Chuck Berry: Made By: Victoria Petri 11C

CHUCK BERRY
Made by: Victoria Petri 11C

In general about Chuck Berry
■ Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born on the 18th of October 1926.
■ He died on the 18th of March 2017.
■ He was an American singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and
roll music.
■ Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", Berry refined and developed rhythm and
blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs.
■ He had written lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism.
■ He had also developed a music style that included showmanship and guitar solos.
■ Berry was a major influence on subsequent rock music.
Childhood and early life
■ Born into a middle-class African-American family in St. Louis, Missouri. Berry was the

fourth child in a family of six.
■ He had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance
at Sumner High School.
■ While still a high school student he was convicted of armed robbery and was sent to a
reformatory.
■ By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star, with several hit records and film
appearances and a lucrative touring career.
■ He had established his own St. Louis nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand.
■ His life has made an unexpected twist as he was sentenced to three years in prison in
January 1962 for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl
across state lines.
■ After his release in 1963, Berry had several more hits
Periods in his life
■ 1955–1962: Signing with Chess: "Maybellene" to "Come On„

■ In May 1955, Berry traveled to Chicago, where he met Muddy Waters, who suggested
he contact Leonard Chess, of Chess Records.
■ Chess had seen the rhythm and blues market shrink and was looking to move beyond it,
and he thought Berry might be the artist for that purpose. On May 21, 1955, Berry
recorded an adaptation of the song "Ida Red", under the title "Maybellene„.
■ It sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and
blues chart
■ He had continued recording and performing during the trials, but his output had slowed
as his popularity declined; his final single released before he was imprisoned was
"Come On".
■ 1963–1969: "Nadine" and move to Mercury
■ When Berry was released from prison in 1963, his return to recording and performing was
made easier because British invasion bands—notably the Beatles and the Rolling Stones—
had sustained interest in his music by releasing cover versions of his songs.
■ Berry released eight singles, including three that were commercially successful, reaching the
top 20 of the Billboard 100: "No Particular Place to Go" (a humorous reworking of "School
Days", concerning the introduction of seat belts in cars), "You Never Can Tell", and the
rocking "Nadine".
■ Although this period was not a successful one for studio work, Berry was still a top concert
draw. In May 1964, he had made a successful tour of the UK, but when he returned in
January 1965 his behavior was erratic and moody, and his touring style of using unrehearsed
local backing bands and a strict nonnegotiable contract was earning him a reputation as a
difficult and unexciting performer.
■ He also played at large events in North America.
■ 1970–1979: Back to Chess: "My Ding-a-Ling" to White House concert
■ Berry returned to Chess from 1970 to 1973. There were no hit singles from the 1970
album Back Home, but in 1972 Chess released a live recording of "My Ding-a-Ling„.
■ The track became his only number-one single.
■ In the 1970s Berry toured on the strength of his earlier successes. He was on the road 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. AllMusic said that in this period his "live performances
became increasingly erratic, ... working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-
of-tune performances" which "tarnished his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers" alike.
■ He was filmed, at the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherds Bush, for Chuck Berry in Concert.
■ At the request of Jimmy Carter, Berry performed at the White House on June 1, 1979.
■ Facing criminal sanction for the third time, Berry pleaded guilty to evading nearly $110,000 in
federal income tax owed on his 1973 earnings. Newspaper reports in 1979 put his 1973 joint
income (with his wife) at $374,982. He was sentenced to four months in prison and 1,000
hours of community service—performing benefit concerts—in 1979.
■ 1980–2017: Last years on the road
■ Berry continued to play 70 to 100 one-nighters per year in the 1980s, still traveling solo and
requiring a local band to back him at each stop.
■ Berry was charged with assaulting a woman at New York's Gramercy Park Hotel
■ In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland and Spain.
■ Berry announced on his 90th birthday that his first new studio album since Rockit in 1979,
entitled Chuck, would be released in 2017. His first new record in 38 years, it includes his
children, Charles Berry Jr. and Ingrid, on guitar and harmonica, with songs "covering the
spectrum from hard-driving rockers to soulful thought-provoking time capsules of a life's work"
and dedicated to his beloved wife of 68 years, Toddy.
Death
■ Chuck Berry had deceased at the age of 90.

■ Firstly, they have called an ambulance to his house.
■ They have found an inanimate body and started the process of
revivification – the police confirmed the very sad fact that they found Chuck Berry...
In the remembrance of Chuck Berry
■ He was the first black superstar to not only excel with his unique guitar playing,
combining country with rhythm, but also creating the hot guitar symbol!
■ His lyrics have exceeded the ordinary “ life is so nice “ template and have lighted as a
comet in the sky of music.
■ He had broken the musical harmony at that time.
■ He had also revolutionized the guitar and turned it into the most important and essential
instrument in the universal rock music.
■ He created it, showed it and survived everyone.
My sources:
■ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Berry
■ https://thebits.hu/beatles-chuck-berry.php
■ https://musicbackstage.hu/2019/03/19/mr-rock-and-roll-ket-eve-halt-meg-chuck-berry/
■ https://index.hu/kultur/zene/2017/03/18/meghalt_chuck_berry/

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CHUCK BERRY

Made by: Victoria Petri 11C

■ Born into a middle-class African-American family in St. Louis, Missouri. Berry was the

■ 1955–1962: Signing with Chess: "Maybellene" to "Come On„

■ Chuck Berry had deceased at the age of 90.

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