Iconic rocker, Chuck Berry has died. EMS were summoned to the Berry home at 12:40 p.m. CT where they found the guitarist unresponsive. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. Berry was pronounced dead at 1:26 p.m. CT. He was 90.
The St. Charles County Police Department in Missouri released the following statement: “The St. Charles County Police Department sadly confirms the death of Charles Edward Anderson Berry Sr., better known as legendary musician Chuck Berry. The family requests privacy during this time of bereavement.”
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Here a a few quick facts on the ones Berry leave behind from our friends at heavy.
2. Berry Was Married to Their Mother for Nearly 70 Years
Berry was married to their mother, Themetta “Toddy” Suggs, for nearly 70 years. The two were married in October 1948. Their first child, Ingrid, was born in October 1950.
According to IMDb, Aloha Berry went to University City Senior High School, the same school rapper Nelly attended.
In a statement announcing the release of Chuck, which was announced on Berry’s 90th birthday in October 2016, Berry said that it is dedicated to Toddy.
“This record is dedicated to my beloved Toddy,” Berry said in a statement. “My darlin’, I’m growing old! I’ve worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!”
3. Charles Berry Jr. Was a Part of His Father’s Touring Band
Charles Berry Jr. was a member of his father’s touring band. When the St. Louis Dispatch interviewed Berry in 2012, Charles Jr. often had to repeat the questions because his father was hard of hearing at that point.
Despite his hearing difficulties, Berry insisted on not retiring. “That shall never be as far as I am able to see a little, hear a little and do but a little. I want to perform. It’s in my genes,” he told the Dispatch in 2012.
In a 2013 interview with Rock ‘n’ Roll TV, Charles Jr. said that he has no favorite Chuck Berry song. “I love all of them. He’s got 278 songs and whatever he starts playing, we’re gonna do it and we’re gonna enjoy it, man.”
4. Ingrid & Charles Appeared on Their Father’s Last Album
In October 2016, Berry celebrated his 90th birthday by stunning the world with an announcement that he was making his first album since 1979. According to Rolling Stone, Charles Jr. and Ingrid both appeared on the record, playing guitar and harmonica, respectively
“What an honor to be part of this new music,” Charles Jr. said in a statement. “The St. Louis band, or as dad called us ‘the Blueberry Hill Band,’ fell right into the groove and followed his lead. These songs cover the spectrum from hard driving rockers to soulful thought provoking time capsules of a life’s work.”
The album, titled Chuck, was scheduled for release in 2017.
In a 2014 interview with the Riverfront Times about a series of performances Berry gave, Ingrid recalled how her father began telling a story while his guitar was being restrung. She explained:
He was playing at Blueberry Hill and broke a string. As the guitar was being restrung, he took out this roll of tissue from his pocket. Nothing was written on the tissue, but he started unrolling it like a scroll and pretending to read from it. He told this beautiful story about a poor man in the South who was writing to his relative up North who’d gone to seek work and send money home. Dad is doing this off the top of his head, mind you, and I’m onstage looking on in utter amazement. I don’t know what you’d call this type of inventive and poetic storytelling, but I refer to it as the “rags to riches letter.”
5. Berry Once Stopped a Show Because His Daughter Reportedly Ticked Him Off
In July 2008, The Telegraph reported from Madrid that Berry once skipped a show at the last minute because he was “sulking” after arguing with his daughter. The report doesn’t mention which daughter this was, but Ingrid often traveled with her father.
“They apparently rowed because she did not allow him to drive as fast as he would have liked on the British roads,” a Spanish newspaper reported at the time.
One of the organizers threatened legal action because of Berry’s sudden decision.
“We had no time to react. We found out he wasn’t coming one hour before the concert, and just because we called them up. Otherwise, we’d still be waiting,” a spokesman for Br Music, the organizer of the show, told the Telegraph at the time. h/t heavy
Chuck Berry’s net worth is reportedly $10 million.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Berry’s family and friends at this difficult time.