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Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry
(born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer, and
songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs
such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and
Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined
and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock
and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism
and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major
influence on subsequent rock music.
Born into a middle class family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an
interest in music from an early age and gave his first public
performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he
served a prison sentence for armed robbery between 1944 and 1947. On
his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an
automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar
riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, he was
performing in the evenings with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break
came when he traveled to Chicago in May, 1955, and met Muddy Waters,
who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. With Chess he
recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida
Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard's
Rhythm and Blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an
established star with several hit records and film appearances to his
name as well as a lucrative touring career. He had also established his
own St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand. But in
January, 1962, Berry was sentenced to three years in prison for
offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl
across state lines.
After his release in 1963, Berry had several more hits, including
"No Particular Place To Go", "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine", but
these did not achieve the same success, or lasting impact, of his 1950s
songs, and by the 1970s he was more in demand as a nostalgic live
performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable
quality. His insistence on being paid cash led to a jail sentence in
1979—four months and community service for tax evasion.
Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986, with the comment that he
"laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and
roll stance." Berry is included in several Rolling Stone "Greatest of
All Time" lists, including being ranked fifth on their 2004 list of the
100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500
Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll included three of Chuck Berry's songs:
"Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Today – at
the age of 84 – Berry continues to play live.
Official Site: www.chuckberry.com
Greatest Hits (Prism Entertainement, 1998)