Chuck Berry Dies At Age 90

Rock n Roll legend Chuck Berry died Saturday March 18th 2017. He was 90 years old. Police were called to his home in St Charles County Missouri at 12:40pm local time. He was found lying on the floor unresponsive. Efforts to revive him failed and he was pronounced dead at 1:26pm local time. While Elvis was known as the King of Rock n Roll, and Alan Freed gave Rock n Roll it's name, it was Chuck Berry who literally created the genre.

He began his life as Charles Edward Anderson Berry, born October 18th 1926 in St Louis Missouri. He was the third of six children. His father was a contractor, while his mother was a school teacher. His first exposure to music came as a member of his church choir and his school's glee club. In junior high school he began to teach himself how to play guitar. However, before he was able to finish high school, a failed robbery attempt landed him in reform school for three years.

In 1952 Mr Berry got a call from Johnnie Johnson, who played piano, to come play at the Cosmopolitan Club in St Louis. Mr Berry's influence and musical style caused the house band to change their name to the Chuck Berry Trio. The band played the club for three years. Then in 1955, recognizing Mr Berry's potential, the legendary Blues singer Muddy Waters told Mr Berry that he should contact Lenard and Phil Chess at Chess Records in Chicago.

Not really being a Blues man and wanting to impress the Chess brothers, Mr Berry worked out a song called "Ida Red," which was based on an old Country song. Mr Berry kept the 2/4 Country back beat, but added a 12 bar Blues progression and wrote a lyric that featured a guy chasing a girl in a car. He increased the tempo and made the song swing a little. The Chess brothers liked the song, but wouldn't release it unless Mr Berry changed the name, so he changed the songs title to "Maybellene."

Mr Berry went on to have a string of top ten hits that went on into the mid sixties, that included "Roll Over Beethoven," "Sweet Little Sixteen," Reelin' and Rockin,'" and his signature track, "Johnny B Goode." While he was big on the R&B charts, Mr Berry didn't get his first and only number one pop hit until 1972, when he scored with the song, "My Ding-A-Ling." The song was based on double entendre and sold over a million copies.

Mr Berry's music was much emulated by his contemporaries and his style eventually inspired rock artists such as the Beatles, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1985 and was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 1995, Mr Berry performed at the Rock Hall's inaugural event. In October 2016 he announced that he was working on the release of his first album in 38 years.

Mr Berry is survived by his wife, Themetta Suggs and his four children, Ingrid, Chuck jr, Aloha, and Melody.