Chuck Berry (1926-2017): Rock Pioneer

Français : Le chanteur américain Chuck Berry en concert à Deauville (Normandie, France) en 1987. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is said that rock and roll was created as a musical hybrid of country and rhythm & blues.  Many were present at rock's birth, but only one has been acknowledged as its father and architect:  Chuck Berry.  From the moment "Maybelline" was recorded and hit the radio, anyone who's ever picked up an electric guitar has learned a thing or two from Berry.  The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and many others have cited Berry as an influence.  His stage presence was also legendary, having created the duck walk to augment his guitar playing.

Most of Berry's hits came between 1955 and 1965:  "Roll Over, Beethoven", "Johnny B. Goode", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "School Days", "Nadine", "No Particular Place to Go" and so many others were written and performed by him (which was unusual at the time).  The only Number One hit Berry ever had came late in his career, in 1972.  It was "My Ding-a-Ling", a childish ode to penises that somehow got on the radio.

Berry also dispelled the notion that one had to be a model citizen to make it in show business.  He spent his teenage years in a reformatory, having been convicted of armed robbery.  At the height of his career, he was sent to prison for violating a federal law regarding the alleged trafficking of a minor.  He also did time for tax evasion.  He was sued for allegedly putting a video camera in his restaurant's ladies room, which resulted in an out of court settlement for the victims.

Berry spent his remaining years performing on the oldies circuit with whatever band the local promoters could come up with, always asking for cash up front--a practice that eventually got him in trouble with the IRS.  He became one of the first to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984, and a Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.

Chuck Berry died Saturday at his home in Missouri.  He was 90.

It isn't enough that Berry influenced generations of rockers by teaching them how to play the guitar.  He can also be heard in outer space.  "Johnny B. Goode" was included on a Voyager space ship that contains artifacts of popular culture on Earth that might be of interest to other life forms.   Just like Beethoven's music will live forever, so will Chuck Berry's.

And you can tell Tchaikovsky the news.