Chuck Berry was among the performers at the historic 1956 "Show Of Stars" at Vancouver's Georgia Auditorium. This first "Show of Stars" was an all-Black show in the sense that the performers were basically Rhythm and Blues stars. The line-up included Chuck, Bill Doggett, The Five Satins, Fats Domino, LaVern Baker and Clyde McPhatter. Out of this show grew my admiration for the true roots of rock'n'roll. I could appreciate Bill Haley and the Comets and Elvis Presley, but after this dynamite show I realized where it had all begun.

Chuck Berry impressed me the most musically. He would follow his early hits, 1956's "Maybellene", "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" with a string of rock'n'roll classics: 1957's "School Day" and "Rock and Roll Music"; and "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Reelin' and Rockin'", "Johnny B. Goode", and "Around and Around" in 1958.

Chuck Berry received a Grammy Awards Lifetime Achievement award in 1984 and he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In a Rolling Stone interview, he shared the origin of his trademark “duck walk” at a 1956 concert at the Paramount Theater in New York:

“I had to outfit my trio, and I always remember the suits cost me $66, $22 apiece. They were rayon, but looked like seersucker by the time we got there. I actually did the duck walk to hide the wrinkles in the suit. I got an ovation, so I figured I pleased the audience, so I did it again, and again.”

Chuck Berry is probably rock’n’roll’s most influential figure. You can hear his guitar riffs in the music of Buddy Holly, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Beach Boys, and many more bands and artists.

Here's my 1956 interview with Chuck Berry!

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