Of all the fathers of rock ’n’ roll, Chuck Berry was the most colourful, a wild and original character who was a model for the greatest rock guitarists. Harassed and imprisoned by racist authorities, Chuck would spend some 60 years either at the top of the charts or behind bars. After being sentenced for hold-ups in three stores, car theft, and possession of a weapon, he spent two years in a reformatory. Released in 1947, it was after an encounter with Muddy Waters, and especially Leonard Chess in 1955, that his life was transformed. He recorded a Bob Wills country song that he retitled “Maybellene”, and it sold over a million copies, which took the song to the top of the R&B charts, the first in a long series of hits he recorded for the Chess label. They are all on this album.
