Goode, Roll Over Beethoven, Sweet Little Sixteen, Maybellene, School Days and Nadine. Born into poverty in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry sold newspapers and pumped gas to help his family after his father died when he was seven years old.
In 1950, at the age of 17, he joined the US Air Force but was forced to leave it due to a back injury sustained from a car accident prior to enlisting. After the accident he began playing guitar again and formed a small band named Johnny Be Goode. In 1955, he got his first big break on a show called The King Biscuit Flower Hour where he performed a rendition of Maybellene on a homemade guitar that he had built himself.
It was on this show that Berry met pianist Johnnie Johnson who became his manager, and later Berry's wife. In 1956 after being signed by Alan Freed as a solo artist for Paramount Records, Berry began recording hits such as Johnny B. Goode and Louie Louie.
He made some unsuccessful attempts at acting in films such as Don't Knock The Rock (1956) and The Girl Can't Help It (1956). His first hit with the lyrics written by him came in 1957 with Sweet Little Sixteen which reached #1 on the Billboard charts and stayed there for 11 weeks - and became one of the most recorded songs in history with over 2000 versions recorded by other artists. In 1958, Berry had another hit with School Days which reached #1 on Billboard's top singles chart – it stayed there for six weeks –a record for any song by an artist who did not reach #1 on the Billboard charts at least twice or more (The Beatles broke this record in 1964 with their song Yesterday).
In 1962, Berry had another hit with Maybellene which reached #3 on Billboard's top singles chart – it stayed there for six weeks –a record for any song by an artist who did not reach #1 on the Billboard charts at least twice or more (The Beatles broke this record in 1964 with their song Yesterday). In 1963 Berry had another hit with Roll Over Beethoven which reached #3 on Billboard's top singles