The music world mourns the loss of a legend today with the passing of iconic singer and songwriter Chuck Berry.
Chuck Berry’s music was the inspiration for the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Motown, and more. The man played the guitar with abandon and was known for songs like “Johnny B Goode,” “Maybellene,” and “Rock and Roll Music.”
Berry passed away on March 18th in Missouri. He was 90. First responders found Berry, who was unresponsive, and they were unable to revive him.
There are so many ways to describe his impact on the world of music. Perhaps most tellingly is the fact that Berry’s seminal classic “Johnny B. Goode” is the only rock and roll song featured on the gold record representing the best music Earth has to offer that was included on the Voyager probe traveling the universe.
Given his musical legacy, Chuck Berry was in the inaugural class of musicians inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. His songs have been listed in many “best songs” compilation lists over the years, with six songs appearing on the Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, with “Johnny B. Goode” coming in at #7.
Berry was known not only for his songs, but as a performer. He was the kind of musician who gave fans the show they paid for. His performances were legendary in their own right, and he performed well into his later years.
If you’re not sure you’ve ever heard a Chuck Berry song, you probably have. There’s an iconic scene in the 1985 movie Back to the Future when Michael J Fox’s Marty Mc Fly finds himself at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance in 1955. He joins the band for a few songs, and he plays “Johnny B. Goode” to the high school gym full of teenagers who had never heard anything like it. The song, released in 1958, clearly hadn’t reached Hill Valley yet but it introduced one of Berry’s most well known songs to a whole new generation of fans.
Berry’s website says a new album, called Chuck, is scheduled for release in 2017.