ROCK IN PEACE
Star and Fans salute
Hundreds of fans lined up before dawn Sunday to pay their last respects to rock-’n’-roll legend Chuck Berry at an open-casket viewing in St. Louis. Berry’s trademark cherry-red Gibson ES-335 electric guitar was bolted inside the top of his allwhite casket at The Pageant, a concert hall where the man considered the father of rock ’n’ roll once belted out hits like “Johnny B. Goode” and “Roll Over Beethoven.” “I’d always wanted to see him in person, but this is the only chance I got,” fan Diane Walton, 53, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He looks real good.”
Berry — who died of natural ccauses last month at age 90 — was decked out in a white suit, sequined shirt and another trademark, a captain’s cap, at the fourhour public viewing.
The Rolling Stones sent a guittar-shaped flower arrangement.
When Stones guitarist Keith Richards spoke about Berry at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s first induction ceremony in 1986, he said Berry was the one who started it all.
The sentiment was echoed by ‘Late Show with David Letterman” bandleader 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’s songs have been cov-ered by country, pop and rock artists such as AC/DC and Buck Owens, and his riffs live on in countless songs. The head of the RRock & Roll Hall of Fame, Greg HHarris, said, “Anybody who’s picked up a guitar has been influenced by him.”
Outside the venue, a singer wailed covers of Berry classics like “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Roll Over Beethoven.”
A private funeral and “celebration of life” for 300 friends and family members was held after the viewing at 1 p.m. A procession to a cemetery followed at 3:15 p.m.
“I am here because Chuck Berry meant a lot to anybody who grew up on rock ’n’ roll,” said Wendy Mason, who drove in from Kansas City, Kan., for the visitation. “The music will live on forever.”
Another fan, Nick Hair, brought his guitar from Nashville, Tenn., so he could play Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” while waiting in line outside.
Berry died at home, just north of St. Louis, on March 18.