History Music / ChuckBerry

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American RockAndRoll guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for his string of pioneering hit singles during TheFifties. Indisputably one of the most important and influential performers of all time, his best known songs include "Roll Over Beethoven", "Maybellene", and especially "Johnny B. Goode", which had the honor of being sent into space on the UsefulNotes/{{Voyager Golden Record}}s in 1977, [[Film/BackToTheFuture1 and was probably plagiarized from some kid named Calvin Klein at a school dance in 1955, thanks to his cousin Marvin]]. It's generally considered that if it weren't for the racism at the time of his fame, Berry would have been crowned "King Of Rock And Roll" instead of Music/ElvisPresley by a vast majority.

* {{Jerkass}}: Many have theorised that his adherence to this trope, as exemplified through his numerous instances of abrasive or outright violent behavior, is at least part of what kept him from becoming as big as someone like Elvis, who was the epitome of the NiceGuy.

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American RockAndRoll guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for his string of pioneering hit singles during TheFifties. Indisputably one of the most important and influential performers of all time, his best known songs include "Roll Over Beethoven", "Maybellene", and especially "Johnny B. Goode", which had the honor of being sent into space on the UsefulNotes/{{Voyager Golden Record}}s in 1977, [[Film/BackToTheFuture1 and was probably plagiarized from some kid named Calvin Klein at a school dance in 1955]]. It's generally considered that if it weren't for the racism at the time of his fame, Berry would have been crowned "King Of Rock And Roll" instead of Music/ElvisPresley by a vast majority.

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American RockAndRoll guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for his string of pioneering hit singles during TheFifties. Indisputably one of the most important and influential performers of all time, his best known songs include "Roll Over Beethoven", "Maybellene", and especially "Johnny B. Goode", which had the honor of being sent into space on the UsefulNotes/{{Voyager Golden Record}}s in 1977. It's generally considered that if it weren't for the racism at the time of his fame, Berry would have been crowned "King Of Rock And Roll" instead of Music/ElvisPresley by a vast majority.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Since he was ostensibly recording it for a teenage audience, Berry changed the last lines of his cover of "Merry Christmas Baby" from "I haven't had a drink this morning, but I'm all lit up like a Christmas tree" to "And I will always love you baby, I'm as happy as can be".

* CuttingCorners: To save money, he notoriously didn't assemble a band to travel with him, instead requiring concert promoters to hire a backing band for each show. Hired to open for Berry in 1973 just as his career was kicking off, Music/BruceSpringsteen learned about this and volunteered the services of himself and the E Street Band to back Berry, in an incident that would became legendary over the years.

%% * OneManSong: "Johnny B. Goode'', "Roll Over Beethoven".

* SequelSong: A TropeCodifier for this, with "Johnny B. Goode"/"Bye Bye Johnny" and "Memphis"/"Little Marie".

* ButNotTooBlack: The record company originally tried to hide the fact that he wasn't white. Of course, the advent of television made that pretty hard. They did make him change Johnny B Goode to a "country boy" rather than a "coloured boy", though.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* CoolOldGuy: Continued doing gigs well into his late 80s.

Although his output slowed after a run-in with the law which saw him convicted for some time (in circumstances similar to those that wrecked the career of Music/JerryLeeLewis) and his hit-making period was over by the mid 1960s (with the exception of his only number-one hit, 1972's "My Ding-A-Ling"), Berry's influence on subsequent performers was significant. He was widely covered and cited as major influence by many [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion British Invasion]] bands, such as Music/TheAnimals, Music/TheBeatles, Music/TheHollies, Music/TheKinks, Music/ThePrettyThings, Music/TheRollingStones and Music/TheYardbirds.

* GratuitousFrench: "You Never Can Tell" includes "monsieur and madam have rung the chapel bell/''C'est la vie'' said the old folks, goes to show you never can tell." Possibly justified, since the groom in the song ''is'' named Pierre.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The Latin-tinged ballad "Drifting Heart" and the calypso-style "Havana Moon" were notable changes-of-pace from his early rock sound.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: His music is a hard 3 today, but at the time, he defined level 10. Some of his live performances still creep up to a 4 with his extremely madcap delivery and the fast speed of the music.

* {{Jerkass}}: Many have theorised that his adherence to this trope is at least part of what kept him from becoming as big as someone like Elvis, who was the epitome of the NiceGuy.

''Magazine/RollingStone'' recognizes him as the seventh greatest guitarist of all time on their list of [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone100GreatestGuitaristsOfAllTime 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time]].

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American RockAndRoll guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for his string of pioneering hit singles during TheFifties. Indisputably one of the most important and influential performers of all time, his best known songs include "Roll Over Beethoven", "Maybellene", and especially "Johnny B. Goode", which had the honor of being sent into space on the Voyager Golden Records in 1977. It's generally considered that if it weren't for the racism at the time of his fame, Berry would have been crowned "King Of Rock And Roll" instead of Music/ElvisPresley by a vast majority.

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American RockAndRoll guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for his string of pioneering hit singles during TheFifties. Indisputably one of the most important and influential performers of all time, his best known songs include "Roll Over Beethoven", "Maybellene", and "Johnny B. Goode", which had the honor of being sent into space on the Voyager Golden Records in 1977. It's generally considered that if it weren't for the racism at the time of his fame, Berry would have been crowned "King Of Rock And Roll" instead of Music/ElvisPresley by a vast majority.

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American RockAndRoll guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for his string of pioneering hit singles during TheFifties. Indisputably one of the most important and influential performers of all time, his best known songs include "Johnny B. Goode", "Roll Over Beethoven", "Maybellene" and many more. It's generally considered that if it weren't for the racism at the time of his fame, Berry would have been crowned "King Of Rock And Roll" instead of Music/ElvisPresley by a vast majority.