Chuck Berry

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Birth Name: Charles Edward Anderson Berry

Born: 18 October 1926 Died: 18 March 2017

Country of origin: United States

Height: 6' 1"

Relationship Status: Married

Partner: Themetta "Toddy" Suggs

Lists

94 votes

Gone, but not forgotten (1852 items)
list by Agent Kermit D. Fonz

Published 4 months, 1 week ago

10 comments

79 votes

Blender Magazine's Top 50 Craziest Musicians (50 items)
list by Danie

Published 15 years, 4 months ago

10 comments

64 votes

Bands I've seen live (478 items)
list by the giraffe

Published 13 years, 10 months ago

25 comments

57 votes

They Had The Looks... Now *Sigh* (34 items)
list by Happy Vader

Published 12 years, 10 months ago

28 comments

55 votes

500 Greatest Album Sleeves! (307 items)
list by Happy Vader

Published 12 years, 2 months ago

7 comments

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Chuck Berry Videos

Chuck Berry - Mad Lad (1960)

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Chuck Berry - Memphis

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Chuck Berry One For My Baby (And One More Complete Chess Recordings 1960 1960

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Description: Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter 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 subseq Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter 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 and 2nd greatest guitarist of all time in 2023. 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". "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record. ... (more)

Tags: Guitarist (6), American (5), Rock Star (4), Died 2017 (3), Born 1926 (3), Black (2), Rock And Roll (2), The Best (2), Voyeur (2), Legend (2), Perverse (2), Songwriter (2), American Black (1), Amazing Guitar (1), Israelite (1), Judite (1), Tribe Of Judah (1), Born Captive In The Second Egypt (1), Blues (1), Deutoronomy 28 (1)

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1. Chuck Berry: The Autobiography

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Agent Kermit D. Fonz added this to a list 4 months, 1 week ago

Gone, but not forgotten (1852 person items)

apo55a voted for an image 1 year, 11 months ago

Onion Jack added this to a list 2 years, 4 months ago

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (420 music items)

"CLASS OF 1986PERFORMERSCHUCK BERRY● ROCK AND ROLL ● R&B ●CHARLES EDWARD ANDERSON BERRY Born: 18 October 1926 Died: 18 March 2017RIAA CERTIFICATIONS- = SINGLES = -► Gold: 1 - Platinum: 2 ◄- = STUDIO ALBUMS = - ► Gold: 1 ◄KEY SONGSMaybellene (1955) - with His Combo- selected for 'The 660 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll'- selected for the 'Grammy Hall of Fame'- ranked #102 on Rolling Stone's '500 Greatest Songs'Roll Over Beethoven (1956) - with His Combo- selected for 'The 660 Songs T"

Onion Jack voted for an image 2 years, 5 months ago