Chuck Berry
Born: 18 October 1926
Died: 18 March 2017 (91 Years)
Cause: On March 18, 2017, Berry was found unresponsive at his home near Wentzville, Missouri. Emergency workers called to the scene were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead by his personal physician. TMZ posted an audio recording on its website in which a 911 operator can be heard responding to a reported cardiac arrest at Berry's home
Died: 18 March 2017 (91 Years)
Cause: On March 18, 2017, Berry was found unresponsive at his home near Wentzville, Missouri. Emergency workers called to the scene were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead by his personal physician. TMZ posted an audio recording on its website in which a 911 operator can be heard responding to a reported cardiac arrest at Berry's home
Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958). Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship, Berry was a major influence on subsequent rock music.
Born into a middle-class black family in St. Louis, 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 was convicted of armed robbery and was sent to a reformatory, where he was held from 1944 to 1947. After 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 the blues musician T-Bone Walker, Berry began performing 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 number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues chart.
By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star, with several hit records and film appearances and a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand. He was sentenced to three years in prison in January 1962 for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines for the purpose of having sexual intercourse. After his release in 1963, Berry had several more successful songs, including "No Particular Place to Go", "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine". However, 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 nostalgia performer, playing his past material with local backup bands of variable quality. In 1972 he reached a new level of achievement when a rendition of "My Ding-a-Ling" became his only record to top the charts. His insistence on being paid in cash led in 1979 to a four-month jail sentence 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; he was cited for having "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "greatest of all time" lists; he was ranked fifth on its 2004 and 2011 lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll includes three of Berry's: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record.
(wikipedia)
Born into a middle-class black family in St. Louis, 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 was convicted of armed robbery and was sent to a reformatory, where he was held from 1944 to 1947. After 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 the blues musician T-Bone Walker, Berry began performing 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 number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues chart.
By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star, with several hit records and film appearances and a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand. He was sentenced to three years in prison in January 1962 for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines for the purpose of having sexual intercourse. After his release in 1963, Berry had several more successful songs, including "No Particular Place to Go", "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine". However, 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 nostalgia performer, playing his past material with local backup bands of variable quality. In 1972 he reached a new level of achievement when a rendition of "My Ding-a-Ling" became his only record to top the charts. His insistence on being paid in cash led in 1979 to a four-month jail sentence 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; he was cited for having "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "greatest of all time" lists; he was ranked fifth on its 2004 and 2011 lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll includes three of Berry's: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record.
(wikipedia)
He has been cited as a major reference to a variety of some of the most influential acts of all time:
Elvis Presley covered "Memphis, Tennessee", Too Much Monkey Business", "Johnny B. Goode" and "Promised Land”
Jimi Hendrix covered "Johnny B. Goode"
The Beatles covered "Rock and Roll Music", "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Memphis, Tennessee" among others
The Rolling Stones have covered "Around and Around", "Bye Bye Johnny", "Carol", "Come On", "Let It Rock", "Little Queenie", "Talkin' About You", and "You Can't Catch Me", among others
The Beach Boys used the melody from "Sweet Little Sixteen" for “Surfin’ U.S.A." and later covered “Rock and Roll Music”
Carl Perkins covered "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Johnny B. Goode"
The Dave Clark Five covered "Reelin' and Rockin'"
Electric Light Orchestra covered "Roll Over Beethoven"
Status Quo have covered "You Never Can Tell" and "Carol"
ACϟDC have covered "School Days"
Bryan Adams, Keith Richards and Dave Edmunds have covered "Run Rudolph Run"
Faces covered "Memphis, Tennessee"
David Bowie covered "Around and Around"
The Yardbirds covered "Guitar Boogie" as "Jeff's Boogie"
The Kinks covered "Too Much Monkey Business" and "Beautiful Delilah"
Buddy Holly covered "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"
The Grateful Dead have covered "Around and Around", "Promised Land", "Johnny B. Goode", and "Let it Rock"
(wikipedia)
Elvis Presley covered "Memphis, Tennessee", Too Much Monkey Business", "Johnny B. Goode" and "Promised Land”
Jimi Hendrix covered "Johnny B. Goode"
The Beatles covered "Rock and Roll Music", "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Memphis, Tennessee" among others
The Rolling Stones have covered "Around and Around", "Bye Bye Johnny", "Carol", "Come On", "Let It Rock", "Little Queenie", "Talkin' About You", and "You Can't Catch Me", among others
The Beach Boys used the melody from "Sweet Little Sixteen" for “Surfin’ U.S.A." and later covered “Rock and Roll Music”
Carl Perkins covered "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Johnny B. Goode"
The Dave Clark Five covered "Reelin' and Rockin'"
Electric Light Orchestra covered "Roll Over Beethoven"
Status Quo have covered "You Never Can Tell" and "Carol"
ACϟDC have covered "School Days"
Bryan Adams, Keith Richards and Dave Edmunds have covered "Run Rudolph Run"
Faces covered "Memphis, Tennessee"
David Bowie covered "Around and Around"
The Yardbirds covered "Guitar Boogie" as "Jeff's Boogie"
The Kinks covered "Too Much Monkey Business" and "Beautiful Delilah"
Buddy Holly covered "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"
The Grateful Dead have covered "Around and Around", "Promised Land", "Johnny B. Goode", and "Let it Rock"
(wikipedia)