Born at 6:59am-CST.
Born to a contractor and deacon of a Baptist church and his wife, a qualified principal, he was the third of six children.
Charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. [1986]
Father of Ingrid Berry.
Has served three jail terms--for armed robbery in 1944, for violation of the Mann Act in 1959 and for income-tax evasion in the 1970s.
He made his national TV debut on November 8th 1957 on American "New American Bandstand 1965" (1952) performing "Rock and Roll Music" twice in a row, by demand for the teenage dancers in the studio.
He originally wanted to be a professional photographer and started singing and playing in a band to buy cameras and photography equipment. Some of his photographs of the famous and near-famous are hanging in galleries around the world today.
He owns a warehouse full of old Cadillacs, one from every three or four model-years, all the way back to the mid-1950s, which he claims to be trying to get rid of, but says that nobody will give him a fair price, so he just stores them away.
He was arguably the most important figure in rock in the 1950s, besides Elvis Presley. Although Presley had much more explosive record sales and greater commercial longevity, Berry was equally influential and had the satisfaction of knowing that he, unlike Presley, had written all of his own classics.
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1777 North Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
He was voted the 5th Greatest Rock & Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.
He worked as a janitor, carpenter and hairdresser.
His only #1 hit was his controversial novelty song, "My Ding A Ling".
In Stephen King's novel "Christine", many chapters open with lyric fragments from his songs.
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. [1986]
Is mentioned in "Chuck Berry Fields Forever" by Gilberto Gil, "Chuck Berry" by The Toasters and "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" by Bob Seger.
One of his daughters, Aloha, went to the same high school (University City Senior High school) as actor Edgar L. Davis and rapper Nelly.
Performs on a Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis.
President Jimmy Carter asked him to perform at the White House. [6/1/79]
Received a John F. Kennedy Center Honor. [2000]