Description

The definitive biography of Chuck Berry legendary performer and inventor of rock and roll

Best known as the groundbreaking artist behind classics like Johnny B Goode Maybellene You Never Can Tell and Roll Over Beethoven Chuck Berry was a man of wild contradictions whose motives and motivations were often shrouded in mystery After all how did a teenage delinquent come to write so many songs that transformed American culture And once he achieved fame and recognition why did he put his career in danger with a lifetimes worth of reckless personal behavior Throughout his life Berry refused to shed light on either the mastery or the missteps leaving the complexity that encapsulated his life and underscored his music largely unexploreduntil now

In Chuck Berry biographer RJ Smith crafts a comprehensive portrait of one of the great American entertainers guitarists and lyricists of the 20th century bringing Chuck Berry to life in vivid detail Based on interviews archival research legal documents and a deep understanding of Berrys St Louis his birthplace and the place where he died in March 2017 Smith sheds new light on a man few have ever really understood By placing his life within the context of the American culture he made and eventually withdrew from we understand how Berry became such a groundbreaking figure in music erasing racial boundaries crafting subtle political commentary and paying a great price for his success While celebrating his accomplishments the book also does not shy away from troubling aspects of his public and private life asking profound questions about how and why we separate the art from the artist

Berry declined to call himself an artist shrugging that he was good at what he did But the mans achievement was the rarest kind the kind that had social and political resonance the kind that made America want to get up and dance At long last Chuck Berry brings the man and the music together