FANS SAY FAREWELL TO MUSIC LEGEND CHUCK BERRY
Family, friends and fans of all ages filed into a St. Louis music club to pay their final respects to rock ‘n’ roll legend Chuck Berry, who died last month at the age of 90.
The Pageant, where Berry often performed, opened its doors Sunday morning for a fourhour public viewing, which was followed by a private service for family and friends.the musician behind hits such as Johnny B. Goode, Sweet Little Sixteen and Roll Over Beethoven had a profound influence on the rock ‘n’ roll genre, from garage bands to stadium acts such as the Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Hundreds of fans filed past Berry, who was laid to rest wearing his signature white sailor hat and with his beloved cherry-red Gibson guitar, bolted to the inside of his coffin’s lid.
Gene Simmons and The Rolling Stones also paid their respects to the man who paved the way for their own musical careers during the celebration of life event. The Rolling Stones sent a beautiful flower arrangement shaped like a guitar that was
Berry was the first artist in the inaugural 1986 class to go into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and he closed out its concert in 1995 to celebrate that Cleveland building’s opening
displayed near Berry’s casket. The note read: ‘Thank you for the inspiration. With fondest memories, Keith, Mick, Charlie, and Ronnie. The Rolling Stones.’ When Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards spoke about Berry at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 1986 induction ceremony - Berry was the first person inducted from that inaugural class - he said Berry was the one who started it all. That sentiment was echoed Sunday by David Letterman’s former band leader, Paul Shaffer, who spoke to the St. Louis Postdispatch outside the club.
‘Anyone who plays rock ‘n’ roll was inspired by him,’ Shaffer said.
Berry was the first artist in the inaugural 1986 class to go into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and he closed out its concert in 1995 to celebrate that Cleveland building’s opening.
The musician duck-walked his way into the pantheon of rock’n’roll and died at his home around an hour outside of St. Louis, after St. Charles County Police confirmed they responded to a ‘medical emergency’.
He was found unresponsive and first responders desperately tried to perform a number of lifesaving techniques.
Although Elvis Presley was called the king of rock ‘n’ roll, that crown would have fit just as well on the carefully sculpted pompadour of Charles Edward Anderson Berry.
He was present in rock’s infancy in the 1950s and emerged as its first star guitarist and lyricist and came along at a time when much of the United States remained racially segregated. Despite the racial divide, it was hard for young audiences of any colour to resist a performer who delivered such a powerful beat with so much energy and showmanship.
‘Everything I wrote about wasn’t about me, but about the people listening,’ Berry once said.
Johnny B. Goode, the tale of a guitar-playing country boy whose mother tells him he’ll be a star, was Berry’s signature song, the archetypal narrative for would-be rockers and among the most ecstatic recordings in the music’s history. Berry released his first album, After School Session, in May 1957, and went on to record a further 18 studio albums. His 20th album, Chuck, is to be released later this year.
His first number one, My Dinga-ling, topped the charts in 1972.
Berry said he performed his signature bent-knee, headbobbing ‘duck walk’ across more than 4,000 concert stages.the head of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Greg Harris, said “anybody who’s picked up a guitar has been influenced by him.”
Berry leaves behind his wife Toddy and four children.