Chuck Berry
American musician
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- He made his national TV debut on November 8th 1957 on "American Bandstand" performing "Rock and Roll Music" twice in a row, by demand for the teenage dancers in the studio.
- Born to a contractor and deacon of a Baptist church and his wife, a qualified principal, he was the third of six children.
- Father of Ingrid Berry.
- In Stephen King's novel "Christine", many chapters open with lyric fragments from his songs.
- Is mentioned in "Chuck Berry Fields Forever" by Gilberto Gil, "Chuck Berry" by The Toasters and "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" by Bob Seger.
- Received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984.
- Performs on a Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis.
- President 'Jimmy Carter' asked him to perform at the White House (1 June 1979).
- Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986.
- Whenever he performs live he always picks a venue which is near an Indian restaurant, so he can have a meal straight after the show. When he was at the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall in the 1990s, the stage door was directly opposite the front door of the Mogul-E-Azam, so he was able to sneak out the stage door, across the alley and have his meal without travelling too far! (One of the roadies on duty that night let slip about the restaurant information.).
- His only #1 hit was his controversial novelty song, "My Ding A Ling".
- One of his daughters, Aloha, went to the same high school (University City Senior High school) as actor Edgar L. Davis and rapper Nelly.
- He was voted the 5th Greatest Rock & Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. Ironically, the four artists/groups ahead of him on the list all considered him an influence: The Rolling Stones; Bob Dylan; The Beatles and even Elvis Presley.
- He was arguably the most important figure in rock in the 1950s, besides Elvis Presley. Although Presley had much more explosive record sales and greater commercial longevity, Berry was equally influential and had the satisfaction of knowing that he, unlike Presley, had written all of his own classics.
- He worked as a janitor, carpenter and hairdresser.
- He originally wanted to be a professional photographer and started singing and playing in a band to buy cameras and photography equipment. Some of his photographs of the famous and near-famous are hanging in galleries around the world today.
- Charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
- Chuck Berry received a John F. Kennedy Center Honor in 2000.
- Has served three jail terms for armed robbery in the 1944, the Mann Act in 1959 and tax evasion in the 1970s.
- He owns a warehouse full of old Cadillacs, one from every three or four model-years, all the way back to the mid-1950s, which he claims to be trying to get rid of, but says that nobody will give him a fair price, so he just stores them away.
- Born at 6:59am-CST.
- Spouse, Themetta "Toddy" Suggs (28 October 1948 - present) 4 children
- Born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA