Chuck Berry consists of Charles Edward.
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an immensely influential African American guitarist, singer, and composer, and one of the pioneers of rock & roll music. Berry was born in St. Louis, Missouri and was part of the first group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.
Born in St.Louis, Missouri, Chuck Berry was a third child in a family of six. He grew up in an area of St.Louis known as the Ville, one of the few areas of the city where blacks could own property, which consequently made it synonymous with black prosperity. His father was a contractor and a deacon of a nearby baptist church, his mother a qualified schoolteacher. His middle class upbringing allowed him to pursue his interest in music from an early age and he made his first public performances while still in high school. Before he could graduate he was arrested and convicted for attempted burglary in 1944, after taking a joy ride with his friends to Kansas City, Missouri. Although, in his 1987 autobiography Chuck Berry :The Autobiography, he retells the story of coming upon a broken down vehicle, owned by a white man, on the highway, and claimed the man had asked him and his friends to drive the car into Kansas City to be fixed. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to 10 years in reform school of which he served three. He was released on his 21st birthday.
Chuck Berry had been playing a form of the "blues" since his teens and by early 1953 was performing with "Sir John's Trio," a band that played at a popular club in St. Louis. The group included Berry's long-time collaborator, and the group's namesake, piano man Johnnie Johnson. In May of 1955, he traveled to Chicago where he met Muddy Waters who suggested he contact Chess Records. Signed to a contract, that September he released a unique version of the Bob Wills song, "Ida Red," under the title, "Maybellene." The song eventually peaked at #5 on the Billboard charts. At the end of June 1956, his song " Roll Over Beethoven" reached #29 on the Billboard charts. Berry's early LP records sometimes contained well-delivered blues standards to round out the customary dozen tracks. In the autumn of 1957, Berry joined the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and other rising stars of the new rock and roll to tour the United States.
