“If you tried to give Rock And Roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry” (John Lennon). Born as Charles Anderson Edward Berry, he went on to become the most influential Rock And Roll performers in music history. Popularly known by the name of Chuck Berry, he revolutionised the world of music in it’s truest sense.
Charles was born on October 18th, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri as a middle child to a large family with six children. As a young boy Chuck was attentive, focused, inquisitive and excelled at academics. He impressed his teachers by his knowledge of science and photography. He had an early exposure to music through school and church. At home, he would listen to his mother (Martha Berry) hum gospel tunes all day long and play the piano, with his keen interest for it, it wasn’t long before he picked up the instrument himself. A few years later his friend gave him an old four-stringed guitar on which he started by playing blues chords.
In the summer of 1944, when Chuck was almost 18, he and his friends took a trip from St. Louis to Kansas City. During this trip the boys robbed multiple stores and threatened a man. Soon enough they were all caught and put into prison and were jailed for a maximum sentence of 10 years. While in prison he engaged his musical and religious grounds for creative and spiritual inspiration. He also arranged the Sunday Morning musical quartet to accompany the prison church services. He also had a band called “Jail House Boogie” which would be requested to play at various different events around eastern Missouri. After being released from prison, Berry started working with his dad (Henry Berry) and his brother (Paul L. Berry).
At a Spring Festival in St. Louis, Chuck met his to be wife Themetta also called Toddy. Chuck and Toddy got married on October 28th, 1948. They had their first child Darlin on October 30th, 1950. He had three more children, Melody, Aloha and Charles Jr. in 1952, 1959 and 1961 respectively.
Working as a janitor at the W.E.W Radio Station opened up new doors for Berry. He bought his first six-string electric guitar. He started combining Blues and Swing to create something new. Soon after which he formed a boogie band.
On New Years Eve 1953, Johnnie Johnson a popular blues pianist saw his band and called Chuck asking him to join his band “Johnnie Johnson Trio”. With his new band he played at clubs like “The Cosmopolitan” where black and white audiences would come to hear the band playing the Rhythm and Blues.Chuck was left stunned when he understood that his music affected all types of audience, no matter their colour or race. He realised that music bonds more than just that can be seen through bare eyes.
In May 1955, Chuck went to watch Muddy Waters perform at one of his concerts in Chicago after which he asked him where he could get a record deal and Waters told him about Chess Records. He stayed in town to pitch himself to Leonard Chess of Chess Records, who asked him to come back the next week with some original songs. Berry got back a demo reel with four songs which included “Ida Mae”. Leonard loved the song but asked Chuck to change the name to something else to fend off any copyrights claims from “Ida Red”. Chuck looked around the office and saw a secretary's mascara with “Maybelline” printed on it. Instantly, he suggested the name as the new title. But interestingly there a few stories floating around about how the song to its name. One of them include Berry saying that Maybellene was the name of the cow in child's nursery rhyme. Well, we’d probably never know.
No matter what said, Maybelline was Chuck’s first greatest hit. It launched his career and was the first and definitely not only stringing hit and commercial success that the guitarist, singer, songwriter achieved. From there, the only way Chuck went was up.
Even though the road to success was modern and fashionable, his songs were full of farm animals and girls named Maybellene. There was only one radio station out of the many which played black music. But Chuck’s song broke many disc jockeys and radio stations. None of the radio stations that played his song realised that he was black, as soon as they did, they pulled the record. He was once removed from a bar that he was to perform at because people didn’t believe that the guy behind that amazing music was black.
Chuck resented that he was a black man in America prevented from doing things. He felt like the ultimate outsider and wrote about things he couldn’t ever be a part of. The frustration he felt was transformed into songs about teenage crisis which opened up a whole new world. Chuck soon realised that most of the people buying his music were the white teenagers and started writing songs aiming towards them. Soon enough white teenagers came down to the black community just to listen to his music. "He knew exactly what he was doing, he knew that if he kept playing to everybody rather than any particular group, Rock And Roll as it was then and is now would be where it was” (Charles Berry Jr).
His combination of just 4 to 5 chords created the foundation of Rock And Roll. He had his own unique style of playing the guitar, when you hear a Chuck Berry riff, you know Chuck Berry wrote it. “Just hearing his lyrics on their own its you going” (Jools Holland). The simplicity in his writing and the image they’d create would have all people loving and obsessed with the song in no time. Sharps words, tunes and suits was never done before. “That really tough guitar playing and smartly out of tune too, we’d never seen anything like that” (Joe Brown).
By the second half of the 1950s, he won over hearts of many American and International fans with hits like “Back In The USA”, “Memphis Tennessee”, “Roll Over Beethoven” etc. He started to perform on television and in films. Even with all the money he earned there was a time when Chuck would rather sleep in his car than give his money to segregated hotels.
Despite all the fame and popularity, Berry’s life undertook an unexpected, rather corrective turn when he was arrested on 23rd December,1959 in St. Louis, Missouri. The charges against him were relating to the transportation of a 14 year old girl across state lines for allegedly immoral purposes. For which he had to pay a large fine and was jailed for 3 years.
Returning back from jail he realised that his young fans had now started making their own bands and were playing their versions of his songs. Artists such as Muddy Waters, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, and many others inspired and influenced Chuck in his music, and now he was doing the same for other musicians like The Beatles, Rolling Stone, Beach Boys etc.
“He knew how to get the audience up and keep em’ there, and once he got em’ up and he did the duck walk he didn’t have to work anymore” (Fontella Bass). When Chuck was a kid his sisters and parents would tell him to go under the table. It was like entertainment for his family and anyone who saw him walk under the table. He did this at a show while playing the guitar and got a big ovation, so he coined it as something he should do. It has been called “Duck Walk” ever since.
In 1977, a recording of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” was included on a golden disc sent to space with the Voyager mission (done by the idea that maybe one day the extraterrestrial life would stumble on the records and learning something from humans). This was one of the greatest achievements in his career.
Chuck was doing well, both professionally and financially. He met many artists he looked upto and was touring the world playing his music for his fans. He was a 50 year old grandfather who once again ran into trouble and was in prison for non-payment of taxes. During his jail time, he wrote his autobiography. He did this to have some control over his life story which many journalists had trashed due to only highlighting his legal issues. He wanted to tell his story, the right way. No one would have done justice to it other than him.
As years rolled by Chuck kept performing all over the world. In 1979, he got to perform his song “A Ding-A-Ling” at the White House. In the year 1986 on January 23rd he achieved another great milestone in his life, he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. “Hail! Hail! Rock And Roll” a concert/movie, documentary film directed by Taylor Hackford and produced by none other than the Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards, chronicles two concerts that took place on 16th October, 1986, at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis celebrated Chuck’s 60th birthday, was released in 1987. Many artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Robert Cray got to perform with their idol, Chuck Berry. The film also features scenes from the rehearsals for the shows and interviews with Chuck and his family.
In the 1990’s Chuck was able to do whatever he wanted musically as long as he stayed out of legal trouble. Even after which there were a few more incidents that took place, but were settled out of court. He had four children, two of which got into music. His daughter Ingrid played the harmonica and his son Charles played the guitar, both of them toured with Chuck for quite a while.
Even at a really old age Chuck Berry kept touring and playing his music for his fans all around the world. He kept inspiring and motivating many artists like Green Day, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Tom Jones, Cliff Richard, and still does the same for many of us. When asked when he’d stopped performing, he said “That shall never be as far as I am able to see a little, hear a little and do but a little, I want to perform, it’s in my genes” (Chuck Berry), and rightly so he performed till the very end.
He was passionate, hardworking, dedicated and extremely motivating. Nothing could ever stop him, neither discrimination against his colour not his legal issues. He did what he love and opened doors for so many more to do so. He did things no one could’ve ever imagined happening. He wasn’t just a singer, songwriter, or a guitarist, he was the Father of Rock And Roll.
Chuck passed away on 18th March, 2017 at the age of 90 in St. Charles County, Missouri.
A legend like him and a legacy like his can never possibly be forgotten, his music will not stop playing in our homes, hearts and won’t ever not be performed on stage. Even after so many years, there is always someone in the world who falls in love with Berry’s music. I myself didn’t know about Chuck Berry very well till recently, but now playing his music and listening to his songs makes me feel like I’ve been missing out on so much all these years.
He created magic with his music, he instilled love in everybody’s hearts and definitely still very much does so. There is always a little Chuck Berry heard in music till today and so he shall be heard till music exists, forever. “My mama said, you and Elvis are pretty good, but you are no Chuck Berry” (Jerry Lee Lewis).