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Fact #122850

When:

Short story:

Jerry Lee Lewis begins a European tour in Germany, Europe. His guitarist on this tour is Ritchie Blackmore, who will find fame as leader of Deep Purple.

Full article:

Ritchie Blackmore (guitarist) : We were supposed to rehearse for a week, then it was five days, then three days, and we were going,'When are we going to rehearse with this guy, because we don't know what we're doing.' The tour was coming up and we hadn't played one note with him.

Finally, on the day of the first show, he strolled in during the afternoon. We were petrified because we'd been told if he didn't like you, Jerry would just whack you in the face. Luckily, he liked me and wanted to bring me back to Memphis where he lived. He'd come over to me and go, 'Play, boy, play.' I'd be looking up, waiting for that whack.

I immediately took to Germany, Europe. They seemed to work harder and enjoy life more than the English. In Germany I couldn't understand anybody and they couldn't understand me, and that was perfect. Let's just play music.
(Source : interview by Alan Whitman, Record Collector, August 1998)