21 Untold Chuck Berry Facts For The Music Lovers Out There

Chuck Berry songs are well known and popular for their distinctive sounds, along with witty lyrics.

Charles Edward Anderson Berry, Jr. is an American rock and roll musician. His music has influenced different genres like jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, country, gospel, pop, folk, and classical.

Some of his songs include 'Johnny B. Goode,' 'Maybellene,' 'Roll Over Beethoven,' 'Rock and Roll Music,' 'Sweet Little Sixteen,' and 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man.' He is also famous for his signature duck walk.

His father, Henry Berry, was a carpenter and a Baptist church official. Chuck Berry is known to have owned his own residence at Berry Park close to Wentzville, Missouri.

Charles Berry Jr., one of his children, is also well known in the music industry. Berry's 'My Ding a Ling' is also one of the best among the recorded Berry's songs.

A statue has been built near Blue berry Hill to pay tribute to rock music fans who play rock guitar in St. Louis. Berry announced his first new studio album would be released in 2017 on his 90th birthday.

He was also in controversy for the violation of the Mann Act in 1962. He participated in the Leonard Chess Tournament in Chicago in 1955.

For his debut stage performance, Berry selected the Jay McShann song 'Confessin' the Blues.' Keith Richards is also known for organizing a concert on the 60th birthday of Chuck Berry.

Chuck Berry and his sister Lucy Ann are both well-known musicians. In May of that year, he recorded two songs for a local label called Sir Groove Records with the Johnnie Johnson Trio, commonly known as the Sir John Trio.

Life History Of Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is widely considered one of the most important innovators of rock and roll music, along with Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, and a few others.

• He sold millions of records worldwide starting in the mid-1950s and continuing into the 1990s. Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born on October 18, 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended a segregated public school at the early age of five, where he had his first instrument; a straw hat with guitar strings attached to it. 'Johnny B. Goode' is also one of his most famous songs on the pop charts.
• This situation forced him to learn songs by himself and later influenced his unique musical abilities. By the time he was 15, he had learned guitar technique and chords. He used it in his job by playing for dances at places like the Home of the Good Shepherd Parochial School, St. Andrew's Hall, and even the Missouri Boys' School in 1944.
• He soon began performing amateur at several clubs in St. Louis, with his favorite being the Cosmopolitan Club for black audiences, where he made the acquaintance of musicians like Ike Turner and Willie Dixon. On one occasion, Paul Burlison, a guitarist for Johnny Burnette's Rock 'n' Roll Trio, saw him perform there and noted that 'I thought I was hearing Elvis'.
• During the early 1950s, he worked at several jobs, including as a brakeman for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, a rivet catcher in an automobile assembly plant, and a machinist helper at Precision Tool Company. It was during this time that he learned to play the electric guitar. He began to perform with Johnnie Johnson; the combination was later known as Chuck Berry and his Classmates. Berry married Themetta "Toddy" Suggs on October 28, 1948.

Records By Chuck Berry

In March, 1955, he made his first recording as a sideman on the guitarist Elgin Davis' single 'Deacon Jones' and sang background vocals. In May of that year, he recorded two songs with the Johnnie Johnson Trio, also known as Sir John's Trio, for a local label called Sir Groove Records.

• He had known Waters for quite some time, and before arriving at his destination, he learned the way in which the man played his music. He wrote 'Maybellene' in response to an R&B record by T-Bone Walker called 'Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad),' which he'd heard on a jukebox while traveling with the Muddy Waters Blues Band.
• He showed it to an arranger, who then took him to a local music publisher's office, where Berry later received his first royalties. The song went on to be one of his biggest hits in 1955 and was later considered one of the essential rock 'n' roll songs. His first recordings with Chess Records were 'Wee Wee Hours,' a slow blues, all vocals, and 'School Days,' an upbeat song featuring Berry's guitar.
• The latter became his first hit single on the Billboard R&B record charts, where it reached number five. His last recording session at Chess was on October 31, 1956, in which he recorded 'Around And Around.' He initially didn't want to record it, but after his requests had been refused, he decided to prove that the song could be a hit. The recording was completed in July, 1958, making it Berry's second single for Chess Records.
• In 1959, he went on his first tour with rock 'n' roll's first package tour, the 'Biggest Show of Stars for '59.' His performance on this tour, as well as his single 'Little Queenie,' helped him reach number 16 on Billboard's pop singles chart. Meanwhile, he devoted himself to writing and composing more new songs; some were published under different names, like 'Maybellene', 'Wee Wee Hours' and 'Go Go Go'. In the same year, Berry traveled to Great Britain, where his records had gained popularity. His first album was called 'Rock, Rock, Rock.'

Chuck Berry’s Death

On March 18, 2017, Charles Edward Anderson Berry, popularly known as Chuck Berry, passed away.

• His death was confirmed by the St. Charles County Police Department in a tweet and on its Facebook page, and by his family in a statement released to 'Rolling Stone' magazine. He was 90 years old at the time of his death.
• Chuck Berry was a legendary musician who played for decades and became known as one of the founding fathers of rock 'n' roll.
• He had worked as a laborer, machinist helper, train brakeman, truck driver, and guitar player before getting into music.
• In the 1950s, he made his first recording for Chess Records.
• In the decades that followed, he made his mark as an accomplished songwriter and performer.
• He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
• He also won two NME Awards for Best Male Solo Artist. He was instrumental in the development of rock and roll as a distinct genre of music. Chuck Berry's wealth was estimated at around $20 million before his untimely death on March 18, 2017. His wealth came primarily from live performances, tours, and song royalties.

Fun Facts About Chuck Berry

He wrote songs about his childhood, like 'Maybellene' and 'Sweet Little Sixteen'. His album, 'Rock It,' was released in 1979.

• He appeared in movies such as 'Back To The Future' and 'Hairspray', and starred in a comedy series called 'The Chuck Berry Show'.
• Chuck Berry is regarded as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll. He had a massive collection of guitars that included the Gibson SG used for his performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, St. Louis Blues, and 'Johnny B Goode'.
• He got his stage name from boxing legend Charles 'Sonny' Liston after watching him fight one night in St. Louis. He had his own custom-made cherry-red Gibson electric guitar with gold hardware, an extra switch by the neck, and holes cut in the back for ventilation.
• He was married to Themetta Suggs from 1948.
• Despite having such a massive net worth, he refused to pay musicians who played with him after the tour ended because it would be the only way for them to make money.
• In the film 'Back To The Future', he played a character called Marvin Berry, who was a cousin of Chuck's after director Robert Zemeckis got permission from Chuck Berry to use his name in the movie.