Musicians and celebrities have taken to social media to express their grief and pay tribute to the passing of rock legend, Chuck Berry.
The iconic singer-songwriter was found unresponsive in his Missouri home on Saturday afternoon (19 March). The 90-year-old musician could not be revived and was pronounced dead at 1:26pm, according to the St Charles County Police
"If you want to call the rock in another way call it Chuck Berry", he said John Lennon
In the wake of Berry’s passing, artists and collaborators have been posting tributes and kind words on social media. The likes of The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Ringo Starr and Tom Petty
among others.
"My voice is gone, my lungs do not work any more, I do not see a lot. But I still want to make music." He had said so a few months ago Chuck Berry, in October, when she turned 90
Even Bill Clinton took to Twitter to share some kind words, “Chuck Berry’s life was a treasure and a triumph, and he’ll never be forgotten”.Chuck Berry was the first artist inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame
when the institution launched in 1986. So when the museum finally opened nine years later with an enormous concert at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, it only made sense to have him open the show. Berry usually played with pickup bands to limit costs and hassles on the road. But on this night, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band were happy to take on the notoriously difficult task.
I am so sad to hear of Chuck Berry's passing. I want to thank him for all the inspirational music he gave to us.
"If you had to give Rock 'n' Roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry"
John Lennon (with Chuck Berry)
Mike Douglas TV Show, 1972 pic.twitter.com/ViJtLblEwt— John Lennon (@johnlennon) 18 marzo 2017
He was a difficult man, angry, lonely, he had never wanted to have a band, and even when others had helped him, as Lennon and Richards, he never let his guard down, convinced as he was to be the king, the greatest, the one who had opened the door to all the others. But it was also an absolute genius, his music, his songs, his guitar riffs, have shaped the imaginary popular fifties and sixties, and in many ways should be taught as the ABC for any aspiring musician all over the world.
In “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “You Can’t Catch Me” and other songs, Mr. Berry invented rock as a music of teenage wishes fulfilled and good times (even with cops in pursuit). In “Promised Land,” “Too Much Monkey Business” and “Brown Eyed Handsome Man,” he celebrated and satirized America’s opportunities and class tensions. His rock ’n’ roll was a music of joyful lusts, laughed-off tensions and gleefully shattered icons.
He had been arrested in 1959 and charged with transporting a teenage girl — who briefly worked as a hatcheck girl at Club Bandstand — across state lines for immoral purposes. He was tried twice and found guilty both times; the first verdict was overturned because of racist remarks by the judge. When he emerged from 20 months in prison in 1964, his wife had left him (they later reconciled) and his songwriting spark had diminished.
Berry’s music has remained on tour extraterrestrially. “Johnny B. Goode” is on golden records within the Voyager I and II spacecraft, launched in 1977 and awaiting discovery.
