Was Chuck Berry the strangest man in the history of rock?
Of all the figures who built rock and roll back in the 1950s, Chuck Berry was arguably the most influential and certainly the strangest. In a new biography, which could never have been written when he was alive, R.J. Smith tells a story which is still hard to believe. His conversation with David Hepworth includes:
* how the nerd Charles Berry discovered the key to impressing women
* How a reckless streak a mile wide saw him put away as a teenager
* How a comic turn developed into the greatest act in rock and roll
* How he never listened to what his daddy told him about white women
* How his record company’s landlord ended up co-writing “Maybelline”
* His Mann Act conviction and imprisonment
* His rebirth in Britain with the help of the Beatles and Stones
* Why he needed a copy of the FT every day
* Why he never said thank-you
* The part played in his life by Lanchester Poly
* His last and most tawdry court case
* What was going on in his head all that time
Chuck Berry: An American Life by R.J. Smith is out now.
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