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Chuck Berry

Inspired by the electrified Delta blues of Muddy Waters, the wild showmanship of T-Bone Walker and Guitar Slim, the smooth crooning of Nat “King” Cole, and the storytelling of Hank Williams, Chuck Berry scrambled his influences and came out with a concoction that was uniquely his own.

The screaming, overdriven guitar intro to “Maybelline,” Berry’s Chess Records debut, tells the story, walloped with the power of the blues, honed to perfection. Berry’s Chess sides sound fully formed, solid, the raw power of a band of incredible musicians led by a true musical visionary. Even today, they come howling out of speakers like pure energy. Loose, swinging, grooving, Berry’s songs are nearly perfect. The classics he penned are too many to mention. Here are just a few: “Maybelline,” “No Money Down,” “Brown Eyed Handsome Man,” “Rock and Roll Music,” “Reelin’ and Rockin’,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Around and Around,” “Carol,” “Let It Rock,” “Come On,” “Nadine (Is it You?),” and “Roll Over Beethoven."

Chuck Berry's music has transcended generations. He earns respect to this day because he is truly an entertainer. Berry, also known as "The Father of Rock & Roll", gained success by watching the audience's reaction and playing accordingly, putting his listeners' amusement above all else. For this reason, his songs have become anthems to an integrated American youth and popular culture. Berry is a musical icon who established rock and roll as a musical form and brought the worlds of black and white together in song.

Born in St. Louis on October 18, 1926 Berry had many influences on his life that shaped his musical style. He emulated the smooth vocal clarity of his idol, Nat King Cole, while playing blues songs from bands like Muddy Waters. For his first stage performance, Berry chose to sing a Jay McShann song called "Confessin' the Blues." It was at his high school's student musical performance, when the blues was well-liked but not considered appropriate for such an event. He got a thunderous applause for his daring choice, and from then on, Berry had to be onstage.

Berry took up the guitar after that, inspired by his partner in the school production. He found that if he learned rhythm changes and blues chords, he could play most of the popular songs on the radio at the time. His friend, Ira Harris, showed him techniques on the guitar that would become the foundation of Berry's original sound. Then in 1952, he began playing guitar and singing in a club band whose song list ranged from blues to ballads to calypso to country. Berry was becoming an accomplished showman, incorporating gestures and facial expressions to go with the lyrics.

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Multiple Reviews

Ronnie Wood and Mike Zito: Tributes to Chuck Berry - Playin' Guitar Like Ringin' a Bell

Read "Ronnie Wood and Mike Zito: Tributes to Chuck Berry - Playin' Guitar Like Ringin' a Bell" reviewed by Doug Collette


Chuck Berry should be revered as one of American history's great storytellers. His depictions of people ("Johnny B. Goode"), places ("Memphis Tennessee) and things ("Rock and Roll Music") carried a vivid attention to detail further distinguished by the author's immediately recognizable electric guitar sound: marrying the blues with country music Berry set himself apart from forebears on the instrument including icons like Elmore James and T-Bone Walker. Little wonder this man has wielded such widespread influence over contemporary rock--where would ...

6
Opinion

Chuck Berry: 1926-2017

Read "Chuck Berry: 1926-2017" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


In the same spirit of the evolutionary question, “What comes after Music," I ask how does one simply acknowledge, if not pay homage, to what is beyond Greatness? The Saturday, March 18th New York Times did not do bad with: “While Elvis Presley was rock's first pop star and teenage heartthrob, Mr. Berry was its master theorist and conceptual genius, the songwriter who understood what the kids wanted before they knew themselves. With songs like “Johnny B. Goode" ...

346
Album Review

Chuck Berry: St. Louis To Liverpool / Berry Is On Top

Read "St. Louis To Liverpool / Berry Is On Top" reviewed by Mike Perciaccante


John Lennon was quoted as saying, “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'!"--one hell of an endorsement. If taken solely on the merits of the individual tracks on this single disc collection, encompassing two of Berry's classic albums, Lennon was clearly making an understatement. Berry Is On Top (Chess Records, 1959) and St. Louis to Liverpool (Chess Records, 1964) are both jam-packed with hits. Each timeless track features the All-Star Rock ...

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Technology

Inside Chuck Berry And Pandora's Genome Project [Glenn Peoples]

Inside Chuck Berry And Pandora's Genome Project [Glenn Peoples]

Source: HypeBot

In this piece, Glenn Peoples looks through the lens of Pandora's genome project to take a close at how the style and musical traits of Chuck Berry were copied and disseminated down through generations of musicians. Guest post by Glenn Peoples of Pandora  Biologist Richard Dawkins used the term “the selfish gene” in describing how a particular trait survives to be passed to the next generation. Music also has “genes” that represent traits inherited by future generations. The late Chuck ...

Trends

Chuck Berry Music Sales Explode After His Death

Chuck Berry Music Sales Explode After His Death

Source: HypeBot

Album sales and song sales on titles from Chuck Berry exploded after news of his death on Saturday, March 18th. The rock and roll pioneer was 90. Overall, Chuck Berry album sales increased 9,581% after his passing. His album sales average was 39 per day prior to his death and jumped to 2,054 the day of his death and then to 3,808 the day after, according to BuzzAngle Music. Two-thirds of those album sales were for his best of album, ...

2

Obituary

Chuck Berry: (1926-2017)

Chuck Berry: (1926-2017)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Chuck Berry, a singing electric blues guitarist with a remarkably limber stage presence who pioneered rock 'n' roll and single-handedly put the saxophone out of business as a lead R&B instrument in 1955, died on March 18. He was 90. Berry's biography and his dynamic role in helping to hatch rock 'n' roll have been brightly traced in recent days in newspaper obituaries, so I'm not going to rehash all of it here. Largely missing from those life-ending portraits, however, ...

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Performance / Tour

Chuck Berry Collapses Onstage in Chicago

Chuck Berry Collapses Onstage in Chicago

Source: JamBase

GET WELL SOON, CHUCK Rock N' Roll legend Chuck Berry collapsed onstage during a packed New Year's Day performance at the Congress Theatre in Chicago. According to Rolling Stone, Berry was an hour into his set when he slumped over his keyboard, saying “I'm struggling," before venue staff members ushered him offstage for medical attention. He returned 15 minutes later and attempted to tune his guitar, only to be escorted back offstage to be examined by paramedics. A review of ...

210

Music Industry

Happy Birthday, Chuck Berry !!!

Happy Birthday, Chuck Berry !!!

Source: JamBase

HAIL, HAIL ROCK 'N' ROLL THE MASTER TURNS 82 TODAY!

“Wanna see my ding-a-ling?" There are some musicians threaded into the DNA of things and there's zero doubt that an intrinsic part of rock's double helix is Chuck Berry. A pair of quotes at the beginning of his Wikipedia entry sum it up well:

“Of all the early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none is more important to the development of the music than Chuck Berry. He is ...

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Festival

Long Beach Blues Festival, New Venue and Chuck Berry, Sly Stone Headlining

Long Beach Blues Festival, New Venue and Chuck Berry, Sly Stone Headlining

Source: conqueroo

Chuck Berry and Sly & the Family Stone are the headliners ofwill headline the 29th annual Long Beach Blues Festival, set to take place Saturday and Sunday, August 30 and 31, 2008 at a brand new locationvenue. The Festival will move relocate from its long-time home site at the Cal State University Long Beach (CSULB) athletic field to a breezy new oceanfront locationhome, the Rainbow Lagoon at Linden Ave. and Shoreline Dr. in adjacent downtown to the Long Beach Marina. ...

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Festival

Chuck Berry Plays Blues in Long Beach

Chuck Berry Plays Blues in Long Beach

Source: Michael Ricci

Chuck Berry, Sly & the Family Stone Headline The Long Beach Blues Festival will get a face-lift this year with a new home and will feature an 81-year-old headliner who made musical history because he wouldn't play the blues.

Chuck Berry, who became one of the titans of rock 'n' roll because he didn't think he ever would become a credible blues artist, headlines the opening day of the 29th annual festival on Aug. 30 at its new ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

St. Louis To...

Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs
2008

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The Definitive...

Geffen/Chess
2006

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You Never Can Tell /...

Chesky Records
1991

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The Latest And The...

Chesky Records
1964

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