“Great Balls of Fire,” indeed. Jerry Lee Lewis, who was named to the Country Music Hall of Fame on Tuesday (May 17), is one of just 14 artists or executives who has been chosen to join both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Lewis — who was one of the inaugural inductees into the Rock Hall, in 1986 — is the second artist to secure the second half of this dual honor in the past two weeks. Dolly Parton, who was selected for the Country Hall in 1999, was chosen as a 2022 Rock Hall inductee on May 4. (Parton may have seen this coming: She had a dance club hit with a spirited cover version of “Great Balls of Fire” in 1979.)
The roster of double honorees includes 10 male artists or executives (the exec being Sun Records founder Sam Phillips); two female artists (Brenda Lee and Parton); one group (Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys); and one duo (The Everly Brothers).
Lewis was one of the 16 inaugural inductees into the Roll and Roll Hall of Fame. That includes the 10 initial artists selected plus three early influences and three non-performers (what is now called the Ahmet Ertegun Award). Lewis, nicknamed The Killer, is the only one of those inaugural Rock Hall inductees who is still living.
Lewis, 86, is also one of only three of these double (Rock and Country) inductees who is still living. The others are Lee, 77, and Parton, 76. Three more double inductees – Johnny Cash, The Everlys and Phillips — lived to see both of their inductions, though they have since died.
Impressively, singer, songwriter and guitarist Jimmie Rodgers was in the inaugural class in both Halls. He was one of the first three people inaugurated into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 and one of the initial inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. Rodgers, nicknamed The Singing Brakeman, was just 35 when he died of a pulmonary hemorrhage brought on by tuberculosis in 1933. (He is unrelated to the recording and TV star also named Jimmie Rodgers who had a string of pop and country hits in the late ’50s.)
Floyd Cramer, a top session musician who recorded such crossover hits of his own as “Last Date” and “San Antonio Rose,” is the only person who was inducted into both the Country and Rock Halls of Fame in the same year (2003). Unfortunately, the pianist didn’t live to see this multi-genre appreciation. He died in 1997.
Like Cramer, Chet Atkins also had some hit recordings, but his main contributions were behind-the-scenes as a studio guitarist, producer and record executive (for RCA).
Six of those 16 inaugural members of the Rock Hall have also been inducted into the Country Hall: Lewis, the Everlys, Rodgers, Phillips, Ray Charles and Elvis Presley. That’s a strong indication of how central country was to the origin of rock ‘n’ roll.
Here’s a list, in alphabetical order, of everyone who has been inducted into both of these Halls of Fame. We show the year each person was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (CM HOF); the year each was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (R&R HOF); their highest-charting hit on what is now called Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (which originated as Hot C&W Sides in October 1958); and, finally, the year of death for those who are no longer with us.
Note: Many of these acts had hits that pre-dated the introduction of Hot C&W Sides. The hit tallies shown here and the identification of the artists’ biggest hits are for the period starting in October 1958 only.
Chet Atkins
Inducted CM HOF: 1973
Inducted R&R HOF: 2002
Top country hit: “Yakety Axe” (No. 4 in 1965)
Died: 2001 (age 77)
Johnny Cash
Inducted CM HOF: 1980
Inducted R&R HOF: 1992
Top country hit: “Ring of Fire” (seven weeks at No. 1 in the summer of 1963). Cash had nine No. 1 hits between “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” in February 1959 and “One Piece at a Time” in May 1976.
Died: 2003 (age 71)
Ray Charles
Inducted CM HOF: 2021
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: “Seven Spanish Angels” (collab with Willie Nelson) No. 1 in March 1985
Died: 2004 (age 73)
Floyd Cramer
Inducted CM HOF: 2003
Inducted R&R HOF: 2003
Top country hit: “San Antonio Rose” (No. 8 in 1961)
Died: 1997 (age 64)
The Everly Brothers
Inducted CM HOF: 2001
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: “(‘Til I Kissed You)” (No. 8 in 1959)
Died: Phil: 2014 (age 74); Don: 2021 (age 84)
Brenda Lee
Inducted CM HOF: 1997
Inducted R&R HOF: 2002
Top country hit: “Big Four Poster Bed” (No. 4 in 1974)
Jerry Lee Lewis
Inducted CM HOF: 2022
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: “Chantilly Lace” (No. 1 for three weeks in the spring of 1972). Lewis had four No. 1 hits between “To Make Love Sweeter for You” in March 1969 and “Chantilly Lace.”
Bill Monroe
Inducted CM HOF: 1970
Inducted R&R HOF: 1997
Top country hit: “Gotta Travel On” (No. 15 in 1959).
Died: 1996 (age 84)
Dolly Parton
Inducted CM HOF: 1999
Inducted R&R HOF: 2022
Top country hit: “Here You Come Again” (No. 1 for five weeks in December 1977). Parton has had 25 No. 1 hits, from “Joshua” in February 1971 to “When I Get Where I’m Going” (a collab with Brad Paisley) in March 2005.
Sam Phillips
Inducted CM HOF: 2001
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: not a recording artist
Died: 2003 (age 80)
Elvis Presley
Inducted CM HOF: 1998
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: “Moody Blue” and “Way Down” (both in 1977) and the posthumous release “Guitar Man” (1981). Each logged a single week at No. 1.
Died: 1977 (age 42)
Jimmie Rodgers
Inducted CM HOF: 1961 (inaugural class)
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: none since 1958.
Died: 1933 (age 35)
Hank Williams
Inducted CM HOF: 1961 (inaugural class)
Inducted R&R HOF: 1987
Top country hit: “There’s a Tear in My Beer” (collab with Hank Williams, Jr., No. 7 in 1989).
Died: 1953 (age 29)
Bob Wills and His Texas Cowboys
Inducted CM HOF: 1968
Inducted R&R HOF: 1999
Top country hit: “Heart to Heart” (No. 5 in 1960).
Died: 1975 (age 70)