Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry was eighty on the 18th October. Having seen film footage of him performing in his sixties/seventies with such enthusiasm it is hard to believe that one of the biggest influences in rock and roll is now eighty.
He was born Charles Edward Anderson in St Louis, Missouri. His father was a contractor as well as a deacon at the local Baptist Church and his mother was a school teacher. They had six children and Berry was the middle child.
His interest in music began at an early age and he learned to play the guitar while a teenager. He even performed at his high school. This must be every teenagers dream.
He was performing in the early fifties but it wasn't until 1955 that his big break came, his two big influences in music where Nat King Cole and Muddy Waters. When he was in Chicago that year he discovered that Muddy Waters was playing in a club there and he went to see him. Unfortunately he arrived late and only caught the last few minutes but he somehow made himself known and was able to ask Muddy Waters for some advice on how to go about making a record. He advised him to go and see Leonard Chess who ran Chess Records. He then found out it was a blues label. But he did a demo of "Ida Mat" which later became "Maybellene". The song gave him a recording contract. And he went on to record his most famous song "Johnny B Goode", and in the same year "Sweet Little Sixteen". Two Years before in 1956 he recorded "Roll over Beethoven" which was sung in the film Beethoven about a St Bernard dog.
Chuck Berry brought together audiences of both black and white he also made sure they enjoyed watching his performances. He really entertained he did all this by observing the audience and then began to play as a result of those observations. He would later go on to inspire the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. He was also one of the first people to be installed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when it began in 1986.

	Children's Web Magazine
Home	Chuck Berry Chuck Berry was eighty on the 18th October. Having seen film footage of him performing in his sixties/seventies with such enthusiasm it is hard to believe that one of the biggest influences in rock and roll is now eighty. He was born Charles Edward Anderson in St Louis, Missouri. His father was a contractor as well as a deacon at the local Baptist Church and his mother was a school teacher. They had six children and Berry was the middle child. His interest in music began at an early age and he learned to play the guitar while a teenager. He even performed at his high school. This must be every teenagers dream. He was performing in the early fifties but it wasn't until 1955 that his big break came, his two big influences in music where Nat King Cole and Muddy Waters. When he was in Chicago that year he discovered that Muddy Waters was playing in a club there and he went to see him. Unfortunately he arrived late and only caught the last few minutes but he somehow made himself known and was able to ask Muddy Waters for some advice on how to go about making a record. He advised him to go and see Leonard Chess who ran Chess Records. He then found out it was a blues label. But he did a demo of "Ida Mat" which later became "Maybellene". The song gave him a recording contract. And he went on to record his most famous song "Johnny B Goode", and in the same year "Sweet Little Sixteen". Two Years before in 1956 he recorded "Roll over Beethoven" which was sung in the film Beethoven about a St Bernard dog. Chuck Berry brought together audiences of both black and white he also made sure they enjoyed watching his performances. He really entertained he did all this by observing the audience and then began to play as a result of those observations. He would later go on to inspire the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. He was also one of the first people to be installed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when it began in 1986.

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