He was born in the U.S.A in St. Louis, Missouri on October 18, 1926. When he was born he was in the middle class era and that is how he was able to study music. Where he lived was like a haven for black-owned businesses and institutions. The neighborhood was so segregated that
Berry had never even encountered a white person until the age of three. He was the fourth of six children and at the age of six he began singing in the church choir. He attended Summer High
School that was the first all-black high school west of the Mississippi. At his talent show he sang
“Confession’ the Blues” and the performance was a huge hit and later on took guitar lessons. In …show more content…
Berry ended up serving three year in the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men and returned to work for his father’s construction business.
In 1948, he married Themetta “Toddy” Suggs and they have four children. In 1951 he joined a former classmate in a band and he developed his reputation. In 1952, Jonnie Johnson joined for the Sir John’s Trio and they introduced upbeat country numbers into the bands repertoire of jazz and pop music. In 1955 was when his career really started to kick off. He met
Muddy Waters who told him to go to Chess Records and a few weeks later he wrote and recorded a song, “Maybelline.” Within months it reached number 1 on the R&B charts and number 5 on the pop charts. It was considered to be the first true rock and roll song. He released more and more songs that became top hits and would be on the charts. He also released a song;
“Sweet little sixteen” and it peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Pop singles chart (Best Sellers in
Stores) in 1958.
In 1961 he was convicted under the Mann act of illegally transporting a woman across the state lines for “immoral purposes” and we spent 20 months in jail. He was released in 1963 and left off where he was by releasing more hit songs. His last album was then released in