article

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer, and composer.

Chuck Berry is an immensely influential figure, and one of the pioneers of rock & roll music. Cub Koda wrote, "Of all the early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none is more important to the development of the music than Chuck Berry. He is its greatest songwriter, the main shaper of its instrumental voice, one of its greatest guitarists, and one of its greatest performers."* John Lennon was more succinct: "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.

Biography

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry was a third child in a family of six. He grew up in an area of St. Louis known as the Ville, one of the few areas of the city where blacks could own property, which consequently made it synonymous with black prosperity. His father was a contractor and a deacon of a nearby Baptist church, his mother a qualified schoolteacher. His middle class upbringing allowed him to pursue his interest in music from an early age and he made his first public performances while still in high school. Before he could graduate he was arrested and convicted for attempted burglary in 1944, after taking a joy ride with his friends to Kansas City, Missouri. In his 1987 autobiography Chuck Berry: The Autobiography, he retells the story that his car broke down on the side of a highway, and so not having a way home, he flagged down a passing car and when he got in, he pulled the muzzle of a gun out of his coat (it wasn't a working gun; just the metallic part with no handle) and told the man to get out. The man went to a nearby payphone and called the police, who quickly pulled over Berry in the car and arrested him and his friends.

Early career

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. The group included Berry's long-time collaborator, and the group's namesake, piano man Johnnie Johnson.

In May of 1955, Berry traveled to Chicago where he met Muddy Waters who suggested he contact Chess Records. Signed to a contract, that September he released a unique version of the traditional fiddle tune "Ida Red," under the title "Maybellene." The song, which featured a new set of modern lyrics and a driving beat, 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. Berry's early LP records sometimes contained well-delivered blues standards to round out the customary dozen tracks. 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. The hits continued from 1957 to 1959, with Berry scoring over a dozen chart singles during this period, including the top 10 US hits "School Day," "Rock and Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "Johnny B. Goode."

Career scandals

In December 1959, after scoring a string of hit songs and touring often, 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 being fired from the club, the girl was arrested on a prostitution charge and Berry was arrested under the Mann Act (interstate transport of females for immoral purposes). Berry was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison. This event, coupled with other early rock and roll scandals, such as Jerry Lee Lewis's marriage to his thirteen year old cousin, and Alan Freed's payola conviction gave rock and roll an image problem that limited its acceptance into mainstream society. However, when Berry was released from prison in 1963, his musical career enjoyed a resurgence due to many of the British Invasion acts of the 1960s (most notably the Beatles and the Rolling Stones) releasing cover versions of classic Berry hits. In 1964/65, Berry resumed recording and placed 6 singles in the US Hot 100, including "No Particular Place To Go" (#10) and "You Never Can Tell" (#14).

In 1990, Berry was sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the ladies' bathrooms at two of his St. Louis restaurants. A class action settlement was eventually reached with 59 women on the complaint; Berry's biographer Bruce Pegg estimated that it cost Berry over $1.2 million plus legal fees. A Miami distributor is currently marketing video footage purporting to show Berry urinating on a young woman in a bathtub. Although the voice heard sounds similar Berry's face is never visible on the tape making his positive identification impossible.*

Exit and Return to Chess

Berry left Chess Records in 1965, moving to the Mercury label. For a variety of reasons (including changing musical tastes, and different production techniques) the hits dried up for Chuck during the Mercury era. He returned to Chess from 1970-1975.

He did release a hit single in 1972 for Chess, a live recording of a song he had initially recorded years earlier as a novelty track: "My Ding-a-Ling." Despite its lightweight nature, it was Berry's only No. 1 charting single ever. A live recording of "Reelin' And Rockin'" was also issued as a follow-up single that same year, and would prove to be Berry's final top 40 hit in both the US and the UK.

Touring as Chuck Berry, the legend

In the 1970s Berry toured off his earlier successes. 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 when each was just starting their careers. Springsteen related in Hail! Hail Rock and Roll that Berry did not even give the band a set list and just expected the musicians to follow his lead after each opening guitar intro. He also did not speak to or thank the band after the show. Nevertheless, Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. This type of touring style, traveling the "oldies" circuit in the 1970s, where he was often paid in cash by local promoters, added ammunition for the Internal Revenue Service's indictment that Berry was a chronic income tax evader. The third time Berry would face criminal sanction was after he pled guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to four months imprisonment and 1,000 hours of community service, doing benefit concerts in 1979.

Also in 1979, Berry relased "Rockit" for Atco Records, his final studio album to date.

The post-studio era

In 1986, a documentary by Taylor Hackford Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll was made about Berry to document a celebration concert for his sixtieth birthday. Keith Richards was the musical leader, Eric Clapton, Etta James, Robert Cray, and Linda Ronstadt, among others, appear with Berry on stage and film. During the concert Berry plays a Gibson ES 355, the luxury version of the ES 335. Richards plays a black Fender Custom Telecaster, Cray plays a Fender Stratocaster and Clapton plays a Gibson ES350T, the same guitar Berry used on his early recordings. Image Entertainment released a new version of the film in June 2006, which contains the original movie and bonus material such as rehearsels and documentaries. While great to watch, the movie features Berry playing out of tune constantly, and his voice had to be redone as he lost his voice prior to shooting the concert footage.

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.

Influence

A pioneer of rock and roll, Chuck Berry was a significant influence on development of early rock and roll guitar techniques and a major catalyst in rhythm and blues to rock & roll transition. His guitar skill is legendary, and many later guitar musicians acknowleged it as a major influence in their own style. 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, namely Morris Levy. Nevertheless, they became good friends, and played together on more than one occasion. 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. Berry was also a large influence on other artists such as Elvis Presley, The Living End, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, and many others.

While there is debate about who recorded the first rock and roll record, Chuck Berry's early recordings, including "Maybellene" (1955) are perhaps among the first fully synthesized rock and roll singles, 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. It should be noted, however, that Lafayette Leake, not Johnnie Johnson, played the piano on "Johnny B. Goode", "Reelin' and Rockin'", "Sweet Little Sixteen", and "Rock & Roll Music". Additionally, Otis Spann played the piano on "You Can't Catch Me" and "No Money Down".

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, T-Bone Walker, Louis Jordan, and Muddy Waters — who was both the singer and guitarist 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 a dozen Top Ten R&B chart hits, crossed over to have a strong impact on the pop charts with seven top ten US pop hits and four top ten pop hits in the UK, and found his songs being covered by hundreds of blues, country, and rock and roll performers.

In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine named him number six on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. * His compilation album "The Great Twenty-Eight" was also named 21st on the magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2004 six of his songs were included in the Rolling Stone magazines 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, namely "Johnny B. Goode" (# 7), "Maybellene" (# 18), "Roll Over Beethoven" (# 97), "Rock and Roll Music" (#128), "Sweet Little Sixteen" (# 272), "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (# 374). [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6596661/500_greatest_songs/

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:

References in popular culture

  • In the 1985 film Back to the Future, Marty McFly performs Johnny B. Goode at a 1955 school concert. During the performance, one character is shown on the phone saying "Chuck, it's your cousin Marvin Berry. Remember that new sound you are looking for, well listen to this!"

Discography

Singles

Release date Title Chart Positions
US Hot 100 US R&B UK
1955 "Maybellene" (A-Side) #5 #1
→ "Wee Wee Hours" (B-Side) #10
1955 "Thirty Days" #2
1955 "No Money Down" #8
1956 "Roll Over Beethoven" #29 #2
1956 "Too Much Monkey Business" #4
→ "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (B-Side) #5
1956 "You Can't Catch Me"
1957 "School Day" #3 #1 #24
1957 "Oh Baby Doll" #57 #12
1957 "Rock and Roll Music" #8 #6
1958 "Sweet Little Sixteen" #2 #1 #16
1958 "Johnny B. Goode" #8 #2
1958 "Beautiful Delilah" #81
1958 "Carol" #18 #9
1958 "Sweet Little Rock and Roller" (A-Side) #47 #13
→ "Jo Jo Gunne" (B-Side) #83
1958 "Merry Christmas Baby" (A-Side) #71
→ "Run Rudolph Run" (B-Side) #69 #36
1959 "Anthony Boy" #60
1959 "Almost Grown" (A-Side) #32 #3
→ "Little Queenie" (B-Side) #80
1959 "Back In The USA" (A-Side) #37 #16
→ "Memphis, Tennessee" (B-Side) #6
1959 "Broken Arrow" #108
1960 "Too Pooped To Pop (Casey)" (A-Side) #42 #18
→ "Let It Rock" (B-Side) #64 #6
1960 "Bye Bye Johnny"
1960 "I Got To Find My Baby"
1960 "Jaguar and Thunderbird" #109
1961 "I'm Talking About You"
1961 "Come On" (A-Side)
→ "Go Go Go" (B-Side) #38
1963 "Diploma For Two"
1964 "Nadine" #23 #27
1964 "No Particular Place To Go" #10 #3
1964 "You Never Can Tell" #14 #23
1964 "Little Marie" #54
1964 "Promised Land" #41 #26
1965 "Dear Dad" #95
1965 "It Wasn't Me"
1966 "Ramona Say Yes"
1967 "Laugh and Cry"
1967 "Back to Memphis"
1967 "Feelin' It"
1968 "Louie to Frisco"
1969 "Good Looking Woman"
1970 "Tulane"
1972 "My Ding-A-Ling" (live) #1 #42 #1
1972 "Reelin' and Rockin'" (live) #27 #18
1973 "Bio"
1975 "Shake, Rattle and Roll"
1979 "California"

Note that not all of Berry's UK singles were released in the same year as the initial US release, and not all of Berry's UK singles featured the same A-Side/B-Side configurations as in the US.

Billboard did not publish a separate R&B singles chart in 1964, hence Berry's absence from the R&B charts for the singles "Nadine" through "Promised Land".

Studio albums

Live albums

Anthologies

See also

External links

American male singers | American rock singer-songwriters | American singer-guitarists | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Saturday Night Live musical guests | Incarcerated celebrities | American tax evaders | Baptists from the United States | African American musicians | Missouri musicians | St. Louis music | St. Louis Walk of Fame | 1926 births | Living people

Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | צ'אק ברי | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | チャック・ベリー | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Chuck Berry".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world