200 Chuck Berry (1926-2017) “Roll Over Beethoven” 1956

“At age 17, he and two friends were arrested for attempted robbery; Berry was sentenced to ten years in the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men in Algoa, Missouri. In the reformatory Berry sang with a gospel group; he was released in 1947, on his twenty-first birthday. Marriage and an upright life immediately followed his reformatory stint: Berry married Themetta ‘Toddy’ Suggs in 1948 and took a job in an auto assembly plant. After completing night courses in cosmetology, he worked as a hairdresser, moonlighting as a guitarist for various bands to bring in extra money” (Contemporary Musicians). Listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

Chuck Berry “Roll Over Beethoven”