Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was rock and roll's founding guitarist and songwriter, the artist who most directly translated the energy and attitude of the blues into the new musical form. Raised in a middle-class African American family in St. Louis, Berry developed his trademark guitar intro riff and duck-walk stage moves before traveling to Chicago to audition for Muddy Waters, who directed him to Chess Records. His 1955 debut 'Maybellene' launched a string of classic singles ('Roll Over Beethoven,' 'Rock and Roll Music,' 'Johnny B. Goode,' 'Sweet Little Sixteen') that established the lyrical and musical vocabulary of rock and roll. His guitar style, built on T-Bone Walker's single-string runs and boogie-woogie rhythms, became the most imitated sound in rock history. John Lennon famously said, 'If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry.'