Rock 'n' roll begins with Chuck Berry.

His only real competition would be Elvis Presley. Berry's legacy, in terms of inventing the style that informed the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys and their contemporaries and that of their progeny; in terms of his songwriting legacy, his invention of rock guitar, his marriage of juke joint blues and rockabilly, is even greater than the King's himself. He is the most indispensible rock 'n' roll artist of them all.

Rock 'n' roll begins with Chuck Berry.

Berry was born October 18, 1926, in St. Louis, MO. He began playing in high school, winning a talent contest and impressing those who watched him play his four-string tenor guitar. His musical tastes were firmly blues, which flourished in the days of his youth in East St. Louis. When he graduated to a six-string guitar he began sitting in at blues joints all over town. He developed a knack for pleasing the audiences by throwing in tunes from a variety of sources beyond the blues; the biggest crowd pleasers were the white hillbilly tunes popular in white west St. Louis; a black man playing redneck music in a black blues joint was a novelty, one he began to develop his showmanship with. His inimitable performing style, with the duck walk on down, began to develop from youthful lampoons of white performers which drew yuks; he then honed it into the image that endures today. He also started rewriting lyrics to old standards, and began playing them in the 4/4 signature beat that is at the heart of rock music.

He began working with pianist Johnnie Johnson's combo, and quickly became their charismatic focal point; by 1954, they had been re-dubbed the Chuck Berry Trio and had become the number one attraction in East St. Louis. His chief rivals for attention were the similarly crowd pleasing, but ultimately much less vital, Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm. Berry would work with Johnson extensively at many times throughout his career.

Berry's recording career began at Chicago blues label Chess records in 1955 after Leonard Chess listened to a homemade demo tape. The blues Berry played didn't impress him, but a version of a hillbilly western tune, "Ida Red" did. The song was retitled "Maybelline" and was released in the summer of 1955. It was a sensation, topping the Black charts, and reaching the top-30 on the pop charts. Elvis Presley, not yet a national star himself, added it to his shows, bringing it to white audiences. This crossover appeal was historic for a black performer; it was also the very invention of rock 'n' roll itself. It was too rough and rugged to be covered by a safe white performer of the day; as was the custom. Berry had a signature sound right out of the starting gate, one that was fully embraced by white teenagers around the country.