Chuck Berry

The legendary musician and virtuosic guitarist Chuck Berry (full name Charles Edward Anderson Berry) was born in 1926 in St. Louis. Since the very childhood Chuck has been interested in music, and very soon it became something bigger than just a favorite hobby. The guitarist’s incredible talent was noticed in no time, and his experiments with styles and the new manner of playing really impressed the listeners.

While being a teenager, Berry was arrested for robbery of three shops and a car theft, but even staying in the correctional facility he did not abandon the music: Chuck formed a singing quartet. That kind of life experience helped Berry to understand what he wanted to do in the future and to find out the ways to achieve his goals. After the release the guitarist started a new life: he got married and later his daughter was born. Berry had several jobs in St. Louis, but he found the time to improve his playing skills. In early fifties Chuck Berry performed in many local bands, including Johnnie Johnson's trio. The guitarist had been playing blues since the childhood; however at that period of time he played a lot of country music, which was extremely popular in St. Louis. Thus, Berry began mixing blues and country, and the result turned out to be extremely successful: the musician’s creativity was noticed and soon he signed the contract with Chess Records. Chuck’s debut single titled Maybellene was released in 1955 and it had a huge effect in the musical sphere and in 2004 the famous magazine Rolling Stone included that composition into the list of 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time to the eighteenth place.

Chuck finally settled his unique style that had been enjoyed by millions of listeners. The guitarist gained the popularity and began preparing the material for the following works. His discography was enlarged by such hits as Thirty Days (1955), Rock’n’Roll Music (1957) and of course one of the most recognizable Berry’s songs Johnny B. Goode (1958). Many of the singer’s songs became classical and inspired numerous musicians to start experiments and to look for the new sound. Chuck’s creativity proved to be called-for not only in the USA: in the middle of sixties, during the so-called “British invasion” such bands as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals and others made cover-versions of Berry’s songs. It is worth mentioning that these compositions sounded very well as the interpretations, which proves the real universalism of Chuck’s art. Released many studio works, including strong Rockin' At The Hops (1960), Fresh Berry's (1965) and others, the guitarists decided to pay special attention to the concerts first of all.

There is absolutely no doubt that Chuck Berry is one of the brightest musicians of the twentieth century, who had a huge influence on the rock-n-roll’s development. Berry managed to experiment with rhythm-and-blues, country and other styles in a successful way and he created the original manner of playing and simply reinvented rock-n-roll. The incredibly charismatic and talented guitarist became the real legend of rock, and his creativity keeps on pleasing listeners and still inspires musicians.