuous marriage to Lewis and how she built a new life for herself after their divorce.[18]

Since 1980, Brown has enjoyed success as a real estate agent in Atlanta.[5] She married her third husband, Richard Williams, in 1984, and joined his Century 21 office. She became a licensed broker in 1984, and is a recipient of the Million Dollar Life Time Award 2003.[19] Now known as Myra Lewis Williams, she resides in Duluth, Georgia with her husband.[14][18]

• 1982: Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis (ISBN 9780688014803)
• 2016: The Spark That Survived (ISBN 9781944193164)

• Myra Lewis on IMDb
• Myra Williams on All Atlanta Properties