Jerry Lee Lewis, band-mate killed in shoot-out

A friend of Jerry Lee Lewis and a member of his band was killed in a shootout last week in Memphis.

Seventy-year-old bass player BB Cunningham was working as a security guard at an apartment complex when he went to investigate a gunshot noise nearby.

Witnesses say they then heard further gunshots and Cunningham, along with an unidentified 16-year-old, was found dead at the scene.

Police are currently investigating the incident.

Judy Baladez, a resident of the apartment buildings said, “I just like kind of stayed down in my bed and laid quiet and still because I didn’t know if more shooting was going to continue.” She added that the gunshots sounded “very loud, like they were very close by, they didn’t sound like they were being shot in the air. They sounded close by like they were being shot at somebody.”

BB Cunningham was also a former member of Memphis band The Hombres, but  he moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970’s to work at Independent Recorders as a chief engineer, working with the likes of Billy Joel and Elton John.

Cunningham joined Lewis’ band in 1997 and released his own solo album in 2003, called ‘Hangin’ In’.

Jerry Lee lewis was married for the seventh time earlier this year.

In 2010, Lewis announced a book deal with It Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Alberto Rojas, director of publicity for It Books, said in March of this year that the book deal is still on, and that Lewis’ memoir will be released in 2013.

by Wallace McTavish

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