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American History

The Secret Love Life of Marie Antoinette and More Historic Romance

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Jerry Lee Lewis. Ultimate Classic Rock

7. Love in the Family Seriously Harmed This Star’s Career

In the long history of showbiz, few marriages have ever been as catastrophic as that of Jerry Lee Lewis (1935 – ) and Myra Gale Brown. Born and raised in Louisiana, Lewis was an early pioneer of rock and roll who began recording in 1956. The following year, he became world-famous for his hit There’s a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On. Soon thereafter came his signature song, the insta-classic Great Balls of Fire, one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Songs.

By then, Lewis had already gone through two failed marriages. He went ahead and divorced his second wife to tie the knot for a third time after he fell head over heels in love with Myra Gale Brown. There was a hiccup, however: the object of his affections happened to be his cousin, although once removed. It was not the only problem. An even bigger hiccup was that she was thirteen-years-old, and still believed in Santa Claus on her wedding night.

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A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.

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