A bow to the man who started it all
ROCK’N’ROLL pioneer Chuck Berry is to be honoured with an award said to be the musical equivalent of a Nobel prize.
The Johnny B Goode musician is one of two recipients chosen for this year’s Polar Music Prize, following in the footsteps of figures such as Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin.
The award was founded by the late Stig Anderson, who was the manager and publisher for music stars Abba. It was created to “break down musical boundaries by bringing together people from all the different worlds of music”.
Berry, known for hits such as Roll Over Beethoven and Maybellene, was at the forefront of rock’n’roll in the late 1950s and went on to have other hits such as No Particular Place To Go.
Rolling Stones star Keith Richards has said of the 87year-old: “I lifted every lick he ever played — this is the gentleman who started it all.”
It will be awarded at a ceremony in Stockholm on August 26 — attended by King Carl XVI of Sweden — when Berry and the other recipient, US opera and theatre director Peter Sellars, will each be given a £100 000 (R1.7-million) prize.
The first Polar Music Prize laureate was Sir Paul McCartney, who said on receiving it: “The difference with this one for me is that I’ve presumably been chosen from everyone in the world. You can’t knock that. That’s a high honour.”
Joni Mitchell, Dizzy Gillespie, Paul Simon, BB King, Renee Fleming, Bob Dylan, Burt Bacharach, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles and Quincy Jones have also won the award.
The citation for Berry said: “The Polar Music Prize 2014 is awarded to Chuck Berry from St Louis, USA. The parameters of rock music were set one day in May 1955, when Chuck Berry recorded his debut single, Maybellene. Chuck Berry was the rock’n’roll pioneer who turned the electric guitar into the main instrument of rock music. Every riff and solo played by rock guitarists over the last 60 years contains DNA that can be traced right back to Chuck Berry. The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and a million other groups began to learn their craft by playing Chuck Berry songs. Chuck Berry is also a superb songwriter.
“In the course of three minutes, he conjures up an image of the everyday life and dreams of a teenager, often with the focus on cars. Chuck Berry, born in 1926, was the first to drive up onto the highway and announce that we are born to run.”
Berry still tours and was in Russia last month for a series of concerts. — ©