Rock
and roll legend Chuck Berry dies aged 90
Chuck Berry, the guitarist and songwriter recognised as
one of the fathers of rock 'n' roll, has died aged 90.
Berry's
seven-decade career boasted a string of hits, including classics Roll Over
Beethoven and Johnny B. Goode.
He
received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 1984 and was among the first
inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
His
death was confirmed by police in the US state of Missouri.
The
singer was found unresponsive at 12:40 local time (17:40 GMT) on Saturday, St
Charles County police said in a statement.
He could not be revived and was pronounced dead at 13:26.
"The
St. Charles County Police Department sadly confirms the death of Charles Edward
Anderson Berry Sr., better known as legendary musician Chuck Berry," it
said.
High-profile musicians were quick to pay tribute to
Berry's talent and influence.
Motown
legends The Jacksons tweeted:
"Chuck Berry merged blues & swing into the phenomenon of early rock'n'roll.
In music, he cast one of the longest shadows. Thank You Chuck."
Singer-songwriter
Huey Lewis described him as "maybe the most important figure in all of
rock and roll".
"His
music and influence will last forever," he added.
Beatles
drummer Ringo Starr quoted one of Berry's own lyrics on Twitter, saying:
"Just let me hear some of that rock 'n' roll music any old way you use
it."
"I
am playing I'm talking about you," he wrote.
Both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones covered Berry's
songs, as did The Beach Boys and scores of other acts - including Elvis.
"If
you tried to give rock 'n' roll another name," John Lennon once said,
"you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."
Mick
Jagger of the Rolling Stones said that Berry "lit up our teenage years and
blew life into our dreams".
Singer
Bruce Springsteen called him "a giant for the ages".
The novelist Stephen King noted that Berry had a long
life for a consummate rock'n'roller, tweeting:
"Chuck Berry died. This breaks my heart, but 90 years old ain't bad for
rock and roll. Johnny B. Goode forever."
Berry
was born in St Louis, Missouri, in 1926, and had his first hit, Maybellene, in
1955.
He
went on to score a succession of hits that were aimed at adolescent audiences,
transcending the colour bar that plagued many contemporary black artists.
Last
year, he announced he would be releasing his first album in nearly four decades. He dedicated
it to his wife of 68 years, Themetta "Toddy".
The
album, titled Chuck, was recorded in St Louis, Missouri. It will be released
later this year, though a date has not been set.
Chuck Berry: Seven of the king of rock 'n' roll's best
songs
"There's only one true king of rock 'n' roll,"
said Stevie Wonder. "His name is Chuck Berry."
The
Chicago bluesman, who has died aged 90, basically invented rock.
Sure,
there were other contributors: Bill Haley's northern band rock 'n'roll; Pat
Boone and his New Orleans dance blues; and Berry's label mate at Chess Records,
Bo Diddley.
But
no-one else shaped the instrumental voice and lyrical attitude of rock like
Chuck. His recordings were lean, modern and thrilling. In the words of pop
critic Bob Stanley, "they sounded like the tail fins on Cadillacs".
He
was the first to admit he drew inspiration from days of old. "There is
really nothing new under the sun," he said in the mid-1980s tribute film
Hail, Hail Rock 'n' Roll - citing the likes of T-Bone Walker and Charlie
Christian as his forebears.
What
he did with those influences, though, was something else. He gave country the
bite of the blues, writing defiant odes to cars and girls at a time when rock
lyrics were all Tutti Frutti and A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop.
As
Brian Wilson said, he wrote "all of the great songs and came up with all
the rock and roll beats".
"He
laid down the law," added Eric Clapton.
Here
are seven of his most influential songs.
MAYBELLENE (1955)
Chuck's
first single sounded like nothing that had ever come before - and gave him a
top five hit in the US a full year before Elvis made his debut.
It
was based on Ida Red, a 1938
hit for Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys - but was nowhere near as polite.
Chuck
adds a thunderous rhythm section and a scuzzed up guitar, while his lyrics
lived out a teenagers' fast-car fantasy (even though he was in his mid-20s when
he wrote it).
"As
I was motorvatin' over the hill, I saw Maybellene in a Coupe-de-ville /
Cadillac rollin' on the open road / Tryin' to outrun my V-8 Ford."
Disc
jockeys Alan Freed and Russ Fratto were "encouraged" to play the song
- by being credited as co-writers - and a career was born.
ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN (1956)
"I
wanted to play the blues," Chuck once told Rolling Stone. "But I
wasn't blue enough. We always had food on the table."
So he
channelled his other frustrations into music. Roll Over Beethoven, widely
believed to be a manifesto for rock and roll music, was in fact an affectionate
dig at his sister, Lucy, who spent so much time at the family piano he couldn't
get a look in.
Still,
the swagger and the message - that Beethoven and Tchaikovsky had been rendered
redundant by the sheer power of Chuck and his cherry-red Gibson - resonated
with musicians all over the world.
The
song has subsequently been covered by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, ELO and
even Iron Maiden.
SCHOOL DAY (1957)
Most
rock lyrics deal in generalities but Chuck had an obsessive eye for detail, in
a way that spoke directly to his teenage audience. School Day is a perfect
example - pinning down that awful, caged feeling of children waiting for the
school bell to ring.
Berry
was in his thirties by the time it was released but the memories still seem
fresh.
"Back
in the classroom, open your books," he sings. "Gee, but the teacher
don't know how mean she looks."
BROWN EYED HANDSOME MAN (1956)
While
most of his songs are carefree, cartwheeling teenage librettos, Brown Eyed
Handsome Man takes a more political tone.
"Arrested
on charges of unemployment / He was sittin' in the witness stand / The judge's
wife called up the district attorney / She said, 'Free that brown-eyed
man'."
Berry
was inspired to write the song while he was touring through heavily black and
Latino areas of California at the start of his career.
"What
I didn't see, at least in the areas I was booked in, was too many blue
eyes," he wrote in his 1987 autobiography.
"The
auditoriums were predominantly filled with Hispanics and 'us'. But then I did see
some unbelievable harmony among the mix, which got the idea of the song
started."
YOU NEVER CAN TELL (1964)
Chuck's
most danceable song, You Never Can Tell becomes slightly more sinister when you
discover it was written after the musician's arrest for transporting a
14-year-old girl across a state boundary without her parents' consent.
"It
was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well," he sings over
Jamie Johnson's rollicking piano riff. "You could see that Pierre really
did love the mademoiselle.
"And
now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell / 'C'est la vie,'
say the old folks. It goes to show you never can tell."
The song mounts a spirited protest, but Chuck was
sentenced to three years in prison and by the time he was released in 1963,
after 20 months, rock was being overtaken by the British R&B boom.
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE (1959)
Featuring
some of Chuck's best and most tender lyrics - he worked on it for more than a
month - Memphis, Tennessee was inspired by the Muddy Waters' classic Long
Distance Operator.
In
the lyric, the star is pleading with a telephone operator to help him find a
girl called Marie - explaining they have been "pulled apart" by her
mother.
It is
not until the final verse that you discover the girl is his six-year-old
daughter, whose mother fled home, taking Marie with her.
In a
devastating aside, he tells the operator: "Last time I saw Marie she's
waving me good-bye / With hurry home drops on her cheek that trickled from her
eye."
JOHNNY
B. GOODE (1958)
Powered
by the most memorable guitar intro in rock, Johnny B. Goode is a
semi-autobiographical tale of a down-at-heels guitar player who ends up with
his name in lights.
The
writing of the song illustrates Chuck's ruthless commercial instinct: "The
original words [were], of course, 'that little coloured boy could play',"
he told Rolling Stone in 1972. "I changed it to 'country boy' - or else it
wouldn't get on the radio."
Chuck's
genius as an arranger is also on display on this song, one of the first ever
singles to utilise overdubs - with Chuck playing his solo over the top of the
original studio recording.
A
stone cold classic, it has proved to be supremely adaptable - with cover
versions by Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimi Hendrix, Buck Owens, Peter Tosh and the
Grateful Dead.
As
long as rock exists, someone, somewhere will be playing a version of this song. Just ask Marty McFly.
