Jerry Newton is the older brother, by two years, of singer Wayne but despite our best efforts, there's not much we can tell you about him.
In childhood the pair performed together as Rascals in Rhythm in Las Vegas and later as The Newton Brothers Feat. Wayne Newton. Our understanding is that Jerry never got bitten by the showbiz bug, however, and in spite of years of playing, could never even tune his own instrument.
In a 2009 interview with the Las Vegas Sun, Wayne recounted how different he and his brother have always been. Although he was best man at Wayne's first marriage to Elaine Okamura in 1968, the band had already split by then. Jerry was the jokester and would comically insult Wayne on stage, but as Jerry's putdowns became more abrasive, Wayne became less amused. One night in the late 60s, the pair got into a fist fight (which Jerry reportedly won), and the next day he was thrown out of the band and disowned by the family, leading to a four-decade long estrangement between the siblings.
According to Wayne's autobiography, they didn't speak again until Jerry got mixed up in a financial scandal, for which he ended up serving time, in spite of his younger brother's help.
At some point, Jerry moved to Tullahoma, Tennessee and bought the old WJIG radio station, razed the building and built WBGY. We read that he became involved with various businesses in the small town and eventually bought a local bank.
The last we heard is that he now resides in Las Vegas and works as a tour-bus driver, although we were unable to confirm this. And now you know as much as we do about the enigmatic senior Newton brother.
