Sunday, October 15, 2006

Look whose 80

CHUCK BERRY BIOGRAPHY

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born on October 18, 1926 at 2520 Goode Avenue (now Annie Malone Drive) in St. Louis, MO. His mother, Martha, was qualified as a schoolteacher; his father, Henry, was a contractor and deacon of the nearby Antioch Baptist Church. The third of six children, he grew up in The Ville, an area just north of downtown St. Louis which was one of the few areas in the city where Blacks could own property. Consequently, during the 1920's and 30's, The Ville became synonymous with Black prosperity. Berry grew up attending Simmons Grade School and Sumner High School, the first Black high school west of the Mississippi; other Sumner alumni include Tina Turner, Arthur Ashe, Robert Guillaume, Robert McFerrin, and Dick Gregory.

http://departments.colgate.edu/diw/pegg/CBBiography.html

 

He had a few successful hits :

Aside from "Roll Over Beethoven," which reached #29 on Billboard's Hot 100 in May 1956, Berry found the initial success of "Maybellene" hard to follow; subsequent singles, such as "Thirty Days," "No Money Down," "Too Much Monkey Business," and "You Can't Catch Me" sold respectably but failed to cross over. Berry's first release in March 1957, "School Days," was to change all that. Like "Roll Over Beethoven," it drew on a universal adolescent theme and made #5 on the Hot 100, leading to bookings for 240 one-nighters in that year alone. With only one exception (1958's "Beautiful Delilah"), Berry was to enjoy an unbroken string of chart hits for the next two and-a-half years: "Oh Baby Doll" (#57) and "Rock and Roll Music" (#8) in 1957; "Sweet Little Sixteen" (#2), "Johnny B. Goode" (#8), "Carol" (#10), "Sweet Little Rock and Roller" (#47), and "Merry Christmas Baby" (#71) in 1958; and "Anthony Boy" (#60), "Almost Grown"(#32), and "Back in the USA" (#37) in 1959. These songs are, without doubt, some of the greatest and most enduring songs in the history of rock and roll.

 

        Still Rockin at 80,........(+3days),............hahahahaha

Just goes to show ............"You Never Can Tell"

http://departments.colgate.edu/diw/pegg/CBBiography.html

Full Bio,....for those who are interested,..........

I'm sure alot of his records were played often In the old "Pav"

as well as many other favourite Montreal/Verdun  dance spots,

...............................Happy Birthday Chuck.....................

 

1 comment:

sabby MSN said...

Chuck Berry is my man!  He and I try to have a date every night as I shimmy and shake to his music.  It's my exercise for the day----dancing----and he just moves me to move my body and shake.  Yes sirree.   Dolly