Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born on October 18, 1926, in St. Louis, the youngest child of Henry William Berry and Martha Bell Berry (née Banks).{{cite news |url=http://www.history-of-rock.com/berry.htm |title=Chuck Berry |publisher=history-of-rock.com |access-date=June 3, 2010 |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104065241/http://www.history-of-rock.com/berry.htm |url-status=live}} He grew up in the north St. Louis neighbourhood known as the Ville, an area where many middle-class people lived. His father, Henry (1895–1987) was a contractor and deacon of a nearby Baptist church; his mother, Martha (1894–1980) was a certified public school principal.{{cite book |last1=Gates |first1=Henry Louis Jr. |last2=Higginbotham |first2=Evelyn Brooks |title=African American Lives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3dXw6gR2GgkC&q=Martha+Bell+(Banks)+Henry+William+Berry&pg=PA71 |url-status=live |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=71 |date=April 29, 2004 |access-date=March 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216231948/https://books.google.com/books?id=3dXw6gR2GgkC&q=Martha+Bell+%28Banks%29+Henry+William+Berry&pg=PA71 |archive-date=February 16, 2021 |isbn=9780199882861}} Berry's upbringing allowed him to pursue his interest in music from an early age. He gave his first public performance in 1941 while still a student at Sumner High School in St. Louis;{{cite news |last=Weinraub |first=Bernard |title=Sweet Tunes, Fast Beats and a Hard Edge |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 23, 2003 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/us/sweet-tunes-fast-beats-and-a-hard-edge.html |access-date=December 11, 2007 |quote=A significant moment in his early life was a musical performance in 1941 at Sumner High School, which had a middle-class black student body. |archive-date=December 13, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213080212/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/us/sweet-tunes-fast-beats-and-a-hard-edge.html |url-status=live}} he was still a student there in 1944, when he was arrested for armed robbery after robbing three shops in Kansas City, Missouri, and then stealing a car at gunpoint with some friends.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/us/sweet-tunes-fast-beats-and-a-hard-edge.html|title=Sweet Tunes, Fast Beats and a Hard Edge — Series|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=February 18, 2010|first=Bernard|last=Weinraub|date=February 23, 2003|archive-date=December 13, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213080212/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/us/sweet-tunes-fast-beats-and-a-hard-edge.html|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Gulla|first=Bob|title=Guitar Gods: The 25 Players Who Made Rock History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DL3I9qQWdeAC&pg=PA32|access-date=February 6, 2014|year=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313358067|page=32|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144302/http://books.google.com/books?id=DL3I9qQWdeAC&pg=PA32|url-status=live}} Berry's account in his autobiography is that his car broke down and he flagged down a passing car and stole it at gunpoint with a non-functional pistol.{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|p=14}}. He was convicted and sent to the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men (now the Algoa Correctional Center) in Jefferson City, Missouri, where he formed a singing quartet and did some boxing. The singing group became competent enough that the authorities allowed it to perform outside the detention facility.{{harvtxt|Berry|1988|pp=57–72}} Berry was released from the reformatory on his 21st birthday in 1947.

On October 28, 1948, Berry married Themetta "Toddy" Suggs, who gave birth to Darlin Ingrid Berry on October 3, 1950.{{cite book|last=Early|first=Gerald Lyn|title=Ain't but a Place: An Anthology of African American Writings About St. Louis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRLhcVs_pJUC&pg=PA166|access-date=February 6, 2014|year=1998|publisher=Missouri History Museum|isbn=9781883982287|page=166|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144312/http://books.google.com/books?id=IRLhcVs_pJUC&pg=PA166|url-status=live}} Chuck supported his family by taking various jobs in St. Louis, working briefly as a factory worker at two automobile assembly plants and as a janitor in the apartment building where he and his wife lived. Afterwards, he trained as a beautician at the Poro College of Cosmetology, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone.{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|pp=20–22}}. He was doing well enough by 1950 to buy a "small three room brick cottage with a bath" on Whittier Street,{{harvtxt|Early|1998|p=179}}. which is now listed as the Chuck Berry House on the National Register of Historic Places.{{cite news|url=http://outside.in/greater-ville-st-louis-mo/chuck-berrys-house |title=News About Chuck Berry's House in Greater Ville, St. Louis, MO|publisher=outside.in|access-date=June 16, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721185424/http://outside.in/greater-ville-st-louis-mo/chuck-berrys-house |archive-date=July 21, 2011|url-status=dead}}

By the early 1950s, Chuck Berry was working with local bands in clubs in St. Louis as an extra source of income. He had been playing blues since his teens, and he borrowed both guitar riffs and showmanship techniques from the blues musician T-Bone Walker.{{cite book|last=Cohn|first=Lawrence|title=Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians|year=1993 |author2=Aldin, Mary Katherine |author3=Bastin, Bruce|publisher=Abbeville Press|isbn=978-1-55859-271-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nothingbutbluesm00cohn/page/174 174] |url=https://archive.org/details/nothingbutbluesm00cohn/page/174}} He also took guitar lessons from his friend Ira Harris, which laid the foundation for his guitar style.{{cite news |title=The Official Site of Chuck Berry |url=http://www.chuckberry.com/about/bio.htm|access-date=February 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109044235/http://www.chuckberry.com/about/bio.htm|archive-date=January 9, 2010|url-status=dead|publisher=chuckberry.com}} By early 1953, Berry was performing with Johnnie Johnson's trio, starting a long-time collaboration with the pianist.{{cite news |title=Chuck Berry plays tribute to Johnnie Johnson |date=April 15, 2005 |publisher=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/chuck-berry-plays-tribute-to-johnnie-johnson-1.559275 |access-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-date=February 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216231953/https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/chuck-berry-plays-tribute-to-johnnie-johnson-1.559275 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=Chuck Berry Remembers Johnnie Johnson |url=http://www.firstcoastnews.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=35622 |last=Wittenauer|first=Cheryl |agency=Associated Press |publisher=firstcoastnews.com |access-date=June 5, 2010}} {{dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} The band played blues and ballads as well as country. Berry wrote, "Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of our country stuff on our predominantly black audience and some of our black audience began whispering 'who is that black hillbilly at the Cosmo?' After they laughed at me a few times, they began requesting the hillbilly stuff and enjoyed dancing to it."

In 1954, Berry recorded the tracks "I Hope These Words Will Find You Well" and "Oh, Maria!" with the group Joe Alexander & the Cubans. The songs were released as a single on the Ballad label.{{Citation |title=Joe Alexander And The Cubans – Oh Maria (1954, Vinyl) |url=https://www.discogs.com/Joe-Alexander-And-The-Cubans-Oh-Maria/release/4543698 |language=en |access-date=2021-06-19}} Berry's showmanship, along with a mix of country tunes and R&B tunes, sung in the style of Nat King Cole set to the music of Muddy Waters brought in a wider audience, particularly affluent white people.{{cite news|url=http://www.chuckberry.com/about/bio.htm|title=The Official Site of Chuck Berry|publisher=chuckberry.com|access-date=June 6, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109044235/http://www.chuckberry.com/about/bio.htm|archive-date=January 9, 2010}}

File:Maybellene - Billboard ad 1955.jpg advertisement, August 6, 1955]]

In May 1955, Berry traveled to Chicago, where he met Muddy Waters who suggested he contact Leonard Chess, of Chess Records. Berry thought his blues music would interest Chess, but Chess was a larger fan of Berry's take on "Ida Red".{{Pop Chronicles |5|5 |Leonard Chess}}. On May 21, 1955, Berry recorded an adaptation of the song "Ida Red", under the title "Maybellene", with Johnnie Johnson on the piano, Jerome Green (from Bo Diddley's band) on the maracas, Ebby Hardy on the drums and Willie Dixon on the bass.{{cite book |last=Rothwell |first=Fred |title=Long Distance Information: Chuck Berry's Recorded Legacy |date=2001 |publisher=Music Mentor Books |isbn=978-0-9519888-2-4 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hs4ZAQAAIAAJ}} "Maybellene" sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues chart and number five on its Best Sellers in Stores chart for September 10, 1955.{{cite news|url=http://www.die-rock-and-roll-ag.de/html/chuck_1955-56.html|title=Chuck 1955–56|publisher=Die-rock-and-roll-ag.de|access-date=October 7, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002113531/http://www.die-rock-and-roll-ag.de/html/chuck_1955-56.html|archive-date=October 2, 2011}} Berry said, "It came out at the right time when Afro-American music was spilling over into the mainstream pop."NBC Evening News, March 18, 2017

When Berry first saw a copy of the Maybellene record, he was surprised that two other individuals, including DJ Alan Freed, had been given writing credit; that would entitle them to some of the royalties. After a court battle, Berry was able to regain full writing credit.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/05/son-dj-alan-freed-hall-of-fame-no-longer-want-ashes |title=Son of DJ Alan Freed says Rock Hall of Fame no longer want his cremated remains |date=August 5, 2014 |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Sean|last=Michaels|access-date=February 4, 2021 |quote= |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112031721/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/05/son-dj-alan-freed-hall-of-fame-no-longer-want-ashes |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/14/arts/the-man-who-knew-it-wasn-t-only-rock-n-roll.html |first=Bernard|last=Weinraub |title=The Man Who Knew It Wasn't Only Rock 'n' Roll|date=October 14, 1999 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 4, 2021 |quote=Mr. Jackson, who wrote the Freed biography, said that two members of the virtuoso group the Moonglows told him that Mr. Freed had no involvement with their big hit Sincerely yet took a writing credit for it and received the royalties. Maybelline .... Mr. Berry went to court eventually and succeeded in having Mr. Freed's name removed as co-writer. |archive-date=February 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208223102/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/14/arts/the-man-who-knew-it-wasn-t-only-rock-n-roll.html |url-status=live}}

At the end of June 1956, his song "Roll Over Beethoven" reached number 29 on the Billboard{{'}}s Top 100 chart, and Berry toured as one of the "Top Acts of '56". He and Carl Perkins became friends. Perkins said that "I knew when I first heard Chuck that he'd been affected by country music. I respected his writing; his records were very, very great."Perkins, Carl; McGee, David (1996). Go, Cat, Go!. Hyperion Press. pp. 215, 216. {{ISBN|0-7868-6073-1}}. In late 1957, Berry took part in Alan Freed's "Biggest Show of Stars for 1957", touring the United States with the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and others.{{cite book |last1=Schinder |first1=Scott |last2=Schwartz |first2=Andy |title=Icons of Rock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-ET5tnh0MUC&pg=PA86 |url-status=live |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2008 |page=86 |access-date=February 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144301/http://books.google.com/books?id=q-ET5tnh0MUC&pg=PA86 |archive-date=June 27, 2014 |isbn=9780313338465}} He was a guest on ABC's Guy Mitchell Show, singing his hit song "Rock 'n' Roll Music". The hits continued from 1957 to 1959, with Berry scoring over a dozen chart singles during this period, including the US Top 10 hits "School Days", "Rock and Roll Music", "Sweet Little Sixteen", and "Johnny B. Goode". He appeared in two early rock-and-roll movies: Rock Rock Rock (1956), in which he sang "You Can't Catch Me", and Go, Johnny, Go! (1959), in which he had a speaking role as himself and performed "Johnny B. Goode", "Memphis, Tennessee", and "Little Queenie". His performance of "Sweet Little Sixteen" at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 was captured in the motion picture Jazz on a Summer's Day.{{cite book|last1=Denisoff|first1=R. Serge|last2=Romanowski|first2=William D.|title=Risky Business: Rock in Film|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kT0fKUCTUC4C&pg=PA104|access-date=February 6, 2014|year=1991|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781412833370|page=104|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144243/http://books.google.com/books?id=kT0fKUCTUC4C&pg=PA104|url-status=live}}

File:Chuck Berry circa 1958.jpg

The opening guitar riff of "Johnny B. Goode"{{Cite web|url=https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/louis-jordan-jukebox-king/|title=Louis Jordan, the Jukebox King | Five Guys Named Moe|first=Emily|last=Lovett|date=July 25, 2017|publisher=Court Theatre}} is similar to the one used by Louis Jordan in his "Ain't That Just Like a Woman" (1946). Berry acknowledged the debt to Jordan and several sources have indicated that his work was influenced by Jordan in general.{{Cite news|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/chuck-berrys-music-helped-define-the-modern-teenager/|title=Chuck Berry's influence on rock 'n roll was incalculable|date=March 18, 2017|newspaper=The Seattle Times|first=Hillel|last=Italie|

access-date=August 15, 2021}}{{cite book |last=Flanagan |first=Bill |title=Written in My Soul: Conversations with Rock's Great Songwriters |date=1987 |publisher=RosettaBooks}}{{cite web |url=https://observer.com/2017/03/surprising-factors-that-made-chuck-berry-music-eternal/|title=3 Surprising Factors That Made Chuck Berry's Music Eternal|website=Observer|first=Tim|last=Sommer |date=March 31, 2017}}

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was a high-profile established star with several hit records and film appearances and a lucrative touring career. He had opened a racially integrated St. Louis nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand, and invested in real estate.{{cite news|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p3664/biography|pure_url=yes}}|title=Chuck Berry > Biography|website=AllMusic|access-date=February 18, 2010}} But in December 1959, he was arrested under the Mann Act after allegations that he had had sex with a 14-year-old Apache waitress, Janice Escalante,{{cite news|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chuck-berry-goes-on-trial-for-the-second-time|title=Chuck Berry goes on trial for the second time - Oct 28, 1961|publisher=History.com|access-date=March 18, 2017|archive-date=April 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401134006/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chuck-berry-goes-on-trial-for-the-second-time|url-status=live}} whom he had transported across state lines to work as a hatcheck girl at his club.{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88104308|title=The Long, Colorful History of the Mann Act|publisher=NPR|first=Eric|last=Weiner|date=March 11, 2008| access-date=February 18, 2010|archive-date=April 21, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421165121/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88104308|url-status=live}} After a two-week trial in March 1960, he was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison.{{cite book |last=Collis |first=John |title=Chuck Berry: The Biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AgUAQAAIAAJ |access-date=February 6, 2014 |date=October 30, 2002 |publisher=Aurum |isbn=9781854108739 |page=102 |archive-date=May 26, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526212743/https://books.google.com/books?id=0AgUAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }} He appealed the decision, arguing that the judge's comments and attitude were racist and prejudiced the jury against him. The appeal was upheld{{cite book|last=Higginbotham|first=Aloysius Leon |title=Shades of Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions of the American Legal Process|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |page=150|isbn=978-0-19-512288-6}} and a second trial was heard in May and June 1961,{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|pp=123–124, 129}}. resulting in another conviction and a three-year prison sentence.{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|pp=144–157, 161}}. After another appeal failed, Berry served one and one-half years in prison from February 1962 to October 1963.{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|p=161}}. He continued recording and performing during the trials, but his output had slowed as his popularity declined; his last single released before he was imprisoned was "Come On".{{cite news|url=http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/chessupto1966.html|title=Chuck Berry Collector's Guide – The Chess Era (1955–1966)|publisher=crlf.de|access-date=June 3, 2010|archive-date=October 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016132054/http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/chessupto1966.html|url-status=live}}

File:Chuck Berry en Lucy Ann (1965).jpg

When Berry was released from prison in 1963, his return to recording and performing was made easier because British invasion bands—notably the Beatles and the Rolling Stones—had sustained interest in his music by releasing cover versions of his songs,{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|p=163}}.{{cite book|last=Miles|first=Barry|title=The British Invasion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8xbaIlrUREC&pg=PA20|access-date=February 6, 2014|year=2009|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|isbn=9781402769764|page=20|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144252/http://books.google.com/books?id=r8xbaIlrUREC&pg=PA20|url-status=live}} and other bands had reworked some of them, such as the Beach Boys' 1963 hit "Surfin' U.S.A.", which used the melody of Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen".{{cite book|last1=Studwell|first1=William Emmett|last2=Lonergan|first2=David F.|title=The Classic Rock and Roll Reader: Rock Music from Its Beginnings to the Mid-1970s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhy_BdXuSm4C|access-date=February 6, 2014|year=1999|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780789001511|page=81|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144258/http://books.google.com/books?id=jhy_BdXuSm4C|url-status=live}} In 1964 and 1965 Berry released eight singles, including three that were commercially successful, reaching the top 20 of the Billboard 100: "No Particular Place to Go" (a humorous reworking of "School Days", concerning the introduction of seat belts in cars),{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|p=168}}. "You Never Can Tell", and the rocking "Nadine".{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|p=262}}. Between 1966 and 1969, Berry released five albums for Mercury Records, including his second live album (and first recorded entirely onstage), Live at Fillmore Auditorium; for the live album he was backed by the Steve Miller Band.{{cite news|url=http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/mercury.html|title=Chuck Berry Collector's Guide – The Mercury Era (1966–1969)|publisher=crlf.de|access-date=May 27, 2010|archive-date=December 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204163445/http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/mercury.html|url-status=live}}

Although this period was not a successful one for studio work,{{cite book|last1=Cooper|first1=B. Lee|last2=Haney|first2=Wayne S.|title=Rock Music in American Popular Culture II: More Rock 'n' Roll Resources|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9hNX3tcKrEC&pg=PA30|access-date=February 6, 2014|date=January 1997|publisher=Harrington Park Press|isbn=9781560238775|page=30|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144249/http://books.google.com/books?id=C9hNX3tcKrEC&pg=PA30|url-status=live}} Berry was still a top concert draw. In May 1964, he had made a successful tour of the UK, but when he returned in January 1965, his behavior was erratic and moody, and his touring style of using unrehearsed local backing bands and a strict nonnegotiable contract was earning him a reputation as a difficult and unexciting performer.{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|pp=173–174}}. He also played at large events in North America, such as the Schaefer Music Festival, in New York City's Central Park in July 1969, and the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival in October.{{cite book|last=Warner|first=Jay|title=On This Day in Music History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-vpcsdAEMc0C|access-date=February 6, 2014|year=2004|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn=9781617743795|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144256/http://books.google.com/books?id=-vpcsdAEMc0C|url-status=live}}

{{quote box|width=30%|align=left|quote=Berry helped give life to a subculture ... Even "My Ding-a-Ling", a fourth-grade wee-wee joke that used to mortify true believers at college concerts, permitted a lot of twelve-year-olds new insight into the moribund concept of "dirty" when it hit the airwaves ... |source=Robert Christgau{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|editor=Anthony DeCurtis |editor2=James Henke|title=The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll: The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music|url=https://archive.org/details/rollingstoneillu00decu|url-access=limited|publisher=Random House|year=1988|location=New York City|isbn=0-679-73728-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rollingstoneillu00decu/page/60 60]–66|chapter=Chuck Berry}}}}

Berry returned to Chess from 1970 to 1973. There were no hit singles from the 1970 album Back Home, but in 1972, Chess released a live recording of "My Ding-a-Ling", a novelty song that he had recorded in a different version as "My Tambourine" on his 1968 LP From St. Louie to Frisco.{{harvtxt|Pegg|2003|p=184}}. The track became his only number-one single. A live recording of "Reelin' and Rockin'", issued as a follow-up single in the same year, was his last Top 40 hit in both the US and the UK. Both singles were included on the part-live, part-studio album The London Chuck Berry Sessions (other albums of London sessions were recorded by Chess's mainstay artists Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf). Berry's second tenure with Chess ended with the 1975 album Chuck Berry, after which he did not make a studio record until Rockit for Atco Records in 1979, which would be his last studio album for 38 years.{{cite news|url=http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Berry,_Chuck/Discography/album/P3664/R30491/|title=Rock It Album Review, Songs, Ratings|publisher=starpulse.com|access-date=June 2, 2010|archive-date=June 6, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606175211/http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Berry,_Chuck/Discography/album/P3664/R30491/|url-status=live}}

File:Chuck Berry Midnight Special 1973.JPG in 1973]]

In the 1970s, Berry toured on the strength of his earlier successes. He was on the road for many years, carrying only his Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went. AllMusic said that in this period his "live performances became increasingly erratic, ... working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-of-tune performances" which "tarnished his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers" alike. In March 1972, he was filmed, at the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherds Bush, for Chuck Berry in Concert,{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074rbc|title=Chuck Berry in Concert - BBC Four|publisher=bbc.co.uk|access-date=March 19, 2017|archive-date=March 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327033707/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074rbc|url-status=live}} part of a 60-date tour backed by the band Rocking Horse.{{cite news|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-snow-mn0000965472|title=Michael Snow - Biography & History - AllMusic|publisher=allmusic.com|access-date=March 19, 2017|archive-date=March 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320055355/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-snow-mn0000965472|url-status=live}} Among the many bandleaders performing a backup role with Berry in the 1970s, were Bruce Springsteen and Steve Miller when each was just starting his career. (Springsteen related in the documentary film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll that Berry did not give the band a set list and expected the musicians to follow his lead after each guitar intro. Berry did not speak to the band after the show. Nevertheless, Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.) At the request of Jimmy Carter, Berry performed at the White House on June 1, 1979.{{cite news|url=http://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry|title=Chuck Berry|last=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame|publisher=rockhall.com|access-date=June 2, 2010|archive-date=June 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613015718/http://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry|url-status=live}}

In 1979 Berry pleaded guilty to evading nearly $110,000 in federal income tax owed on his 1973 joint earnings of $374,982.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/13/archives/chuck-berry-pleads-guilty-to-tax-evasion-for-1973.html|title=Chuck Berry Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion for 1973|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 13, 1979|access-date=May 26, 2018|archive-date=May 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527201419/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/13/archives/chuck-berry-pleads-guilty-to-tax-evasion-for-1973.html|url-status=live}} He was sentenced to 120 days in prison.{{cite magazine|magazine=Jet|title=Chuck Berry Enters Prison Where Watergaters Stayed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wEIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61|access-date=February 6, 2014|date=August 30, 1979|page=61|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144248/http://books.google.com/books?id=wEIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61|url-status=live}}

File:ChuckBerry1997.jpg, August 1997]]

Berry continued to play 70 to 100 one-nighters per year in the 1980s, still traveling solo and requiring a local band to back him at each stop. In 1986, Taylor Hackford made a documentary film, Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, of a celebration concert for Berry's sixtieth birthday, organized by Keith Richards.{{cite news |last=Hackford |first=Taylor |title=Rock'n'Roll Fireworks: Keith Richards and Chuck Berry Together on Stage |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/rocknroll-fireworks-keith-richards-and-chuck-berry-together-on-stage-440364.html |url-status=dead |newspaper=The Independent |date=March 16, 2007 |access-date=June 6, 2010 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205165400/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/rocknroll-fireworks-keith-richards-and-chuck-berry-together-on-stage-440364.html |archive-date=December 5, 2008}} Eric Clapton, Etta James, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray, and Linda Ronstadt, among others, appeared with Berry on stage and in the film. During the concert, Berry played a Gibson ES-355, the luxury version of the ES-335 that he favored on his 1970s tours. Richards played a black Fender Telecaster Custom, Cray a Fender Stratocaster and Clapton a Gibson ES 350T, the same model that Berry used on his early recordings.

In the late 1980s, Berry bought the Southern Air, a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri.{{cite news|url=http://www.history-of-rock.com/berrytwo.htm|title=Chuck Berry|publisher=history-of-rock.com|access-date=June 3, 2010|archive-date=March 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304205812/http://www.history-of-rock.com/berrytwo.htm|url-status=live}} In 1982, Berry performed a television special at The Roxy in West Hollywood with Tina Turner as his special guest. The concert was released a year later on home video.{{cite news|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1780797/|title=Chuck Berry: Live at the Roxy with Tina Turner|publisher=imdb.com|access-date=October 26, 2022}} In November 2000, Berry faced legal issues when he was sued by his former pianist Johnnie Johnson who claimed that he had co-written over 50 songs, including "No Particular Place to Go", "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Roll Over Beethoven", that credit Berry alone. The case was dismissed when the judge ruled that too much time had passed since the songs were written.{{cite news|title=Rock Pioneer Johnson Dies Aged 80|publisher=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4443831.stm|date=April 14, 2005|access-date=November 27, 2007|archive-date=June 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150606083125/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4443831.stm|url-status=live}}

File:Chuck Berry.jpg in Baltimore, August 2008]]

In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland, and Spain. In mid-2008, he played at the Virgin Festival in Baltimore.{{cite news|title=Official Concert Schedule (2008)|url=http://www.chuckberry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2076|access-date=August 11, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080808161942/http://www.chuckberry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2076|archive-date=August 8, 2008}} During a concert on New Year's Day 2011 in Chicago, Berry, suffering from exhaustion, passed out and had to be helped off stage.{{cite news |title=Chuck Berry Recovering at Home from Exhaustion after Chicago Show |date=January 1, 2011 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-live-0103-chuck-berry-review-20110102,0,7930886.story |access-date=January 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122232942/http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-live-0103-chuck-berry-review-20110102,0,7930886.story |archive-date=January 22, 2011 |url-status=dead }}
{{cite video|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbawWMn0Q0U| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307182835/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbawWMn0Q0U| archive-date=2011-03-07 | url-status=dead|date=January 1, 2011|title=Chuck Berry Felt Ill on Stage in Chicago 01.01.2011|publisher=YouTube}} {{cite video|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMl82G-Xamw| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130226113737/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMl82G-Xamw| archive-date=2013-02-26 | url-status=dead|date=January 1, 2011|title=Chuck Berry After Collapse in Chicago 01.01.2011 – On Stage Explaining What Happened|publisher=YouTube}}

Berry lived in Ladue, Missouri, approximately {{convert|10|mi}} west of St. Louis. He also had a home at "Berry Park", near Wentzville where he lived part-time since the 1950s and was the home in which he died. The home with the guitar-shaped swimming pool, is seen in scenes near the end of the film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll.{{cite news|url=http://www.chuckberry.de/archive_october2002.htm|title=News Archive – October 2002|publisher=chuckberry.de|access-date=June 6, 2010|archive-date=July 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716120822/http://www.chuckberry.de/archive_october2002.htm|url-status=live}}

When Berry performed he often required payment up front in a paper bag which he transferred to an attaché case, PBS on In Their Own Words, relates. He gave interviews where he talked about having been ripped off during his early career. Thus he protected his own interests.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/video/chuck-berry-ii2qnk/ |title=Chuck Berry|publisher=PBS|date=August 6, 2022|access-date=December 18, 2024}}

He regularly performed one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood of St. Louis, from 1996 to 2014. Berry announced on his 90th birthday that his first new studio album since Rockit in 1979, entitled Chuck, would be released in 2017.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/18/chuck-berry-new-album-first-in-38-years|title=Chuck Berry, 90, announces first album in 38 years|date=October 18, 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=October 18, 2016|archive-date=October 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018160902/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/18/chuck-berry-new-album-first-in-38-years|url-status=live}} His first new record in 38 years, it includes his children, Charles Berry Jr. and Ingrid, on guitar and harmonica with songs "covering the spectrum from hard-driving rockers to soulful thought-provoking time capsules of a life's work" and dedicated to his wife Toddy.{{cite journal|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2016/1018/Chuck-Berry-to-release-new-studio-album-at-90-video|title=Chuck Berry to release new studio album at 90|author=Beck, Christina|journal=The Christian Science Monitor|date=October 31, 2016|page=8|access-date=March 19, 2017|archive-date=March 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319111656/http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2016/1018/Chuck-Berry-to-release-new-studio-album-at-90-video|url-status=live}}

File:Maybellene, Chuck Berry's guitar, a Gibson ES-350T.jpg]]

On March 18, 2017, Berry was found unresponsive at his home near Wentzville. Emergency workers called to the scene were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead by his personal physician.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/legendary-musician-chuck-berry-dead-90/story?id=46228597|title=Legendary musician Chuck Berry dead at 90|first1=Dean|last1=Schabner|first2=Michael|last2=Rothman|publisher=ABC News|date=March 18, 2017|access-date=March 18, 2017|archive-date=March 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319000139/http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/legendary-musician-chuck-berry-dead-90/story?id=46228597|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Rock and roll legend Chuck Berry dies|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39318602|publisher=BBC News|access-date=March 18, 2017|date=March 18, 2017|archive-date=March 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319000601/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39318602|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite news |title=Chuck Berry's death: Cops responded to cardiac arrest call |url=http://www.tmz.com/2017/03/20/chuck-berry-cardiac-arrest-audio/ |url-status=live |date=March 20, 2017 |access-date=March 22, 2017 |publisher=tmz.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321160123/http://www.tmz.com/2017/03/20/chuck-berry-cardiac-arrest-audio/ |archive-date=March 21, 2017}}

Berry's funeral was held on April 9, 2017, at The Pageant, in Berry's home town of St. Louis.{{cite news |url=http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2017/04/09/Funeral-held-for-music-legend-Chuck-Berry-in-St-Louis/6441491762608/ |title=Funeral held for music legend Chuck Berry in St. Louis |website=UPI.com |access-date=June 14, 2017 |archive-date=June 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170614223342/http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2017/04/09/Funeral-held-for-music-legend-Chuck-Berry-in-St-Louis/6441491762608 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=April 9, 2017 |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/music/chuck-berry-remembered-rock-n-roll-style-n744461 |title=Chuck Berry Remembered in Rock 'n' Roll Style |agency=Associated Press |publisher=NBC News |access-date=June 14, 2017 |archive-date=June 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611032011/http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/music/chuck-berry-remembered-rock-n-roll-style-n744461 |url-status=live}} He was remembered with a public viewing by family, friends, and fans in The Pageant. He was viewed with his cherry-red Gibson ES-355 guitar bolted to the inside lid of the coffin{{Cite web|url=https://guitaradvise.com/which-music-legend-was-buried-with-his-red-gibson-guitar/|title=Which Music Legend Was Buried With His Red Gibson Guitar?|first=Daniel|last=Hoang|website=Guitaradvise.com|date=January 19, 2020|access-date=August 15, 2021}} and with flower arrangements that included one sent by the Rolling Stones in the shape of a guitar. Afterwards a private service was held in the club celebrating Berry's life and musical career, with the Berry family inviting 300 members of the public into the service. Gene Simmons of Kiss gave an impromptu, unadvertised eulogy at the service, while Little Richard was scheduled to lead the funeral procession but was unable to attend due to an illness. The night before, many St. Louis area bars held a mass toast at 10 pm in Berry's honor.{{cite news |last=Lees |first=Jaime |url=http://www.riverfronttimes.com/musicblog/2017/04/10/st-louis-says-goodbye-to-chuck-berry-at-packed-memorial-service |title=Chuck Berry Gets a Loving Goodbye from the City He Always Called Home | Music Blog |website=Riverfronttimes.com |date=April 10, 2017 |access-date=June 14, 2017 |archive-date=February 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216231953/https://www.riverfronttimes.com/musicblog/2017/04/10/st-louis-says-goodbye-to-chuck-berry-at-packed-memorial-service |url-status=live }}

One of Berry's attorneys estimated that his estate was worth $50 million, including $17 million in music rights. Berry's music publishing accounted for $13 million of the estate's value. The Berry estate owned roughly half of his songwriting credits (mostly from his later career), while BMG Rights Management controlled the other half; most of Berry's recordings are currently owned by Universal Music Group.{{cite news|url=http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/legal-and-management/7735739/chuck-berry-left-behind-17-million-in-music-assets|title=Business-Savvy Chuck Berry Left Behind An Estimated $50 Million Estate|first=Ed|last=Christman|date=March 22, 2017|access-date=November 15, 2017|archive-date=July 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720002954/http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/legal-and-management/7735739/chuck-berry-left-behind-17-million-in-music-assets|url-status=live}} In September 2017, Dualtone, the label which released Berry's final album, Chuck, agreed to publish all his compositions in the United States.{{cite news|first=Ed|last=Christman|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7980738/chuck-berry-us-publishing-dualtone-isalee-music|title=Dualtone to Handle Chuck Berry U.S. Publishing Rights: Exclusive|date=September 26, 2017|access-date=November 15, 2017|archive-date=November 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119032023/http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7980738/chuck-berry-us-publishing-dualtone-isalee-music|url-status=live}}

Berry is interred in a mausoleum in Bellerive Gardens Cemetery in St. Louis.{{Cite web|url=http://stlouispatina.com/chuck-berry-mausoleum-bellerive-cemetery/|title=Chuck Berry Mausoleum, Bellerive Cemetery – St Louis Patina|website=Stlouispatina.com|date=May 30, 2020 |access-date=August 15, 2021}}

In 1987, Berry was charged with assaulting a woman at New York's Gramercy Park Hotel. He was accused of causing "lacerations of the mouth, requiring five stitches, two loose teeth, [and] contusions of the face." He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of harassment and paid a $250 fine.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/chuck-berry-inside-father-of-rocks-triumphs-scandals-w475260|title=Chuck Berry: Farewell to the Father of Rock|last=Gilmore|first=Mikal|authorlink=Mikal Gilmore|date=April 7, 2017|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=May 15, 2018|archive-date=June 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620004542/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/chuck-berry-inside-father-of-rocks-triumphs-scandals-w475260|url-status=live}} In 1990, he was sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the bathroom of his restaurant. Berry claimed that he had the camera installed to catch a worker who was suspected of stealing from the restaurant. Although his guilt was never proven in court, Berry opted for a class action settlement. One of his biographers, Bruce Pegg, estimated that it cost Berry over $1.2 million plus legal fees. His lawyers said he had been the victim of a conspiracy to profit from his wealth.

Reportedly, according to Rolling Stone, a police raid on his house found intimate videotapes of women. Also found in the raid were 62 grams of marijuana. Felony drug charges were filed and Berry agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He was given a six-month suspended jail sentence, placed on two years unsupervised probation, and was ordered to donate $5,000 to a local hospital.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/chuckberry/biography |title=Chuck Berry: Biography |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=March 12, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080714112146/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/chuckberry/biography |archive-date=July 14, 2008 |url-status=dead }}

{{quote box|width=30%|quote=While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. It was his particular genius to graft country & western guitar licks onto a rhythm & blues chassis in his very first single, "Maybellene".|source=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame{{cite news|url=http://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry/bio/|title=Chuck Berry Biography|publisher=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame|access-date=June 2, 2010|archive-date=April 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406155340/http://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry/bio/|url-status=live}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/7735698/chuck-berry-rock-n-roll-teenagers-inventor |title=Yes, Chuck Berry Invented Rock 'n' Roll -- and Singer-Songwriters. Oh, Teenagers Too |date=March 22, 2017 |magazine=Billboard |access-date=February 22, 2021 |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227211939/https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/7735698/chuck-berry-rock-n-roll-teenagers-inventor |url-status=dead}}}}

A pioneer of rock and roll, Berry was a significant influence on the development of both the music and the attitude associated with the rock music lifestyle. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics successfully aimed to appeal to the early teenage market by using graphic and humorous descriptions of teen dances, fast cars, high school life, and consumer culture, and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music. Thus Berry, the songwriter, according to critic Jon Pareles, invented rock as "a music of teenage wishes fulfilled and good times (even with cops in pursuit)."{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/arts/chuck-berry-dead.html |title=Chuck Berry, Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer, Dies at 90 |first=John|last=Pareles |authorlink=Jon Pareles|newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 18, 2017 |access-date=March 21, 2017 |archive-date=March 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320195947/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/arts/chuck-berry-dead.html |url-status=live }} Berry contributed three things to rock music: an irresistible swagger, a focus on the guitar riff as the primary melodic element and an emphasis on songwriting as storytelling.{{cite news |first=Joe|last=Lynch |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chuck-berry-didnt-invent-rock-n-roll-but-he-turned-an-attitude-changed-world-987198 |title=Chuck Berry Didn't Invent Rock 'n' Roll, But He Turned It Into an Attitude That Changed the World |newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter |date=March 18, 2017 |access-date=March 19, 2017 |archive-date=August 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823205015/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chuck-berry-didnt-invent-rock-n-roll-but-he-turned-an-attitude-changed-world-987198 |url-status=live }} His records are a rich storehouse of the essential lyrical, showmanship and musical components of rock and roll. In addition to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, a large number of significant popular-music performers have recorded Berry's songs. Although not technically accomplished, his guitar style is distinctive—he incorporated electronic effects to mimic the sound of bottleneck blues guitarists and drew on the influence of guitar players such as Carl Hogan,{{cite book|first=James|last=Miller|date=1999|title=Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947–1977|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York City|page=104|isbn=0-684-80873-0}} and T-Bone Walker to produce a clear and exciting sound that many later guitarists would acknowledge as an influence in their own style. Berry's showmanship has been influential on other rock guitarists,{{cite book|last1=Wilkins|first1=Jack|last2=Rubie|first2=Peter|title=Essential Guitar |url=https://archive.org/details/essentialguitarf0000wilk_f2l7 |url-access=registration|access-date=February 6, 2014|year=2007|publisher=David & Charles|location=Newton Abbot, England|isbn=9780715327333|page=[https://archive.org/details/essentialguitarf0000wilk_f2l7/page/68 68]}} particularly his one-legged hop routine,{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Mark |last2=Chappell |first2=Jon |title=Guitar for Dummies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jvNSyI6C3hEC&pg=PA1|access-date=February 6, 2014 |date=May 23, 2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Hoboken, New Jersey|isbn=9781118054734|page=1|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144246/http://books.google.com/books?id=jvNSyI6C3hEC&pg=PA1|url-status=live}} and the "duck walk",{{harvtxt|Gulla|2009|p=31}}. which he first used as a child when he walked "stooping with full-bended knees, but with my back and head vertical" under a table to retrieve a ball and his family found it entertaining; he used it when "performing in New York for the first time and some journalist branded it the duck walk."{{harvtxt|Berry|1988|p=6}}[http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/berry_c.htm Chuck Berry biography] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204113442/http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/berry_c.htm |date=December 4, 2008}} at Thomson Gale

On July 29, 2011, Berry was honored in a dedication of an eight-foot, in-motion Chuck Berry Statue in the Delmar Loop in St. Louis right across the street from Blueberry Hill. Berry said, "It's glorious—I do appreciate it to the highest, no doubt about it. That sort of honor is seldom given out. But I don't deserve it."{{cite magazine |last=Daniel Durchholz |first=Daniel |date=July 29, 2011 |title=Chuck Berry Statue Unveiled in St. Louis |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/chuck-berry-statue-unveiled-in-st-louis-247875/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=October 1, 2018 |archive-date=October 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003100811/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/chuck-berry-statue-unveiled-in-st-louis-247875/ |url-status=live }}

Rock critic Robert Christgau considers Berry "the greatest of the rock and rollers",{{cite news|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/berry-76.php|title=Robert Christgau: Chuck Berry|website=robertchristgau.com|access-date=February 18, 2010|archive-date=March 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317092237/http://robertchristgau.com/xg/music/berry-76.php|url-status=live}} and John Lennon said, "if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."{{cite news|url=http://chuckberry.com/about/quotes/|title=QUOTES – The Official Site of Chuck Berry|access-date=September 18, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314233239/http://chuckberry.com/about/quotes/|archive-date=March 14, 2015}} Ted Nugent said, "If you don't know every Chuck Berry lick, you can't play rock guitar."{{cite book|title=Guitar World Presents the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time!: From the Pages of Guitar World Magazine|last=Kitts|first=Jeff|editor=Brad Tolinski|year=2002|publisher=Hal Leonard|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin|isbn=0-634-04619-5|page=191|oclc=50292711|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fg838EcECUwC&pg=PT196|access-date=February 1, 2011|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216231952/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fg838EcECUwC&pg=PT196|url-status=live}} Bob Dylan called Berry "the Shakespeare of rock 'n' roll".{{cite news|title=Rock 'n' roll pioneer Chuck Berry dead at 90|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-chuckberry-idUSKBN16P0UL|date=March 19, 2017|access-date=March 19, 2017|first=Bill|last=Trott|work=Reuters|archive-date=March 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318223739/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-chuckberry-idUSKBN16P0UL|url-status=live}} Bruce Springsteen tweeted, "Chuck Berry was rock's greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock 'n' roll writer who ever lived."{{cite news|title=Tributes To Chuck Berry Pour In: 'One Of My Big Lights Has Gone Out'|first=Laurel|last=Wamsley|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/19/520721943/chuck-berry-dead-tribute-bruce-springsteen-mick-jagger-keith-richards|date=March 19, 2017|access-date=March 19, 2017|website=NPR|archive-date=March 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319181245/http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/19/520721943/chuck-berry-dead-tribute-bruce-springsteen-mick-jagger-keith-richards|url-status=live}} When asked what caused the explosion of the popularity of rock 'n roll which took place in the 1950s, with him and a handful of others, mainly him, Berry said, "Well, actually they begin to listen to it, you see, because certain stations played certain music. The music that we, the blacks, played, the cultures were so far apart, we would have to have a play station in order to play it. The cultures begin to come together, and you begin to see one another's vein of life, then the music came together."Chuck Berry, 1972, interview by Charles Osgood, re-broadcast, CBS Sunday Morning, September 25, 2016

File:Chuck Berry 2000.jpg

Among the honors Berry received were the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984{{cite news|url=http://www2.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/ |title=Lifetime Achievement Award |publisher=National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences |access-date=June 4, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206071832/http://www2.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/ |archive-date=February 6, 2010 }} and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.{{cite news|url=http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entity_id=3699&source_type=A|title=Kennedy Center: Biographical Information for Chuck Berry|publisher=kennedy-center.org|access-date=February 18, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150323230000/http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=3699&source_type=A|archive-date=March 23, 2015}} He was ranked seventh on Time magazine's 2009 list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all time.{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/3961025/10-greatest-guitar-players/|title=The 10 Greatest Electric-Guitar Players|magazine=Time|date=August 14, 2009|access-date=March 18, 2017|archive-date=November 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120155423/http://time.com/3961025/10-greatest-guitar-players/|url-status=live}} On May 14, 2002, he was honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Bo Diddley and Little Richard.{{cite news|url=http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233284|title=BMI ICON Awards Honor Three of Rock & Roll's Founding Fathers|first=Rob|last=Patterson|website=bmi.com|date=June 30, 2002|access-date=October 2, 2010|archive-date=September 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140925212455/http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233284|url-status=live}} In August 2014, Berry was made a laureate of the Polar Music Prize.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/26/chuck-berry-wins-polar-music-prize |title=Rock'n'Roll Pioneer Chuck Berry Wins Polar Music Prize in Sweden |newspaper=The Guardian |date=August 26, 2014 |access-date=August 28, 2014 |first=Mark|last=Brown |archive-date=August 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827102917/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/26/chuck-berry-wins-polar-music-prize |url-status=live }}

Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "Greatest of All Time" lists. In September 2003, the magazine ranked him number 6 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/ |title=The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=May 5, 2008 |access-date=October 7, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417042507/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time |archive-date=April 17, 2010 }} In November his compilation album The Great Twenty-Eight was ranked 21st in Rolling Stone{{'}}s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time/|title=The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine=Rolling Stone|year=2003|access-date=October 7, 2011|archive-date=February 7, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207075704/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time/|url-status=dead}} In March 2004, Berry was ranked fifth on the list of "The Immortals– The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Joe Perry wrote in tribute, "As a songwriter, Chuck Berry is like the Ernest Hemingway of rock & roll. He gets right to the point. He tells a story in short sentences. You get a great picture in your mind of what's going on, in a very short amount of space, in well-picked words... kids today are playing the same three chords, trying to play in that same style. Turn the guitars up, and it's punk rock. It's the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. I hear it in the White Stripes, too. People will always cover Chuck Berry songs. When bands go do their homework, they will have to listen to Chuck Berry. If you want to learn about rock & roll, if you want to play rock & roll, you have to start there."{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-19691231/chuck-berry-20110420 |title=Chuck Berry |first=Joe|last=Perry |authorlink=Joe Perry (musician)|date=March 24, 2004 |access-date=February 27, 2014 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-date=March 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301010616/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-19691231/chuck-berry-20110420 |url-status=live }} In December 2004, six of his songs were included in "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time": "Johnny B. Goode" (No. 7), "Maybellene" (No. 18), "Roll Over Beethoven" (No. 97), "Rock and Roll Music" (No. 128), "Sweet Little Sixteen" (No. 272) and "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (No. 374).{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs |title=The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=December 9, 2004|access-date=May 17, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417042040/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs |archive-date=April 17, 2010 }} In June 2008, his song "Johnny B. Goode" was ranked first in the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527/ |title=The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=June 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605032031/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527/ |archive-date=June 5, 2008 |url-status=dead }} In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Berry at number 96 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.{{Cite magazine|date=1 January 2023|title=The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/chuck-berry-13-1234643051/|access-date=15 June 2023|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}

The journalist Chuck Klosterman has argued that in 300 years Berry will still be remembered as the rock musician who most closely captured the essence of rock and roll.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/magazine/which-rock-star-will-historians-of-the-future-remember.html+Picks&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=http://www.nytimes.com/&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=Collection®ion=Marginalia&src=me&version=spotlight&pgtype=article|title=Which Rock Star Will Rock Historians of the Future Remember?|last=Klosterman|first=Chuck|authorlink=Chuck Klosterman|date=May 23, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=May 26, 2016}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Time magazine said, "There was no one like Elvis. But there was 'definitely' no one like Chuck Berry."{{cite magazine|first=Cliff|last=Richards|authorlink=|title=Chuck Berry Rock 'n' Roll Icon|magazine=Time|date=April 3, 2017|page=19}} Rolling Stone called him "the father of rock & roll" who "gave the music its sound and its attitude, even as he battled racism—and his own misdeeds—all the way", reporting that Leonard Cohen said, "All of us are footnotes to the words of Chuck Berry."Mikal Gilmore, "Chuck Berry 1926-2017," Rolling Stone, pp. 23–24, April 20, 2017 Kevin Strait, curator of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, said that Berry is "one of the primary sonic architects of rock and roll."Kevin Strait (July 6, 2017). PBS NewsHour.

According to Cleveland.com's Troy L. Smith, "Chuck Berry didn't invent rock and roll all by his lonesome. But he was the man who took rhythm and blues and transformed it into a new genre that would ever change popular music. Songs like 'Maybellene,' 'Johnny B. Goode,' 'Roll Over Beethoven' and 'Rock and Roll Music' would showcase the core elements of what rock and roll would become. The sound, the format and the style were built on the music Berry created. To some extent, everyone who followed was a copycat."{{cite web|first=Troy L.|last=Smith|url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/06/50-most-important-african-american-music-artists-of-all-time.html|title=50 most important African American music artists of all time|date=June 25, 2020|website=cleveland.com}}

"Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record.{{cite news|url=http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/music.html|title=Voyager Interstellar Mission: The Golden Record|publisher=Jet Propulsion Laboratory|access-date=July 6, 2015|archive-date=July 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130720053223/http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/music.html|url-status=live}} In 2020, the International Astronomical Union named a small crater on Mercury after Berry.{{Cite web|title=Planetary Names|url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15937|access-date=2023-07-05|website=planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov}}

{{main|Chuck Berry discography}}

{{div col}}

• After School Session (1957)
• One Dozen Berrys (1958)
• Berry Is on Top (1959)
• Rockin' at the Hops (1960)
• New Juke Box Hits (1961)
• Two Great Guitars (with Bo Diddley) (1964)
• St. Louis to Liverpool (1964)
• Chuck Berry in London (1965)
• Fresh Berry's (1965)
• Chuck Berry's Golden Hits (1967)
• Chuck Berry in Memphis (1967)
• From St. Louie to Frisco (1968)
• Concerto in B. Goode (1969)
• Back Home (1970)
• San Francisco Dues (1971)
• The London Chuck Berry Sessions (1972)
• Bio (1973)
• Chuck Berry (1975)
• Rockit (1979)
• Chuck (2017)

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite book |last=Berry |first=Chuck |year=1988 |title=Chuck Berry: The Autobiography |url=https://archive.org/details/chuckberryautobi00berr_0 |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Fireside/Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-671-67159-6 |oclc=17918633}}
• {{cite book |last=Pegg |first=Bruce |title=Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-93751-5 |date=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC |access-date=November 28, 2015 |archive-date=February 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216231953/https://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC |url-status=live }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA144 p. 144] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319200431/https://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA144 |date=March 19, 2017 }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA173 p. 173] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627144259/http://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA173 |date=June 27, 2014 }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA262 p. 262] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216232004/https://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA262 |date=February 16, 2021 }}

{{refend}}

• {{cite magazine|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=March 22, 2017|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/7735698/chuck-berry-rock-n-roll-teenagers-inventor|title=Yes, Chuck Berry Invented Rock 'n' Roll – and Singer-Songwriters. Oh, Teenagers Too|magazine=Billboard|access-date=March 24, 2017}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Fryer |first1=Paul H. |title="Brown-Eyed Handsome Man": Chuck Berry and the Blues Tradition |journal=Phylon |date=1981 |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=60–72 |doi=10.2307/274885|jstor=274885 }}
• {{cite book | last=Smith | first=R. J. | title=Chuck Berry: An American Life | publisher=Hachette Books | publication-place=New York | date=2022 | isbn=978-0-306-92163-6 }}

{{Sister project links|d=Q5921|c=category:Chuck Berry|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no|wikt=no|s=no}}

• {{Official website}}
• {{Discogs artist|180119-Chuck-Berry}}
• {{IMDb name|1946}}
• {{Tcmdb name|15173{{!}}31911|name=Chuck Berry}}
• [https://www.last.fm/music/Chuck+Berry Chuck Berry] at Last.fm
• [http://lyricsmusic.name/chuck-berry-lyrics/ Chuck Berry lyrics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320143515/http://lyricsmusic.name/chuck-berry-lyrics/ |date=March 20, 2017 }}

{{Chuck Berry|state=uncollapsed}}

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