Chuck Berry was a walking contradiction. An inquisitive and highly intelligent student, born into a stable middle class family, who found himself incarcerated at 19 after an armed robbery spree with a broken pistol. A black man in his thirties […]
Some of the musicians, songwriters, engineers, managers, agents, broadcasters, journalists, industry executives, and studio and club owners who passed away in 2017. January Stuart Hamilton, Canadian pianist, broadcaster (CBC) and vocal coach Memo Morales, Venezuelan singer Auriel Andrew, Australian country […]
One of the more morbid secrets of publishing — and likely of the record industry, too — regards dead authors. Frankly, dead authors sell books, depending, of course, on their literary stature and the quality and prolific output during their […]
The last album released during Chuck Berry’s lifetime, Rockit also marked a rare deviation from his tenure at Chess. Released in 1979, it would be Berry’s last release until the posthumous Chuck earlier this year. Berry’s voice, guitar and lyrical […]
Here’s To Life!: The Story Of The Refreshments There was a brief time in the mid-’90s when a small Arizona bar band took popular music by storm. Following a heralded appearance at SXSW, Tempe’s The Refreshments were signed by Mercury […]
Last year, to celebrate his 90th birthday, Chuck Berry announced that he was making another album with some help from folks like Tom Morello and Gary Clark Jr. Pause to think about the boldness of creating a sizable chunk of […]
From the first lick, you know who it is. He doesn’t even have to put a last name on it. Chuck is enough. The Berry-isms come tumbling out as he launches the opener, “Wonderful Woman,” a travelogue through everything Chuck […]
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” -Andy Warhol When Beth Bombara and I […]
I had him on my short list. After Leonard Cohen left the building I did a quick mental survey of who was still standing from the generation right before my own and Chuck Berry, along with Little Richard and Jerry […]
Of course the big music news this week was the passing of Chuck Berry at age 90. In case you weren’t already convinced of his giant influence on rock (and much more), consider how people across generations reacted to the […]
