Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry, the astonishingly gifted singer-guitarist-composer, has almost single-handedly fashioned rock-and-roll through his highly individualized and pace-setting songs. With their strongly surging rhythms, infectious melodies and appealing lyrics, his songs were as widely imitated then as they still are today.

Such hits as “Johnny B. Goode," "No Money Down," "Back in the USA," "Roll Over, Beethoven," "Rock and Roll Music," and "Sweet Little Sixteen" firmly established Chuck Berry as influential in defining the new musical style that grew out of the postwar rhythm-and-blues era. Rock N' Roll was firmly established and here to stay.