October 12, 2006. Copyright 2006, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Chuck Berry, ÒPrime Minister of Rock and RollÓ, turns 80
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, October 12, Graphic News:  When you are as good as Chuck Berry, perhaps you can afford some bad behaviour. As he approaches his 80th birthday, the musician can look back on a long career in which sense of mischief and incorrigible spirit have been ever-present -- both on stage and off.

Like all the most imitated talents in the history of rock and roll -- BerryÕs autobiographical song Johnny B. Goode has been covered by no less than 400 artists -- his was one of the most individual. Regularly ranked among the top 10 guitarists of all time, at his peak Berry was a witty, energetic showman whose songs resonated with black and white fans alike.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri on October 18, 1926, Berry was the third of six children of middle class Baptist parents. By the time he was a teenager he was singing and playing guitar in public, and his first brush with the law came early, too. At 18 he was arrested for attempted robbery after he and some friends held up a car for a joyride home.

Despite his misdemeanours, Berry was soon gaining popularity through performances with a St. Louis band, the Sir JohnÕs Trio. With Chess Records, he recorded a string of hits including Maybellene, based on the traditional Bluegrass standard Ida Red, and the rock and roll anthem, Roll Over Beethoven. School Days was another top 10 hit, as was Sweet Little Sixteen, which would later provide the Beach Boys with the tune for SurfinÕ USA.

Purists often lament that his only number one turned out to be My Ding A Ling, a novelty song ostensibly about a boy who receives a gift of two silver bells on a string, but is believed to be about masturbation. Even so, the song has provided scandal and laughs in equal measure: Lisa was even banned from singing it in an episode of The Simpsons.

But, with Berry, controversy was never far away. In 1959 the singer was sentenced to five years in jail after he hired an underage girl to work at his nightclub, and she was later arrested for prostitution. By the time of his release in 1963, the world was a different place: rock and roll was enjoying a heyday and Berry would soon claim his place in it.

Perhaps his greatest achievement was in synthesizing different genres in often narrative songs that incorporated blues and country, and struck a chord with black and white fans -- something he knew. ÒWhen I played hillbilly songs I stressed my diction so it was harder and white,Ó he wrote in his autobiography. ÒIt was my intention to hold both the black and the white clientele by voicing the different kinds of songs in their customary tongues.Ó

For many, BerryÕs troubles with the law have contributed to his legend. After pocketing cash fees while on the tour circuit in the late 1970s, he was convicted of tax evasion and, somewhat bizarrely, in 1990 he fought a costly lawsuit claiming that he had used cameras to spy on women customers in the bathrooms of two of his restaurants in St. Louis.

For others, however, BerryÕs talent has the last word. In the words of John Lennon: ÒIf you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry.Ó
/ENDS