Chuck Berry

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Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is a highly influential African American guitarist, singer, and composer. Berry was born in St. Louis, Missouri and was part of the first group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.

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Biography

As a young man, Berry served a three-year term in reform school for attempted burglary. He was later arrested for stealing a car. Chuck Berry had been playing a form of the "blues" since his teens and by early 1953 was performing with "Sir John's Trio," a band that played at a popular club in St. Louis. In May of 1955, he traveled to Chicago where he met Muddy Waters who suggested he contact Chess Records. Signed to a contract, he released that September a unique version of the Bob Wills song, "Ida Red," under the title, "Maybellene." The song eventually peaked at #5 on the Billboard charts. At the end of June 1956, his song "Roll Over Beethoven" reached #29 on the Billboard charts. In the autumn of 1957, Berry joined the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and other rising stars of the new rock and roll to tour the United States.

In December 1959, Berry had legal problems after he invited a 14-year-old Apache waitress he met in Mexico to work as a hat check girl at Berry's Club Bandstand, his nightclub in St. Louis. After the girl was arrested on a prostitution charge, so was Berry, who stood accused under the Mann Act of transporting a minor across state lines for sexual purposes. Berry was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in 1963, but his best years were behind him.

Berry toured for many years carrying only his Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went. Among the many bandleaders performing this backup role were Bruce Springsteen and Steve Miller. Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

After traveling the "oldies" circuit in the 1970s, Berry was in trouble with the law again in 1979, when he pled guilty to income tax evasion and was sentenced to four months imprisonment and 1,000 hours of community service doing benefit concerts.

In the late 1980s, Berry owned a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri, called The Southern Air. Berry also owns an estate in Wentzville called Berry Park. For many years, Berry hosted rock concerts throughout the summer at Berry Park. He eventually closed the estate to the public due to the riotous behavior of many guests.

Although in his late 70s, Berry continues to perform regularly, playing both throughout the United States and overseas. He performs one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis.

A documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll was made about him and a concert he did in 1987.

Berry was also the subject of attention in the early 1990s for his alleged voyeurism of female guests in the bathrooms of his home and restaurant.

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Influence

A pioneer of rock and roll, Chuck Berry was a significant influence on others. When Keith Richards inducted Berry into the Hall of Fame, he said, "It's hard for me to induct Chuck Berry, because I lifted every lick he ever played!" John Lennon, another devotee of Berry, borrowed a line from Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" for his song "Come Together," and was subsequently sued by Berry's management. Angus Young of AC/DC, who has cited Berry as one of his biggest influences, is famous for using Berry's duckwalk as one of his gimmicks.

While there is debate about who recorded the first rock and roll record, Chuck Berry's early recordings, including "Maybellene" (1955) fully synthesized the rock and roll form, combining blues and country music with teenaged lyrics about girls and cars, with impeccable diction alongside distinctive electric guitar solos and an energetic stage persona. Chuck Berry also popularized use of the boogie in rock and roll.

Most of his famous recordings were on Chess Records with pianist Johnnie Johnson from Berry's own band and legendary record producer Willie Dixon on bass, Fred Below on drums, and Berry's guitar, arguably the epitome of an early rock and roll band.

Producer Leonard Chess recalled laconically:

I told Chuck to give it a bigger beat. History the rest, you know? The kids wanted the big beat, cars, and young love. It was a trend and we jumped on it.

Clive Anderson wrote for the compilation Chuck Berry—Poet of Rock 'n' Roll:

While Elvis was a country boy who sang "black" to some degree ... Chuck Berry provided the mirror image where country music was filtered through an R&B sensibility.

Berry's musical influences included Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan, and Muddy Waters, the singer and guitarist who was vital in the transformation of Delta blues into Chicago blues, and the man who introduced Berry to Leonard Chess at Chess Records.

Throughout his career Berry recorded both smooth ballads like "Havana Moon" and blues tunes like "Wee Wee Hours." but it was his own mastery of the new form that won him fame. He recorded more than 30 Top Ten records, and his songs have been covered by hundreds of blues, country, and rock and roll performers.

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Chuck Berry songs

Many of his songs are among the leading rock and roll anthems:

His other hits, many of them novelty narratives, include:

Among his blues tributes:

His songs are collected on albums like:

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See also

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External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Berry"
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