(The following is an excerpt from Nick Tosches’s new book Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story, (Delacorte hardbound, Dell trade paperback). Tosches, a contributing editor, is well-known to CREEM readers from his previous book, Country, The Biggest Music In America, and his Unsung Heroes Of Rock ’n’ Roll cofumns, which frequently appear in these pages. Former Nashville resident Nick, a Lewis familiar, has written about the seminal rock star many times in the past, both here and in other publications. In this excerpt, we encounter young Jerry Lee shortly before fame “lifted its skirt” the first time. —Ed.) ©Copyright 1982 by Nick Tosches

Every morning Mamie Lewis brought her son breakfast in bed on an old tray that she dressed with tinfoil: hot chocolate and Jack’s Vanilla Wafers. She sat by him with her own hot chocolate and her own Jack’s Vanilla Wafers. Neither of them would accept any other make of vanilla cookie. “Jack’s Cookies are always smiling fresh!” declared the man in the radio advertisement, and both Jerry Lee and his mama knew this to be true.