2026 IS THE CENTENNIAL YEAR OF CHUCK BERRY. (b. October 18, 1926--d. March 18, 2017)
Today, October 20, 2026 we feature the life, art, and legacy of the iconic and legendary musician, composer, songwriter, arranger, poet, playwright, singer, teacher, producer, and activist Chuck Berry--The undisputed KING OF ROCK ‘N ROLL–Part 1
https://soundprojections.blogspot.com/2015/07/chuck-berry-b-october-18-1926-legendary.html
PHOTO: CHUCK BERRY (1926-2017)
A CELEBRATION OF AND IN HOMAGE AND GRATITUDE TO THE LIFE AND WORK OF CHUCK BERRY (b. October 18, 1926--d. March 18, 2017)
All,
So dig yall. Check this out. Last night (March 17) my beloved wife and I were actually having a very spirited, intense, wide ranging, dynamic, and HEAVY discussion about the sheer beauty, wit, power, humor, intelligence, creative imagination and awe inspiring/mind boggling GENIUS of a man whose name at birth was Charles Edward Anderson Berry, later known to the entire spinning globe as CHUCK, one of the most important, influential, and enduring ARTISTS of the past century bar none. REMEMBER: This is the man who along with such brilliantly talented colleagues, comrades, and fellow straightup revolutionary black cultural subversives as Little Richard, Otis Blackwell, Bo Diddley, Wynonie Harris, Big Mama Thornton, Ruth Brown, Etta James, Jackie Wilson, Louis Jordan, The Trenier Brothers, etc. etc. who actually INVENTED, yes INVENTED what everyone now calls ROCK AND ROLL and we in the so-called "urban zones" called JUMP MUSIC (among many other things)...
THE POINT is this (and it should NEVER be forgotten or ignored or dismissed on any level whatsoever): WITHOUT the great CHUCK BERRY there is no Beatles, no Rolling Stones, no Bob Dylan, no John Lennon, no Elvis, no Jimi Hendrix, no Bruce Springsteen, no major (or minor) rock or pop musician, composer, songwriter, singer, performer, poet, or philosopher. PERIOD. He was the premeire foundational artistic and social template of 20th/21st century popular music long before anyone knew or acknowledged there was any such thing...
So forget about the following typically cheesy bullshit phony baloney obit from the "mainstream" press (I mean, get real folks, it's only the NY Times, afterall). In any event it doesn't come anywhere close to informing the reader or justly "explaining" just exactly how and why CHUCK BERRY was and is and will always be so damn important to not only music but art making in general as we know it in what we all archly refer to as "the modern world." So stay tuned in the following blizzard of posts I will be making available in this social media space over the next 24 hours. And oh yeah LISTEN TO THE MUSIC and tell your friends and other loved ones or just mere acquaintances what the big noise is all about here. In the meantime THANK YOU BROTHER BERRY. Your music and your creative style changed the world and our understanding of it and ourselves which what we arrogantly call ART at its very damn best always does...RIP forever "brown eyed handsome man"...
Kofi
March 18, 2017
The New York Times
NYTimes.com »
Breaking News Alert
BREAKING NEWS
Chuck Berry, whose distinctive guitar licks, duckwalks and songs about girls and cars helped define rock 'n' roll, has died at 90
Saturday, March 18, 2017
6:25 PM EDT
Chuck Berry, who with his indelible guitar licks, brash self-confidence and memorable songs about cars, girls and wild dance parties did as much as anyone to define rock ’n’ roll’s potential and attitude in its early years, died on Saturday. He was 90.
The St. Charles County Police Department in Missouri confirmed his death on its Facebook page. The department said it responded to a medical emergency at a home and he was declared dead after lifesaving measures were unsuccessful.
While Elvis Presley was rock’s first pop star and teenage heartthrob, Mr. Berry was its master theorist and conceptual genius, the songwriter who understood what the kids wanted before they did themselves. With songs like “Johnny B. Goode” and “Roll Over Beethoven,” he gave his listeners more than they knew they were getting from jukebox entertainment.
Read more »
https://www.nytimes.com/20…/…/18/arts/chuck-berry-dead.html…
Music
All,
So dig yall. Check this out. Last night (March 17) my beloved wife and I were actually having a very spirited, intense, wide ranging, dynamic, and HEAVY discussion about the sheer beauty, wit, power, humor, intelligence, creative imagination and awe inspiring/mind boggling GENIUS of a man whose name at birth was Charles Edward Anderson Berry, later known to the entire spinning globe as CHUCK, one of the most important, influential, and enduring ARTISTS of the past century bar none. REMEMBER: This is the man who along with such brilliantly talented colleagues, comrades, and fellow straightup revolutionary black cultural subversives as Little Richard, Otis Blackwell, Bo Diddley, Wynonie Harris, Big Mama Thornton, Ruth Brown, Etta James, Jackie Wilson, Louis Jordan, The Trenier Brothers, etc. etc. who actually INVENTED, yes INVENTED what everyone now calls ROCK AND ROLL and we in the so-called "urban zones" called JUMP MUSIC (among many other things)...
THE POINT is this (and it should NEVER be forgotten or ignored or dismissed on any level whatsoever): WITHOUT the great CHUCK BERRY there is no Beatles, no Rolling Stones, no Bob Dylan, no John Lennon, no Elvis, no Jimi Hendrix, no Bruce Springsteen, no major (or minor) rock or pop musician, composer, songwriter, singer, performer, poet, or philosopher. PERIOD. He was the premeire foundational artistic and social template of 20th/21st century popular music long before anyone knew or acknowledged there was any such thing...
So forget about the following typically cheesy bullshit phony baloney obit from the "mainstream" press (I mean, get real folks, it's only the NY Times, afterall). In any event it doesn't come anywhere close to informing the reader or justly "explaining" just exactly how and why CHUCK BERRY was and is and will always be so damn important to not only music but art making in general as we know it in what we all archly refer to as "the modern world." So stay tuned in the following blizzard of posts I will be making available in this social media space over the next 24 hours. And oh yeah LISTEN TO THE MUSIC and tell your friends and other loved ones or just mere acquaintances what the big noise is all about here. In the meantime THANK YOU BROTHER BERRY. Your music and your creative style changed the world and our understanding of it and ourselves which what we arrogantly call ART at its very damn best always does...RIP forever "brown eyed handsome man"...
Kofi
March 18, 2017
The New York Times
NYTimes.com »
Breaking News Alert
BREAKING NEWS
Chuck Berry, whose distinctive guitar licks, duckwalks and songs about girls and cars helped define rock 'n' roll, has died at 90
Saturday, March 18, 2017
6:25 PM EDT
Chuck Berry, who with his indelible guitar licks, brash self-confidence and memorable songs about cars, girls and wild dance parties did as much as anyone to define rock ’n’ roll’s potential and attitude in its early years, died on Saturday. He was 90.
The St. Charles County Police Department in Missouri confirmed his death on its Facebook page. The department said it responded to a medical emergency at a home and he was declared dead after lifesaving measures were unsuccessful.
While Elvis Presley was rock’s first pop star and teenage heartthrob, Mr. Berry was its master theorist and conceptual genius, the songwriter who understood what the kids wanted before they did themselves. With songs like “Johnny B. Goode” and “Roll Over Beethoven,” he gave his listeners more than they knew they were getting from jukebox entertainment.
Read more »
https://www.nytimes.com/20…/…/18/arts/chuck-berry-dead.html…
Music
"If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."
--John Lennon
Chuck Berry Wins Prestigious Polar Music Prize
Rock pioneer joins past winners Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen
by Kory Grow
May 8, 2014
Rolling Stone
Rock pioneer joins past winners Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen
by Kory Grow
May 8, 2014
Rolling Stone
Chuck Berry Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Chuck Berry will be honored with the Polar Music Prize this year at a ceremony in Stockholm in late August. The rock pioneer, whose hits "Johnny B. Goode," "Maybelline" and "Roll Over Beethoven," among others, defined guitar playing for a generation, will receive £100,000 (a little more than $169,600) at the ceremony, which Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf will attend, the U.K.'s Telegraph reports. The award was founded by late Abba manager, lyricist and publisher Stig Anderson, who wanted it to "break down musical boundaries by bringing together people from all the different worlds of music." As such, 2014's other Polar recipient is opera and theater director Peter Sellars.
100 Greatest Guitarists: David Fricke on Chuck Berry
Past recipients have included Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, BB King, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen and Quincy Jones, among others. Paul McCartney was the first Polar Music Prize recipient in 1992; the other recipient in its inaugural year was the Baltic States, in honor of the region's national music culture. "The difference with this one for me is that I've presumably been chosen from everyone in the world," McCartney said at the ceremony. "You can't knock that, that's a high honor. They could have chosen all sorts of other people, I can think of a few people who you could choose for a music honor like this."
Part of Berry's Polar Music Award citation reads, "Every riff and solo played by rock guitarists over the last 60 years contains DNA that can be traced right back to Chuck Berry. The Rolling Stones, the Beatles and a million other groups began to learn their craft by playing Chuck Berry songs."
Chuck Berry will be honored with the Polar Music Prize this year at a ceremony in Stockholm in late August. The rock pioneer, whose hits "Johnny B. Goode," "Maybelline" and "Roll Over Beethoven," among others, defined guitar playing for a generation, will receive £100,000 (a little more than $169,600) at the ceremony, which Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf will attend, the U.K.'s Telegraph reports. The award was founded by late Abba manager, lyricist and publisher Stig Anderson, who wanted it to "break down musical boundaries by bringing together people from all the different worlds of music." As such, 2014's other Polar recipient is opera and theater director Peter Sellars.
100 Greatest Guitarists: David Fricke on Chuck Berry
Past recipients have included Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, BB King, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen and Quincy Jones, among others. Paul McCartney was the first Polar Music Prize recipient in 1992; the other recipient in its inaugural year was the Baltic States, in honor of the region's national music culture. "The difference with this one for me is that I've presumably been chosen from everyone in the world," McCartney said at the ceremony. "You can't knock that, that's a high honor. They could have chosen all sorts of other people, I can think of a few people who you could choose for a music honor like this."
Part of Berry's Polar Music Award citation reads, "Every riff and solo played by rock guitarists over the last 60 years contains DNA that can be traced right back to Chuck Berry. The Rolling Stones, the Beatles and a million other groups began to learn their craft by playing Chuck Berry songs."
Chuck Berry’s music has transcended generations. He earns respect to this day because he is truly an entertainer. Berry, also known as “The Father of Rock & Roll," gained success by watching the audience’s reaction and playing accordingly, putting his listeners’ amusement above all else. For this reason, tunes like “Johnny B. Goode,” “Maybellene” and “Memphis” have become anthems to an integrated American youth and popular culture. Berry is a musical icon who established rock and roll as a musical form and brought the worlds of black and white together in song. Born in St. Louis on October 18, 1926 Berry had many influences on his life that shaped his musical style. He emulated the smooth vocal clarity of his idol, Nat King Cole, while playing blues songs from bands like Muddy Waters. For his first stage performance, Berry chose to sing a Jay McShann song called “Confessin’ the Blues.” It was at his high school’s student musical performance, when the blues was well-liked but not considered appropriate for such an event. He got a thunderous applause for his daring choice, and from then on, Berry had to be onstage.
GUITAR LESSONS
Berry took up the guitar after that, inspired by his partner in the school production. He found that if he learned rhythm changes and blues chords, he could play most of the popular songs on the radio at the time. His friend, Ira Harris, showed him techniques on the guitar that would become the foundation of Berry’s original sound. Then in 1952, he began playing guitar and singing in a club band whose song list ranged from blues to ballads to calypso to country. Berry was becoming an accomplished showman, incorporating gestures and facial expressions to go with the lyrics.
It was in 1953 that Chuck Berry joined the Sir John’s Trio (eventually renamed the Chuck Berry Combo), which played the popular Cosmopolitan Club in St. Louis. Country-western music was big at the time, so Berry decided to use some of the riffs and create his own unique hillbilly sound. The black audience thought he was crazy at first, but couldn’t resist trying to dance along with it. Since country was popular with white people, they began to come to the shows, and the audience was at some points almost 40 percent white. Berry’s stage show antics were getting attention, but the other band members did their parts as well. In his own words: “I would slur my strings to make a passage that Johnnie (Johnson) could not produce with piano keys but the answer would be so close that he would get a tremendous ovation. His answer would sound similar to some that Jerry Lee Lewis’s fingers later began to flay.”
SOME GOOD ADVICE
Later in 1955, Berry went on a road trip to Chicago, where he chanced upon a club where his idol, Muddy Waters, was performing. He arrived late and only heard the last song, but when it was over he got the attention of Waters and asked him who to see about making a record. Waters replied, “Yeah, Leonard Chess. Yeah, Chess Records over on Forty-seventh and Cottage.” Berry went there on Monday and discovered it was a blues label where greats like Howlin’ Wolf and Bo Diddley recorded. He didn’t have any tapes to show, but Chess was willing to listen if he brought some back from St. Louis. So Berry went home and recorded some originals, including the would-be “Maybellene,” then called “Ida May,” and drove back to Chicago later that week to audition. Much to Berry’s surprise, it was that hillbilly number that caught Chess’ attention. Berry was signed to Chess Records and in the summer of 1955, “Maybellene” reached #5 on the Pop Charts and #1 on the R&B Charts. Through Chuck Berry, Chess Records moved from the R&B genre into the mainstream and Berry himself was on his way to stardom.
THE REST IS HISTORY
Berry continued his success with such hits as “Brown-Eyed Man,” “Too Much Monkey Business,” “Memphis,” “Roll Over, Beethoven!” and “Johnny B. Goode.” “Johnny B. Goode” is Berry’s masterpiece, as it brought together all the elements of Berry’s unique musical sound. It cemented his place in rock history and led to fame in the 1950s. His popularity garnered him television and movie appearances and he toured frequently.
Berry’s incredible success is due to his ability to articulate the concerns and attitudes of his audience in his music. At the height of his success, Berry was a 30-year-old black man singing to a mostly white, teenage audience. Dubbed the “Eternal Teenager,” Chuck Berry’s knowledge of the pop market made it possible for him to break color barriers and play to an integrated audience.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Berry’s music was the inspiration for such groups as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Berry had a number of comeback recordings and in 1972 had the first and only #1 Pop Chart hit of his career with “My Ding-A-Ling. 1986 fittingly saw him inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the very first inductee in history. As a tribute to his pervasiveness in the realm of rock, a clip of “Johnny B. Goode” was chosen played in the Voyager I spacecraft, proving Chuck Berry and his rock legacy are truly out of this world.
https://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry
From 1986 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Essay
“Berry’s repertoire is required learning for all serious rockers, and essential listening for anyone who wants to know what rock and roll is all about.”
From 1986 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Essay
“Berry’s repertoire is required learning for all serious rockers, and essential listening for anyone who wants to know what rock and roll is all about.”
—Michael Hill
Chuck Berry’s fusion of blues, R&B, and country created an enduring template for rock & roll instrumentation, breaking down boundaries of both genre and race. He vastly expanded the vocabulary of the electric guitar, his technical prowess and showmanship inspiring the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and countless more. Lyrically, Berry’s rhythmic, vivid storytelling elevated the language of rock, enshrining American teenage life in song.
Inducted:
1986
Category:
Performer
Inducted By:
Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones)
Induction
Impact
Influence
Induction (Videos)
"Johnny B. Goode"
"Wang Dang Doodle"
"Roll Over Beethoven"
Influence and Influences
Chuck Berry Influenced
BIOGRAPHY
Chuck Berry’s music has transcended generations. He earns respect to this day because he was truly an entertainer. Berry, also known as “The Father of Rock & Roll," gained success by watching the audience’s reaction and playing accordingly, putting his listeners’ amusement above all else. For this reason, tunes like “Johnny B. Goode,” “Maybellene” and “Memphis” have become anthems to an integrated American youth and popular culture. Berry is a musical icon who established rock and roll as a musical form and brought the worlds of black and white together in song. Born in St. Louis on October 18, 1926 Berry had many influences on his life that shaped his musical style. He emulated the smooth vocal clarity of his idol, Nat King Cole, while playing blues songs from bands like Muddy Waters. For his first stage performance, Berry chose to sing a Jay McShann song called “Confessin’ the Blues.” It was at his high school’s student musical performance, when the blues was well-liked but not considered appropriate for such an event. He got a thunderous applause for his daring choice, and from then on, Berry had to be onstage.
FILMS
1995 History of Rock 'n' Roll - Rock 'n' Roll Explodes
1993 History of Rock 'n' Roll - Guitar Heroes
1993 Bluesland: A Portrait in American Music
1987 Chuck Berry: Hail Hail Rock 'n' Roll
1985 Chuck Berry & Bo Diddley's Rock 'n' Roll All-Star Jam
1982 National Lampoon's Class Reunion
1978 American Hot Wax
1973 London Rock and Roll Show of 1973
1973 Let the Good Times Roll
1969 Little Richard: Keep on Rockin'
1969 Chuck Berry: Rock 'n' Roll Music
1965 Chuck Berry Hosts: BORN TO ROCK - The T.A.M.I. - T.N.T. Show
1959 Jazz on a Summer's Day
1959 Go Johnny Go (PAL only)
1957 Mister Rock and Roll
1956 Rock, Rock, Rock
NA Chuck Berry: Live at the Roxy with Tina Turner
NA Joined on Stage By Tina Turner
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
June 9th, 2017 The long awaited final studio album CHUCK, is released to critical acclaim.
August 26, 2014 Chuck honored with the prestigious Polar Music Prize.
December 2, 2000 Honoree at the 23rd Kennedy Center Honors.
September 2, 1995 Performs "Johnny B. Goode" alongside Bruce Springsteen at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
October 8, 1987 The film " Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll" is released. It is a live tribute to Berry, and is directed by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.
1987 Publishes his honest and insightful autobiography.
January 23, 1986 Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York City.
February 26, 1985 Receives Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards.
June 1, 1979 Performs for President Jimmy Carter.
March 1, 1978 Appears as himself in the film "American Hot Wax," a biography about deejay Alan Freed.
October 21, 1972 The song "My Ding-a-Ling" (originally "My Tambourine") reaches No. 1, the only Berry recording to top the charts.
May 1, 1972 The London Chuck Berry Sessions is released; it becomes Berry's top-selling album, hitting No. 8 on the charts.
1965 Appears in concert film featuring the TAMI (Teen-Age Music International) Show, along with The Beach Boys, Rolling Stones and more.
May 31, 1961 Opens own amusement park, called Berryland, outside St. Louis.
March 17, 1958 "Sweet Little Sixteen" grabs No. 1 spot on R&B chart and No. 2 on pop chart, while rock & roll classic"Johnny B. Goode" gets No. 2 on R&B and No. 8 on pop.
September-November 1957 Goes on tour with the "Biggest Show of Stars for '57," which also included Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, etc.
June 30, 1956 Berry's song "Roll Over Beethoven" takes the second spot on the R&B chart, and gets to No. 29 on the pop chart.
September 1955 "Maybellene" hits No. 5 on Billboard's Rock and Roll Singles chart.
May 21, 1955 Records first songs, "Maybellene" and "Wee Wee Hours."
May 1955 Takes a roadtrip to Chicago; talks briefly to Muddy Waters, who refers him to Chess Records. There he lands a recording contract.
December 30, 1952 Receives a call from pianist Johnnie Johnson asking Berry to join the Sir John's Trio, a band that played at the very popular Cosmopolitan Club.
June 13, 1952 Joins Tommy Stevens in a house band that played Huff's Garden every Saturday.
1941 Performs at his school's musical stage performance, singing "Confessin' The Blues" while accompanied by his friend, Tommy Stevens, on guitar. Stevens' powerful performance inspires him to learn how to play the instrument himself.
AWARDS
2014 Polar Music Prize
2012 PEN Literary Award Winner
2002 BMI ICON award winner; other winners were Little Richard and Bo Diddley
1987 Receives a star on Hollywood Boulevard in California
1989 Honored with a star on Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri
1985 Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
1985 Receives Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards
1982 Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Association International Hall of Fame
ACHIEVEMENTS
First singer/songwriter of 1955
First guitarist/singer to get on Billboard charts
Directly inspired great rock icons The Beatles, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley
United blacks and whites by producing music that appealed to everyone
His single "Johnny B. Goode" made the top 10 in 1958
Had the number one single in 1972 with "My Ding-a-ling"
Performed for President Jimmy Carter at the White House in 1975
Was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986
Released his autobiography in 1987
"Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" made its debut in 1987
Berry performed "Johnny B. Goode" with Bruce Springsteen at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995
1977 Johnny Be Goode included content on Voyager 1 spacecraft
GENERAL INFORMATION
Birth Name: Charles Edward Anderson Berry
Nicknames: Father of Rock ‘N’ Roll, The Prime Minister of Rock ‘N’ Roll
Occupation: Musician
Born: October 18, 1926
Birth place: St. Louis, Mo.
Parents: Henry and Martha Berry
Wife: Themetta Suggs-Berry
Children: Darlin Ingrid Berry-Clay, Melody Exes Berry-Eskridge, Aloha Isa Lei Berry, Charles Edward Berry Jr.
Siblings: Henry, Thelma, Lucy, Paul, Martha
Weight: 180 lbs
Musically influenced by: Nat "King" Cole, Muddy Waters
Trademark: Duckwalk
FAVORITES
Food: Enjoyed beef and seafood, peaches, home fries, candied yams, chili, grape soda, orange juice, Snickers bars and Dutch apple pie. Despised liver, okra, gumbo, celery, carrots, cooked onions, grapefruit, salami and liquor.
Hobbies: Playing music, softball, twenty questions, chess, croquet, highway driving
Comedians: Lucille Ball
Music & Publishing Licensing:
aruiz@drivepublishing.com
Business Affairs:
chuckberry@isaleemusic.com
