Beech Tree News Network

Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry was born October 18, 1926 in St Louis, Missouri.  From the duck walk, his dynamic Blues-based guitar riffs to that iconic “Johnny B. Goode” riff, Chuck Berry is synonymous with Rock & Roll.  He is, in fact, the father of Rock & Roll.  His other two nicknames were The Prime Minister of Rock & Roll and the (sorry, Elvis) King of Rock & Roll.  

He received the John F. Kennedy Center Honor in 2000.  He received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1984.  He originally wanted to be a professional photographer and started singing and playing in a band to buy cameras and photography equipment.  Some of his photographs of the famous and near-famous are hanging in galleries around the world today.  

He worked as a janitor, carpenter and hairdresser.  He was arguably the most important figure in 50’s Rock & Roll, aside from Elvis.  Although Presley had much more explosive record sales and greater commercial longevity, Berry was equally influential and had the satisfaction that he, unlike Elvis, had written all of his own classics.  Rolling Stone voted him the fifth greatest Rock & Roll artist of all time.  His only #1 hit was the controversial “My Ding a Ling”.  He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame(1982), Blues Hall of Fame(1985), charter member of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame(1986) and American Songwriters Hall of Fame(1986).

On June 1, 1979, President Jimmy Carter asked Berry to perform at the White House.  On October 1, 1979.  October 7, 1987, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  He received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame June 25, 1989.  In Stephen King’s novel “Christine”, many chapters open with lyric fragments from his songs.  Until his passing, he performed on a Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant in the Del Mar neighborhood in St. Louis.  Born to a contractor and deacon of a Baptist Church, and his wife a qualified principal, he was the third of six children.  

He made his national television debut November 8, 1957 on the New American Bandstand performing the classic “Rock and Roll Music” twice in a row, to the demand of the teenage dancers in the studio.  He served three jail terms: armed robbery(’44), violation of the Mann Act(’59) and tax evasion(’79).  He served two years in the state penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana and was released February 1964.  He owned a warehouse of old Cadillac’s, one for every 3-4 model years, all the way back to the mid-‘50’s, that he claimed to try to get rid of but “nobody gave him a fair price” so he stored them away.   

Berry is mentioned in “Chuck Berry Fields Forever” by Gilberto Gil, “Chuck Berry” by the Toasters, “I Hear You Knockin’” by Dave Edmunds and “Rock and Roll Never Forgets” by Bob Segar.  To quote one of his classics, “Hail, hail Rock & Roll.  Deliver me from the days of old.  Long live Rock & Roll.  The beat of the drums, loud and bold.  Rock, rock, rock & roll.  The feeling is there, body and soul.  R.I.P Chuck Berry.  (1926-3-18-17).