Thank you, Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry,  the "Father of Rock 'n' Roll," died today at his home near St. Louis, Missouri. He was 90. 

                           Tony Frank/Sygma/Corbis: Esquire 2011

John Lennon once said, “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry.’” He paved the way for such music legends as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Band, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, AC/DC, **** Pistols and Jerry Lee Lewis, among many others.

Early in Berry's career, blues great Muddy Waters advised him to go see the Chess Brothers, two Polish immigrants whose Chess Records signed Berry in 1955 and released the hit "Maybellene." From that point, Chuck Berry's career took off and he became renowned for his driving, physical style onstage (Elvis Presley emulated this with a more subdued version). 

His debut album, After School Session, produced by the Chess brothers, featured a variety of musicians including Johnson, Ebby Hardy, Jimmy Rogers, Willie Dixon, Otis Spann and Fred Below. The effort was tailored toward a youthful market featuring comedic cut-up lyrics, rhythmically intricate guitar parts and stand-alone solos in effortless anthems like “School Days,” “Too Much Monkey Business,” “Wee Wee Hours,” “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Thirty Days.”

                                 
                        After School Session, album released May, 1957.

Berry's music combined Hillbilly (later called Rockabilly) and Blues influences with his own hard edge. Rather than read more in this post about his life, you can look and listen:


Greatest hits...

With Keith......
Chuck Berry and Keith Richard had a love-hate relationship for years. Still, they couldn't help admiring each other.

Live 1958......

Sources:
Billboard
Esquire Bio
Wikipedia

Home originally found by StLouisMapper of the oGEC:
Chuck Berry died 31817.kmz (744 B)