The King of Rock n’ Roll Chuck Berry celebrated his 90th birthday on Tuesday, but he will be the one handing out the gift. Berry will release his first new studio album in nearly 40 years since 1979’s “Rock It.”
A St. Louis native Berry titled the album “Chuck,” and will be available in 2017 through Dualtone Records. The album will consist mostly of new, original songs written, recorded and produced by the rock legend.
Charles Berry Jr., Berry’s son and guitarist, says the songs “cover the spectrum from hard-driving rockers to soulful, thought-provoking time capsules of a life’s work.”
Berry recorded Chuck with his longtime backing band that includes his children Charles Berry Jr. (guitar) and Ingrid Berry (harmonica), as well as bassist Jimmy Marsala, who has played with Berry for 40 years, pianist Robert Lohr and drummer Keith Robinson.
As one of the pioneers of rock and roll music with songs such as “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958). Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and music featuring guitar solos and showmanship that were a major influence on subsequent rock music.
Find out more info about the Rock n’ Roll legend.
Chuck Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine’s “Greatest of All Time” lists. In September 2003, the magazine ranked him number 6 in its list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”.In November his compilation album The Great Twenty-Eight was ranked 21st in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.In March 2004, Berry was ranked fifth on the list of “The Immortals – The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time”.
The new album will be released in 2017 but no set release date.
