Chuck Berry: One of the greatest Guitarists
“If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'": this sentence, spoken by Beatles singer John Lennon, gets to the heart of what others need entire books for. And one thing is still true even after all these years: every attempt to get close to Charles Edward Anderson Berry sooner or later ends in an orgy of superlatives. It's no wonder that rock 'n' roll owes so much to the man from St. Louis, where Charles was born on October 18, 1926, the third of six children.
Chuck Berry's upcoming
His father worked as a deacon in the Baptist community in “The Ville,” one of the few neighborhoods where blacks were allowed to purchase property, which mainly attracted wealthy families. Berry discovered his love of photography at an early age through his cousin Harry Davis, a passion that would stay with him for the rest of his life. Even before graduating from Sumner High School, where Tina Turner also went to school, Berry came into conflict with the law: in Kansas City in 1944, Berry and two friends found themselves in the local police station and were subsequently sentenced to ten years' juvenile detention for armed robbery.
After about two years behind bars, freedom welcomed him back on his 21st birthday. Shortly thereafter, he married Themetta Suggs and kept his head above water with odd jobs until he made his first public appearance with Sir John's Trio on New Year's Eve 1952. Bandleader and pianist Johnnie Johnson and drummer Ebby Hardy quickly chose the charismatic guitarist Chuck Berry as the new name of the combo and made a name for themselves in the local scene.
It all began in Chicago
In 1955, Berry went to Chicago to meet his idol Muddy Waters, who put him in touch with Leonard Chess, the owner of Chess Records, one of the best addresses for blues and R 'n' B in those days. Chess was thrilled by Berry's “Ida Red” and released it under the new title “Maybellene” on May 21, 1955. Chess also got the song played on the radio show of legendary DJ Alan Freed, who made Chuck Berry's debut a chart hit. It's a success that comes at a price, because Chess promises Freed the copyright of the song for his promotion. “Maybellene” makes it to number five in the charts and Berry is an overnight sensation. In the following months, Berry wrote some of the greatest rock 'n' roll classics, such as the almost punk-like “Thirty Days”, “Roll Over Beethoven”, the anthemic “Johnny B. Goode”, “Rock And Roll Music” or “Sweet Little Sixteen”, all of which worked their way up the charts but could not repeat the success of “Maybellene”. The album “Chuck Berry Is On Top” brings together some of his greatest hits.
Berry's TV Appearance
In 1958, Berry appeared in front of the camera in a few music films initiated by Alan Freed and toured the United States with his friend Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis, the newcomer at Sam Phillips' Sun Records, as part of the “Big Beat Tour”. During the tour, Berry and Lewis experienced a series of jealousies because both wanted to close the shows as the top act. In retrospect, both of them look back on this chapter with a smile.
The money from the hit singles goes towards a piece of land near St. Louis that Berry had already purchased in 1957. Almost a year later, he opened his own nightclub, Bandstand, where racial barriers were not an issue, which was unusual in pre-Civil Rights Movement America. This made Berry an enemy of the local authorities, who closed the club in 1959 when allegations were made against Berry that he was promoting the prostitution of minors. Once again charged, a judge who was proven to have made racist remarks sentenced Berry to three years' imprisonment and a fine.
Legal troubles for the Chuck Berry
Although Berry's lawyers challenged the verdict on the grounds of the judge's bias, an appeal led to the same sentence being imposed, and so the father of rock 'n' roll began his second prison term on February 19, 1962. While he was behind bars, England was gripped by beat fever. The Rolling Stones and The Beatles were the bands of the time. And both paid tribute to Chuck Berry with cover versions of “Come On” and “Roll Over Beethoven”, which made Berry and his idiosyncratic “duckwalk” widely known in Europe for the first time.
In prison, Berry worked on new songs that further fueled the Berry hype in the mid-60s. His single “Promised Land” was later covered by the King. However, Berry had to wait until 1972 for his first number one hit, when his single “My Ding-A-Ling” finally stormed to the top of the charts. In 1979, Berry once again came into conflict with the law due to tax evasion and served a short prison sentence.
His strong will power
But the resilient Berry was not to be defeated. In 1986, Chuck Berry was one of the first musicians, along with Fats Domino and Elvis Presley, to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The following year, he wrote his autobiography. In 1993, he received an invitation from President Clinton to play at his inauguration. This was undoubtedly one of the highlights for the man who had to fight against the racial prejudices of his fellow Americans all his life.
In 1994, John Travolta and Uma Thurman danced to his song “You Never Can Tell” in “Pulp Fiction”. For the rest of the decade, Berry cultivated the image of the inventor of rock 'n' roll, more badly than well, and alienated many fans with some second-rate performances. Nevertheless, he continued to tour tirelessly even after his 75th birthday.
At the end of 2016, Chuck Berry announced a new album entitled “Chuck” that was to be released in 2017. When Berry died in March 2017 at the age of 90, his family declared that they wanted to stick to the release plan.
Meanwhile, the music world agrees that it has lost one of the greatest: “Chuck Berry was rock's greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock ‘n’ roll writer who ever lived.” (Bruce Springsteen). “All of us in rock have now lost our father.” (Alice Cooper)
