Chuck Berry dead at 90

Chuck Berry has died, accordin to a report by ABC News. The rock'n'roll innovator was 90; he influenced the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, and countless other musicians of every generation that followed him. 

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born in St. Louis in 1926 and got his start playing guitar in clubs around the city. In 1955, during a trip to Chicago, he recorded a version of the hillbilly song “Ida Red” for the blues label Chess, retitling it “Maybellene”. More hits followed throughout the ’50s—“Roll Over Beethoven,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” and “Johnny B. Goode”. He opened his own St. Louis venue Club Bandstand in 1958. His amusement park Berryland followed in 1961.

Berry's career came to a halt when he was arrested in 1959 for transporting a minor across state lines. He eventually went to prison for charges stemming from that arrest in 1962. After his release from prison, he scored a few more hits and late in the ’70s, he served another short prison sentence for tax evasion.

He was famous for his prickly personality.

In 1977, “Johnny B. Goode” was included on the golden record launched into outer space on the Voyager spaceship. In 1986, Berry was inducted into the first class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Throughout the last few decades, Berry continued to tour the oldies circuit relentlessly.