Of all the figures who built rock and roll back in the 1950s, Chuck Berry was arguably the most influential and certainly the strangest. In a new biography, which could never have been written when he was alive, R.J. Smith tells a story which is still hard to believe. His conversation with David Hepworth includes:
* how the nerd Charles Berry discovered the key to impressing women
* How a reckless streak a mile wide saw him put away as a teenager
* How a comic turn developed into the greatest act in rock and roll
* How he never listened to what his daddy told him about white women
* How his record company’s landlord ended up co-writing “Maybelline”
* His Mann Act conviction and imprisonment
* His rebirth in Britain with the help of the Beatles and Stones
* Why he needed a copy of the FT every day
* Why he never said thank-you
* The part played in his life by Lanchester Poly
* His last and most tawdry court case
* What was going on in his head all that time
Chuck Berry: An American Life by R.J. Smith is out now.
amzn.to/3IE7K7q
Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every Word In Your Attic ad-free and before the rest of the world!: / wordinyourear