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Charles Edward Anderson Berry (born October 18,
1926), better known as Chuck Berry, is a highly
influential United States|American
Guitar|guitarist, singer and composer. Berry was
born in St. Louis, Missouri and was part of the
first group to be inducted into the new Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986. He
received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.

== Biography ==
As a young man, Berry served a three-year term in
reform school for attempted burglary. He was later
arrested for stealing a car. Chuck Berry had been
playing a form of the "blues" since his teens and
by early 1953 was performing with "Sir John's
Trio," a band that played at a  popular club in
St. Louis. In May of 1955, he traveled to Chicago
where he met Muddy Waters who suggested he contact
Chess Records. Signed to a contract, that
September he released a unique version of the Bob
Wills song, "Ida Red", under the title,
"Maybellene." The song eventually peaked at No. 5
on the Billboard magazine|Billboard charts. At the
end of June, 1956 his  song "Roll Over Beethoven"
reached No. 29 on the Billboard charts. In the
fall of 1957, Berry joined the Everly Brothers,
Buddy Holly and other rising stars of the new rock
and roll to tour the United States.

In December 1959 Berry had legal problems after he
invited a 14-year-old Apache waitress he met in
Mexico to work as a hat check girl at his
nightclub (Berry's Club Bandstand) in St. Louis.
After the girl was arrested on a prostitution
charge, so was Berry, who stood accused under the
Mann Act of transporting a minor across state
lines for sexual purposes. Berry was convicted to
five years in prison and fined $5,000. He was
released in 1963 but his best years were now
behind him. 

Chuck toured for many years carrying only his
Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band
that already knew his music no matter where he
went.  Among the many bandleaders performing this
backup role were Bruce Springsteen and Steve
Miller (musician)|Steve Miller.  Springsteen
backed Chuck again when he appeared at the
"Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" in
1995.  

After travelling the oldies circuit in the 1970s,
he was in trouble with the law again in 1979, when
he pled guilty to income tax evasion and was
sentenced to four months imprisonment and 1,000
hours of community service doing benefit concerts.

In the late 1980s, Berry owned a restaurant in
Wentzville, Missouri|Wentzville, Missouri, called
The Southern Air. Berry also owns an estate in
Wentzville called Berry Park. For many years,
Berry hosted rock concerts throughout the summer
at Berry Park. He eventually closed the estate to
the public due to the riotous behavior of many
guests.

Although in his late 70s, Berry continues to
perform regularly, playing both throughout the
United States and overseas. He performs one
Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill
(restaurant)|Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar
located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St.
Louis, Missouri.

Berry was also the subject of attention in the
1990s for his alleged voyeurism of female guests
in his home.

== Influence ==
A pioneer of Rock_and_roll|Rock and Roll, Chuck
Berry had a significant influence on others. When
Keith Richards inducted Berry into the Hall of
Fame, he said, "It's hard for me to induct Chuck
Berry, because I lifted every lick he ever
played!" John Lennon, another devotee of Berry,
took things further and wrote "Come Together"
around the lyrics of Berry's own "You Can't Catch
Me," for which he was subsequently sued. Angus
Young of AC/DC, who has cited Berry as one of his
biggest influences, is famous for using Berry's
duckwalk as one of his gimmicks.

While there is debate about who recorded the first
rock and roll record, Chuck Berry's early
recordings, including "Maybellene" (1955) fully
synthesized the rock and roll form, combining 
blues and country music with teenaged lyrics about
girls and cars, with impeccable diction alongside
distinctive electric guitar solos and an energetic
stage persona. Chuck Berry also popularized use of
the boogie in rock and roll.  

Most of his famous recordings were on Chess
Records with pianist Johnnie Johnson
(musician)|Johnnie Johnson from Berry's own band
and legendary record producer Willie Dixon on bass
guitar|bass, Fred Below on drums and Berry's
guitar, arguably the epitome of an early rock and
roll band.  

record producer|Producer Leonard Chess recalled
laconically:

:"I told Chuck to give it a bigger beat.  History
the rest, you know?  The kids wanted the big beat,
cars, and young love.  It was a trend and we
jumped on it." 

Berry's musical influences were Nat King Cole,
smooth singer and master pianist, Louis Jordan,
very much Chuck's model, and Muddy Waters, singer
and guitarist vital in the transformation of Delta
blues into Chicago blues and the man who
introduced Berry to Leonard Chess at Chess
Records.

Throughout his career Berry recorded both smooth
ballads like "Havana Moon" and blues tunes like
"Wee Wee Hours." but it was his own mastery of the
new form that won him fame. He recorded more than
thirty Top Ten records and his songs have been
covered by hundreds of blues, country, and rock
and roll performers.

== Chuck Berry songs ==
Many of his songs are among the leading rock and
roll anthem|rock and roll anthems:
* "Johnny B. Goode", the autobiographical saga of
a country boy who could "play a guitar just like
ringing a bell". It was chosen as one of the
greatest achievements of humanity for the Voyager
Golden Record|Voyager I collection of artifacts. 
The song was also prominently featured in the
movie "Back to the Future."
* "Rock and Roll Music (song)|Rock and Roll
Music", one of the first tunes recorded by The
Beatles
* "Sweet Little Sixteen", with new lyrics it
became a hit for The Beach Boys as "Surfin' USA".
* "Roll Over Beethoven" (... tell Tchaikovsky the
news), a cheeky announcement if ever there was
one.
* "School Days", whose chorus, "Hail! Hail! Rock
and Roll", was chosen as the title of a
documentary film|documentary concert film
organized by Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones
as his tribute to Chuck, who appears in the film
with many others.  
* "Let It Rock", fantasia of gambling railroad
workers that lives up to the title, written under
the pseudonym E. Anderson.  Turning a line like
"there's an off-schedule train coming two miles
out" into a cry for Dionysius|Dionysian revelry is
not a skill given to all singers.

His other hits, many of them novelty narratives,
include:
* "Maybelline (song)|Maybelline" -- car, girl,
rival, jealousy -- based on the country music|
country tune, "Ida Red", performed originally by
Bob Wills|Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys.
* "Too Much Monkey Business", teenaged attitudes,
predecessor to rap, "Same thing every day, gettin'
up, goin' to school, no need of me complaining, my
objection's overruled". Also inspired the Bob
Dylan song, "Subterranean Homesick Blues", Johnny
Thunders' "Too Much Junky Business" play on title
* "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", adult attitudes,
racism, "arrested on charges of unemployment"
* "Back in the U.S.A.", which inspired The
Beatles' "Back in the USSR".  
* "No Particular Place To Go" --car, girl,
frustration
* "Memphis", unique beat, sweet story.  Lonnie
Mack and Johnny Rivers both built entire careers
starting with this song.
* "My Ding-a-Ling", his only #1, a New Orleans
novelty song that he had been singing for years
and fortuitously included on a live recording in
London in 1970.

Among his blues tributes:
* "Confessing the Blues", signature tune of the
famed Kansas City, Missouri jazz band of Jay
McShann
* "Merry Christmas, Baby", originally by Charles
Brown
* "Route 66", written by Bobby Troup, originally
performed by Nat King Cole, but commonly
associated with Berry. 
* "Things I Used to Do", by Louisiana's Guitar
Slim

See also:
* The Great Twenty-Eight, Berry's definitive
Greatest Hits album.

==External links==
* Official http://www.chuckberry.com/ Chuck Berry
web site
* All-star concert, documentary, tribute film
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0092758 "Hail! Hail! Rock
and Roll"
* http://www.rocksite.info/r-berry-chuck.htm Web
site links for Chuck Berry
* http://www.gilbertogil.com.br/audio/501.mp3
Chuck Berry Fields for ever, ministry of Brazil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilberto_Gil