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Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry is a singer-songwriter and a guitarist. Many consider him to be one of the major pioneers of rock and roll, both him and his songs have received many accolades, one of them being the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. All questions about his history, life or music can be found here.

136 Questions

When did Chuck Berry sing?

His first chart entry was "Maybellene" in August 1955

Did Chuck Berry ever go to jail?

He attended Sumner High School in St. Louis, Missouri. He gave his first public performance during this time, in 1941. While still attending Sumner, he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery.

Is chuck berry still living?

Chuck Berry is still alive and well and performing live regularly.

In 1955 Chuck Berry began his recording?

"That's All Right, Mama" - Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (1946)In 1940, Arthur Crudup was reportedly living in a packing crate near an L train station in Chicago, playing songs on the street for tips. Things got better for him as the decade went on, and he landed a recording contract that led to a career as a well-known blues singer and songwriter. In 1946, Crudup recorded his song "That's All Right, Mama." Though it wasn't a hit at the time, it stands as a convincing front-runner for rock 'n' roll's ground zero. With a tight combo of guitar, upright bass and drums bashing out accompaniment behind Crudup's raw, powerful voice, it sounds a decade ahead of its time. There's even a wild guitar solo, prefaced by Crudup shouting, "Yeah, man." Very rock 'n' roll. And the last thirty seconds of the record pick up steam with the kind of unhinged energy that would become an essential element of all great rock records.

Eight years later, a 19-year old Elvis Presley did a cover record of it for his first single. Soon, Crudup was being called "the Father of Rock 'n' Roll."

What race was chuck berry?

Chuck Berry is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music.

  • October 18, 1926: Charles ("Chuck") Edward Anderson Berry was born in St. Louis, Missouri
  • December 31, 1952: Needing a replacement for an ailing saxophonist for a New Year's Eve show, pianist/bandleader Johnnie Johnson calls a guitar-playing acquaintance named Chuck Berry
  • 1955: Chess releases Berry's "Maybelline" and Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley" Diddley's single is released on Chess Record's subsidiary label, Checker
  • May 1, 1955: Berry signs with Chess Records, landing a contract on the strength of his songwriting
  • May 21, 1955: Berry records "Maybellene" - an uptempo rewrite of the country-flavored "Ida Red"; the first of Berry's many hits for Chess Records
  • 1955: Berry hits #2 on the R&B chart with the Chess single "Thirty Days"
  • August 1, 1955: "Maybellene" reaches #5 on Billboard's Best Sellers chart and tops the R&B chart for eleven weeks
  • June 30, 1956: Berry hits #2 on the R&B chart and #29 on the pop chart with the Chess single "Roll Over Beethoven"
  • January 21, 1957: Berry records "School Days" on Chess Records
  • May 1, 1957: Berry's first LP, After School Session, is released
  • May 13, 1957: Berry hits #1 on the R&B chart and #3 on the pop chart with "School Day" and #6 on the R&B chart and #8 (12/23) on the pop chart with "Rock and Roll Music." Both singles are released on Chess Records
  • September - November, 1957: Berry tours with the "Biggest Show of Stars for '57," sharing stages with Buddy Holly, the Drifters, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, the Everly Brothers, Clyde McPhatter and more
  • February 24, 1958: Berry's biggest hit of the rock & roll era, "Sweet Little Sixteen," is released. It reaches #2 on Billboard's pop chart (held back from the top position by the Champs' "Tequila") and #1 on the R&B chart
  • March 17, 1958: Berry hits #1 on the R&B chart and #2 on the pop chart with "Sweet Little Sixteen" and #2 on the R&B chart and #8 (6/09) on the pop chart with "Johnny B. Goode"
  • June 14, 1958: The rock and roll classic "Johnny B. Goode," written by Berry about pianist/sidekick Johnnie Johnson, makes the Top Ten
  • 1959: Berry hits #3 on the R&B chart and #32 (5/04) on the pop chart with the Chess single "Almost Grown"
  • May 31, 1961: Berryland Amusement Park opens outside St. Louis
  • October 24, 1964: Berry appears in the TAMI ("Teen-Age Music International") Show with the Rolling Stones, James Brown, the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and others (The concert, held in Santa Monica, California, is released the next year as a feature film)
  • October 28-29, 1964: The concert film The TAMI Show is recorded in Santa Monica, CA
  • June 1, 1966: Berry leaves Chess for Mercury Records
  • May 1, 1972: The London Chuck Berry Sessions was released (It became Berry's best-selling album, reaching #8 on the Billboard chart and earning gold-record status)
  • October 21, 1972: Berry's only #1 hit, the novelty song "My Ding-a-Ling," reaches the top of the charts (originally recorded as "My Tambourine" back in 1958)
  • 1973: After 30 years, pianist Johnnie Johnson leaves Berry's band
  • March 1, 1978: Berry plays himself in American Hot Wax, a film biography of seminal rock and roll deejay Alan Freed
  • June 1, 1979: Berry performs at the White House at the request of President Jimmy Carter
  • February 26, 1985: Berry is given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards (cited as "one of the most influential and creative innovators in the history of American popular music")
  • January 23, 1986: Berry is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the first induction dinner
  • October 8, 1987: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, a movie documentary and concert tribute to Berry, with Keith Richards as musical director, debuted
  • September 2, 1995: Backed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Berry performs "Johnny B. Goode" and "Rock and Roll Music" at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland

Does chuck berry have siblings?

No i dont think so

The above is incorrect; Chuck mentioned at least two brothers in his memoir which appeared about 20 years ago. There was an older brother Henry Jr, who started using the the nickname Hank while serving in the U.S. Army, as well as the youngest sibling Paul. I don't know if Paul or Henry Berry are still living, or what they have done in their adult lives, except that both Chuck and Hank--as the latter came to be called after his Army stint--started out working with their father on construction and repair jobs. I think Hank continued in that line; there's no mention in the memoir of him doing music.

There was also at least once sister Thelma, who was gifted as a vocalist and studied operatic singing for a time.

How many times has chuck berry been married?

Chuck Berry married Themetta "Toddy" Suggs in 1948 and they are still married today.

Who did chuck berry influence?

(Louis Jordan, Bob Wills, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Nat King Cole, Charlie Christian, Ray Charles, T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner.) - Possibly all these great stars but predominantly Nat 'King' Cole and Muddy Waters.

How tall chuck berry was?

Chuck Berry was 90 years old when he died on March 18, 2017 (birthdate: October 18, 1926).

Was chuck berry a pedophile?

No, he isn't. He is also still alive. He filmed some women in the bathroom in the town I live in many, many years ago. He has paid his debt to society according to what the legal system determined was his punishment. He is a pervert, not a pedophile. They are not the same thing.

Who was the first jazz musician?

That may remain an unknown, Buddy Bolden was an early inovator with the coronet, and may deserve the title. Jazz existed and was routinely played and anjoyed in New Orleans before "Jelly Roll" Morton and Joe "King" Oliver who are also given credit for this American musical art form.

Is chuck berry the best guitar player?

Chuck Berry is unbelievably not the 'Best guitar player ever'. According to the Rolling stones magazine, he was the 6th greatest. The order from 1 - 10 goes: 1. Jimi Hendrix 2. Duane Allman 3. B.B. King 4. Eric Clapton 5. Robert Johnson 6. Chuck Berry 7. Stevie Ray Vaughan 8. Ry Cooder 9. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin 10. Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones

How did chuck berry change the history of rock and roll?

Chuck Berry is considered by many to be the father of guitar-based rock and roll. ( As Bo Diddley is considered the father or heavy metal, and the father of piano-based rock and roll is either Fats Domino or Little Richard). There's a line in an old Bob Segar song "all Chuck's chillun' are out there playing his licks ........ rock and roll never forgets". Chuck's chillun are Chuck Berry's children. He invented many, many riffs on the guitar that had never been done, and are still being done today. He was a big influence on the Rolling Stones, and many other English bands, who seemed to come to appreciate his music before Americans did. He also had a gift as a lyricist - his lyrics were complicated, fast, always poetical in meter and grammatically correct - and often funny. Boys realized that they could find an electric guitar and an amplifier and learn to play these songs by themselves - then were joined by others, and garage bands were born.

Was chuck berry's parents poor?

WELL, I don't know about his mom I don't think she even worked but his dad was a contractor and a deacon of a nearby church.

:)

What did chuck berry name his guitar?

NO - B.B. King's guitar was named Lucille.

How did chuck berry create rock 'n' roll?

Muddy Waters heard Berry's act and suggested he go up to Chicago and "See Leonard" (Chess) owner of Chess Records at 2120 S. Michigan Ave. Chess listened to Berry's tunes, selected one called "Ida Red", changed the name of it to "Maybelliene", gave it a fast, heavy back-beat rhythm section with his house backup band, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Why did Chuck Berry start singing?

He never really left music, but as he got older he played less and less and stopped touring and got into other business interests.

How many songs did Chuck Berry write?

Chuck Berry has written:

'Chuck Berry' -- subject(s): Rock musicians, Biography