Hail Hail Rock and Roll

Born in St. Louis, Missouri on October 18, 1926, Charles Edward Anderson Berry better known as Chuck Berry was among the first rockers, who began singing in the 1950s. This very talented man became a rock legend and was nicknamed the “Father of Rock and Roll. Throughout his rock and roll life, he wrote many different rock and roll classics which have been covered by various artists and have been discovered and listened to by many new generations. 

Chuck Berry’s very first single was “Maybelline” released in 1955. He had a sizzling stage presence and was never without his trademark double-string guitar. He had a style all his very own and wrote songs that went straight to a teen's heart. 

He was included in the album Rock, Rock, Rock which is also the soundtrack album for a motion picture of the same name. It was released in 1956 and includes his first single “Maybelline” and his popular song “Roll Over Beethoven,”

In May of 1957, he came out with After School Session. Songs on this album included the singles “School Days”, “Too Much Monkey Business” and “No Money Down”.

Next came One Dozen Berrys in 1958 with the singles “Rock and Roll Music” and “Sweet Little Sixteen”.

In 1959 Chuck Berry Is On Top and the singles “Maybellene”, “Johnny B. Goode” /”Around and Around, “Carol”/”Hey Pedro”, “Sweet Little Rock & Roller”/”Jo Jo Gunne, “Anthony Boy,” and “Almost Grown”/”Little Queenie.”

1960 Rockin’ At The Hops with the first single released “Childhood Sweetheart” and the second single “Let It Rock.” Both songs charted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In 1964 his album St. Louis to Liverpool included such favorites like “No Particular Place to Go” and “You Never Can Tell” which was immortalized in the famous dance scene in the movie “Pulp Fiction”.

All of these albums were followed by 15 more as well as live albums and also compilation albums. His style and rock and roll songs remain outstanding even today. 

Other songs which are considered to be some of his greatest hits are “Come On”, “Promised Land”, “You Can’t Catch Me”, “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man”, “Memphis, Tennessee”, “Downbound Train”, “Let it Rock” and “Nadine (Is It You?)”.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Chuck Berry became a regular performer at rock festivals and rock and roll revival shows. During this time he scored once more with a number-one pop hit titled “My Ding-a-Ling”. This song was included in his album The London Chuck Berry Sessions recorded in a London studio. 

Another song from the album was “Reelin’ & Rockin’”. This album became his highest-charting album and also became his only gold album.

Rock It

Chuck Berry received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1983 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame in 1986. That same year he was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when it opened. A documentary about Berry’s life was released in 1987 “Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll” and that same year he had his autobiography published. 

Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's “greatest of all time lists” among them Chuck Berry is ranked 5th on the list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He is on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll with three songs - “Johnny B. Goode”, “Maybellene”, and “Rock and Roll Music”.

In 2011, a statue of Chuck Berry was erected on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.