ChuckBerry

** Chuck Berry **

** Timeline: ** 1926 - Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born on October 19. -Grew up in [|St. Louis] with a midle class upbringing. -Pursued his interest in music from an early age. -Made his first public performance while in Sunner High School. 1944 - Before graduating he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery. (His car broke down on the side of a highway and, not having a way home, flagged down a passing car. Berry attempted to commandeer the man's car at gunpoint with a non functional pistol. The carjacked man called the police from a nearby pay phone who quickly pulled over Berry in the car and arrested him and his friends.) 1947 - Berry was released from the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men at Algoa, near Jefferson, Missouri on his 21st birthday. 1953 - He performed with the Johnnie Johnson Trio, a band that played at a popular club called The Cosmopolitan, in East St. Louis, Illinois. 1955 - Traveled to Chicago where he met [|Muddy Waters] himself, who suggested he contact [|Leonard Chess] of [|Chess records]. -Berry took Waters' advice and he covered "Ida Red" (renamed "Maybellene"). -"[|Maybellene]" sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart and #5 on the Hot 100. 1956 -"Roll Over Beethoven" reached #29 on the Billboard Top 100 chart. -Berry appeared in two early rock 'n' roll movies. The first was Rock Rock Rock//,// released in 1956. 1957-1959 - Scored over a dozen chart singles, including the top 10 U.S. hits "School Days," "Rock and Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "Johnny B. Goode." -Berry encountered legal problems ( after inviting a 14-year-old Apache waitress whom he met in Mexico, to work as a hat check girl at his club. After being fired from the club, the girl was arrested on a prostitution charge and Berry was arrested under the Mann Act. -After a trial and retrial, Berry was convicted, fined $5,000. -Sentenced to five years in Prison. 1963 - Berry was released from prison. 1964-1965 - He resumed recording and placed six singles in the U.S. Hot 100, including "No Particular Place To Go" (#10), You Never Can Tell" (#14), and "Nadine" (#23). 1966 - Left Chess Records. -[|Mercury] label 1970 - Four-year stint at Mercury. Berry returned to Chess. 1972 - Chess released a new live recording of "My Ding-a-Ling" (initially recorded years earlier as a novelty track) -The track became Berry's only No. 1 single, and it remains popular today. 1973 - album Bio. 1970's - Toured. 1990 - He was sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the ladies' bathrooms at two of his St. Louis restaurants. 2008 - Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, England, Ireland, Switzerland and Spain. Currently ... he performs one Wednesday each month at [|Blueberry Hill], a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis.

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Reviews:

[|Rock Pages Library; Chuck Berry Reviews]


 * "Chuck Berry** doesn't tour much these days. His patented guitar licks carry a bit less punch, his stamina slips away after an hour of entertaining a sold-out house. But, at 79, he's still a showman to behold." -Ed Crowell AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, January 30, 2006 [|Review continued...]

**Sources:** __Wikipedia__ __Google__


 * Also Check Out: **
 * [|The Official Site of Chuck Berry] **