Chuck Berry (Charles Edward Anderson Berry) was born at 6:59am, on October 18, 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.; a singer, songwriter, and guitarist who was one of the most popular and influential performers in rhythm-and-blues and rock-and-roll music
in the 1950s, '60s, '70s and beyond.
Raised in a working-class African-American neighbourhood on the north side of the highly segregated city of St. Louis, Berry grew up in a family proud of its African-American and Native-American ancestry. He gained early exposure to music through his family's
participation in the choir of the Antioch Baptist Church, through the blues and country-western music he heard on the radio, and through music classes, especially at Sumner High School.
Throughout his early twenties Berry performed with guitar and combo in small nightclubs in his home town St. Louis. In 1955 Berry travelled to Chicago in search of a recording contract; Muddy Waters directed him to the Chess brothers.
After listening to a demo track called Ida May (later to be renamed Maybellene during the first recording session) Leonard Chess thought this would be the most commercial and couldn’t believe that a country tune (he called it a "hillbilly song")
could be written and sung by a black guy.
Leonard and Phil Chess signed him for their Chess label, and in May 1955 his first recording session produced Maybellene, which went to number one in the charts in July and stayed in the charts for eleven weeks. Berry followed this success with extensive tours
and hit after hit, including Roll Over Beethoven (1956), School Days (1957), Rock and Roll Music (1957), Sweet Little Sixteen (1958), Johnny B. Goode (1958), Reelin' and Rockin' (1958), Back in the USA (1959).
In 1964, Nadine, No Particular Place to Go and You Never Can Tell were more hits, this was at the height of the British Invasion, whose prime movers, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, were hugely influenced by Berry as were the Beach Boys and many other
well known artists.
His vivid descriptions of consumer culture and teenage life, the distinctive sounds he coaxed from his guitar, and the rhythmic and melodic virtuosity of his piano player (Johnny Johnson) made Berry's songs staples in the repertoire of almost every rock-and-roll
band. Like Brian Wilson said, Chuck Berry wrote all of the great songs and came up with all the rock & roll beats. Those who do not claim him as a seminal influence or profess a liking for his music and showmanship show their ignorance of rock's development
as well as his place as the music's first great creator. Elvis may have fuelled rock & roll's imagery, but Chuck Berry was its heartbeat and original mindset.
Although he recorded more sporadically in the 1970s and '80s, he continued to appear in concert, most often performing with backing bands comprising local musicians. Berry's public visibility increased in 1987 with the publication of his book Chuck Berry:
The Autobiography and the release of the documentary film Hail! Hail! Rock n' Roll. This featured footage from his 60th birthday concert and guest appearances by Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen and many others.
Berry is undeniably one of the most influential figures in the history of rock music. In helping to create rock and roll from the crucible of rhythm and blues, he combined clever lyrics, distinctive guitar sounds, boogie-woogie rhythms, precise diction, an
astounding stage show, and musical devices characteristic of country-western music and the blues in his many best-selling single records and albums. A distinctive if not technically dazzling guitarist, Berry used electronic effects to replicate the ringing
sounds of bottleneck blues guitarists in his recordings. He drew upon a broad range of musical genres in his compositions, displaying an especially strong interest in Caribbean music on Havana Moon (1957), plus others. Influenced by a wide variety of artists—including
guitar players Carl Hogan, Charlie Christian, and T-Bone Walker and vocalists Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan, and Charles Brown—Berry played a major role in broadening the appeal of rhythm-and-blues music during the 1950s. He fashioned his lyrics to appeal to
the growing teenage market by presenting vivid and humorous descriptions of high-school life, teen dances, and consumer culture. His recordings serve as a rich repository of the core lyrical and musical building blocks of rock and roll. In addition to the
Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Linda Ronstadt, and a multitude of significant popular-music performers have recorded Berry's songs.
The final comment must go to Bruce Springsteen made after a gig in 1973; "It was an incredible night. It was just the kind of night that when I'm sixty-five or seventy, I’ve got to tell my grandkids. "Chuck Berry, yeah I met Chuck Berry. As a matter
of fact I backed Chuck Berry up one night.", "You did?", "Yeah".
Gary Moore 1952 - 2011
Gary Moore, who died of a heart attack on Sunday 6th February 2011 aged 58, was acknowledged as one of the finest guitarists that the British Isles has ever produced.
The son of a music promoter, Gary Moore was born on April 4 1952 and raised in East Belfast near Stormont. He was given his first acoustic guitar at eight, learning to play with his right hand, even though he was left-handed, and at 14 was playing the electric
guitar. After going to see concerts by Cream, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Fleetwood Mac, he was determined to become a rock star.
At 16 he moved to Dublin, where he was mentored for a while by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green (when Green left Fleetwood Mac he lent Moore his 1959 Les Paul Standard guitar which he later purchased from him) and in 1969 linked up for the first time with
Phil Lynott in the band Skid Row.
Lynott left a few months later to form the band Thin Lizzy in which Moore became a member of the band on three separate occasions. The last was during the period when one of Lizzy's most successful albums: Black Rose: A Rock Legend (1979) was released.
Moore's most well known solo hit singles were Parisienne Walkways (1979) and Out In The Fields (1985), and in 1990 when he returned to his first love, the blues he released the album 'Still Got The Blues' – a confident evocation of the music that had
originally influenced him – mixed standards with his own original material and featured guest appearances by George Harrison, Albert King and Albert Collins.
It brought him unexpected commercial success and renewed stature among his peers, and he repeated the format on 'After Hours' (1992), which included further cameos by BB King and Albert Collins.
In 1993 he collaborated with former Cream members Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker in the three piece band called BBM, this was virtually Cream Mk2. Over an eighteen month period they released one album 'Around the next Dream'; this superb album was digitally remastered
in 2003 with four added bonus tracks of which two were live recordings.
Moore's 1995 album release was a tribute to Peter Green called 'Blues for Greeny' consisting entirely of Green compositions, and over the next fifteen years Gary Moore released many successful albums.
Gary Moore was a gently-spoken person with few rock star traits who generally shied away from publicity, living quietly in Brighton, Sussex, England. He is survived by four children - Saoirse, Lily, Jack and Gus – and was laid to rest in a village graveyard
at St Margaret's Church, Rottingdean, Sussex.
Imelda May – Mayhem CD
Although rock'n'roll is readily associated with hotly wired vocalists, it is also a genre in which musicians can take pride of place, primarily because the genre grew from rhythm & blues, which itself was partially shaped by the input of great players
who'd been blooded in big bands. Imelda May's engaging third album makes this point in no uncertain terms.
As much as she is the star of the show, the group that supports her is well on the money, with the drums-double bass axis of Steve Rushton and Al Gare locking down the walking blues lines impressively while trumpeter Dave Priseman provides concise, wistful
interjections that occasionally have a mariachi grace to them. But the key member of the band is arguably guitarist Darrel Higham, whose wiry rhythmic lines and growling, tremolo-wobble chords are a potent foil to May's gutsy contralto.
The London-based Dubliner is an imperious, take-no-prisoners personality who can certainly electrify a tune with the tigerish yelps and whoops that run deep into the marrow of the blues.
May writes the bulk of the material and impresses with both melody and lyric, none more so than the hard times chronicle of Kentish Town Blues, which smartly distills the realities of life at the low end of the social scale, right down to "those stews
that lasted three days into four".
Mayhem effectively proves that Imelda May is an artist of real substance and it will be interesting to see how she develops in due course.
Jeff Beck – Rock 'n' Roll Party DVD and CD
In honour of Les Paul, the American jazz and country guitarist who pioneered the development of the solid-body Gibson electric guitar which helped make the sound of Rock 'n' Roll possible.
The British guitar legend Jeff Beck celebrates the legacy of the late Les Paul and a host of special guests join forces for this tribute in what would have been his 95th birthday.
This live DVD is filmed at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City which fans will know Les Paul played at every week for years.
Jeff Beck is joined onstage by the rising star Imelda May and her band with Darrel Higham, plus cameos from Gary US Bonds, Brian Setzer and Trombone Shorty who all bring life and soul to the set. The band rips through Les Paul hits including the quicksilver
How High The Moon and Tiger Rag, fleshing out the set with period classics such as By By Blues, Sleep Walk, Cry Me A River, Peter Gunn, Mockin' Bird Hill, Baby Let's Play House and Twenty Flight Rock. Jeff Beck manages to capture the essence and passion of
Les Paul and it is fair to say he does him justice. Imelda Mays voice is perfectly suited for the era but she is also dressed the part, complete with a fitting quiff hairstyle and stunning red and gold 50s style dress.
The 27 track set list (with 20 tracks on the CD) is jammed packed of lively, upbeat tunes that will unleash the swinger inside you. Complete with a house jazz band it will transport you back in time and make you appreciate the true talent and musicianship
of Les Paul as well as Jeff Beck.
The musicianship by all present is superb along with the well shot video and superb sound recording; there's an excellent balance between the vocals and instrumentals, and crowd noise is kept to a minimum.
The excellent extras include Jeff at home talking through his amazing guitar collection, and an extensive interview.
Music Links
Rebound Records – Specializing in Rock 'n' Roll, Rockabilly, Doowop, Rhythm 'n' Blues and related styles from original 1950's artists to the bands on today's Rockin' scene.
Nervous Records - An independent record label based in the UK born out of years of DJ work on the Rockin' scene. Now only MP3 downloads and Fury Record label CDs.
Roots CD – UK independent specialist in Rock ‘n’ Roll, Rockabilly and Blues CDs.
Raucous Records – Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Surf, Garage, Swing and 1950's Rock ‘n’ Roll CDs and Vinyl records.
Snapper Music - An independent music and DVD producer based in London incorporating eight record labels.
Rhino Music - Get Exclusive Boxsets, CDs, Vinyls and MP3s.
Rollin Records – Independent record label for Rock n Roll bands - vinyl 45s, CDs, DVDs.
Ace Records - The leading reissue record company in the UK, specialising in rock 'n' roll , soul, funk, blues, jazz, R&B, garage rock and punk.
All Music Guide - The Best source for music information; all music styles, thousands of artist biographies, thousands of album reviews and play sample tracks. Find the best of new and upcoming releases.
London Music Guide - London music tickets and reviews for Rock, Pop, Jazz, Blues, Hard Rock and many more music styles.
Blues in Britain - Magazine reports on the blues scene, with emphasis on what's happening here in the UK.
Rock 'n' Roll - Complete UK Rock 'n' Roll Gig Guide.
Gig Guide – A guide to gigs, live music venues, music shops and recording studios etc.
Planet Jive – Jive gig guide, news, clubs and venues.
