Kenneth Lovelace (born August 18, 1936) is an American guitarist and singer best known for his former tenure with

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis m ...

Life

Lovelace was born in Cloverdale, Alabama. He grew up in a small village 12 miles from

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, where his family worked on a farm. Lovelace hooked up with a band called the Go-Go-Boys, who later changed their name to The Five Jets. He was with them for twelve years. While playing in

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and is the parish seat and largest city of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolitan statistical ...

, he met

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

legend Jerry Lee Lewis, through Jerry's sister

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. Lewis wanted to hire the whole band, but the others had families to look after, so Jerry hired Kenny. He has been guitarist and band leader of the Memphis Beats for more than 40 years. Kenny lives in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

with his wife. Lovelace has also recorded with artists such as

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

and

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

.Ken Burke. "The Continuing Saga of Dr. Iguana – the Kenneth Lovelace Interview." ''Rock N Roll Freaks'' (September 15, 2015). http://www.rocknrollfreaks.com/jerry-lee-lewis-week/the-continuing-saga-of-dr-iguana-the-kenneth-lovelace-interview/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovelace, Kenny American rock guitarists American male guitarists American rock singers 1936 births Living people Musicians from Montgomery, Alabama Guitarists from Alabama Rockabilly guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Rock musicians from Alabama