18 October: Chuck Berry

Born on this date in 1926 was Chuck Berry, rock and roll singer. 10 facts about him:

1. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the fourth of six children born to Henry William Berry, a contractor and deacon of a Baptist church and Martha Bell, a school principal. His birth name was Charles Edward Anderson Berry.
2. He first realised he wanted to be a musician when he performed in front of his high school. He performed a song called Confessin’ the Blues. His fellow students loved it, but the adults hated it.
3. He was a qualified hairdresser. Berry was working as a beautician in St. Louis when he was discovered by Chess Records' Muddy Waters. Hairdressing was just one of the day jobs he had before becoming a star. He also worked at his father’s construction company, at an auto plant and as a freelance photographer.
4. His first major hit was Maybellene, considered to be the first rock and roll song. Other hits included the semi-autobiographical Johnny B. Goode and Sweet Little Sixteen. However, despite having hits with all these classics, his only number one was a novelty song called My Ding-a-Ling in 1972. He'd first recorded a version of the song for an album in 1968. At that time it was called My Tambourine. Berry was fine with this being his only number one – he believed he was giving audiences what they wanted.
5. He married Themetta "Toddy" Suggs in 1948, and was married to her for 68 years.
6. He was, nevertheless, a bit of a naughty boy. At 17, he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to prison. He spent his time in prison boxing and forming a singing group which was good enough to perform outside the prison. Later, he served time for transporting an underage girl into the state to work at his club, and later still for tax evasion. He was once caught with 62 grams of marijuana and got a suspended sentence for that.
7. He wrote his autobiography, Chuck Berry: The Autobiography, without the help of a ghost writer.
8. Chuck Berry's Music has been launched into space. In 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 into space, each containing a 12 inch gold record of the sounds and images of Earth. This included music from a variety of cultures, including Berry's song Johnny B. Goode.
9. Berry always insisted on being paid his royalties in cash. In 1975 he was stopped at Sydney Airport carrying a case containing over £40,000 in cash.
10. On his 90^th birthday, he announced that he was releasing a new album, his first studio album since 1979. His children Charles Berry Jr and Ingrid played on it, and it was dedicated to his wife. Sadly, Chuck Berry died three months before the album was released.

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