Rock History

2005 – Two members of South Korean punk rock band Couch scandalize the nation when they expose their privates on the children’s TV show. They are both immediately arrested.

Vince Neil

1998 – Motley Crue member Vince Neil, not to outdone by Tommy Lee, announces an agreement with Internet Entertainment Group and Vivid Video to distribute a 60-minute home video of him having sex with two adult film models while on vacation in Hawaii.

1997 – Michael Jackson film ‘Captain EO’ shows for the last time at Disneyland. The scandal and molestation charges Michael faced prompted Disney to remove the attraction. Nice family ride… way to go Disney! After Michael’s death, Disney reinstated the attraction replacing ‘Honey I shrunk the Audience’.

Michael Jackson Starred what Disney hoped would be the biggest attraction at Disneyland in 1985. It was hoped that  Michael’s star Power would create the attaction of the decade.
George Lucas, Star Wars, created the storboard that Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola would direct. On September 12, 1986 at the Florida Walt Disney World Resort, the 30 million dollar project previewed for the first time wowing Disney and Jackson fans.
Songs: “Another Part Of Me” and “We Are Here To Change The World”. 

1994 – Singer Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries marries Don Burton in Ireland. She scandalizes the press by wearing a see-through wedding dress. O’Riordan asks, “Why would I want to get married looking like a lampshade or a meringue?” Don’t answer.

1990 – On this day in 1990, Milli Vanilli producer Frank Farian publicly admits that Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus never sang a note on their eponymous debut album.

Later: The people at the Grammy organization would ask for the awarded grammy’s back!

Later on one of the singers commits suicide from the shame.

1977 – Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines of Lynyrd Skynyrd are killed when their rented plane crashes in a swamp near Gillsburg, Miss.

20 October 1977, 6:55 pm. While flying from Greenville, South Carolina to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s chartered Convair 240 aircraft crashed in a Mississippi swamp. The plane was carrying 24 passengers and 2 crew members. The band members on board were: Allen Collins, Cassie Gaines, Steve Gaines, Leslie Hawkins, Billy Powell, Artimus Pyle, Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant, and Leon Wilkeson. Rumour has it that several of those involved had misgivings about flying on the plane, and that they planned to get rid of it once they had reached Baton Rouge. Cassie Gaines lacked confidence in the aircraft and Jo Jo Billingsley (who was not on the plane) had a dream that the plane had crashed. She called Allen Collins, asking him to tell the others not to get on it. Stage manager, Clayton Johnson, remarked afterwards that, “There had been a lot of mistrust of that airplane since we chartered it.”

The following account is from keyboardist Billy Powell:

“The right engine started sputtering, and I went up to the cockpit. The pilot said they were just transferring oil from one wing to another, everything’s okay. Later, the engine went dead. Artimus [Pyle] and I ran to the cockpit. The pilot was in shock. He said, ‘Oh my God, strap in.’ Ronnie [Van Zant] had been asleep on the floor and Artimus got him up and he was really pissed. We strapped in and a minute later we crashed. The pilot said he was trying for a field, but I didn’t see one. The trees kept getting closer, they kept getting bigger. Then there was a sound like someone hitting the outside of the plane with hundreds of baseball bats. I crashed into a table; people were hit by flying objects all over the plane. Ronnie was killed with a single head injury. The top of the plane was ripped open. Artimus crawled out the top and said there was a swamp, maybe alligators. I kicked my way out and felt for my hands — they were still there. I felt for my nose and it wasn’t, it was on the side of my face. There was just silence. Artimus and Ken Peden and I ran to get help, Artimus with his ribs sticking out.”

Artimus Pyle remembers strapping Ronnie Van Zant into his seat and trying to put a velvet cushion under his head. They crashed into a swamp in McComb, Mississippi, and the plane was destroyed by the impact. There was no fire. Two crew members and four of the passengers were killed; twenty others were injured. Those who were not killed lay for hours, awaiting rescue. Pyle, despite suffering a broken sternum and several broken ribs, ran for help. About a mile away, he came upon a farmhouse and ran, raving, towards it. The farmer, Johnny Mote, frightened by Pyle’s dirty, bloody appearance, mistook him for a madman and shot him in the shoulder. (The shotgun blast was not fatal.) Once Mote realized that Pyle was a refugee of the plane crash, he called for help.

Read the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) report about the cause and damage of the crash.

The effect of the crash was devastating. In addition to general cuts and bruises…
Allen Collins suffered two cracked neck vertebrae and an arm amputation was recommended. (His father refused.)
Leslie Hawkins endured a concussion, broke her neck in three places, and had facial injuries which required plastic surgery. She was partially paralyzed and suffered permanent neurological damage.
Billy Powell sustained severe facial lacerations. (Powell was the only band member well enough, on crutches and with his face in bandages, to attend the funerals of those who perished.)
Artimus Pyle suffered a broken sternum and several broken ribs.
Gary Rossington broke both legs and both arms and sustained a concussion.
Leon Wilkeson broke his jaw and had most of his teeth knocked out, suffered a crushed chest (with a punctured lung), almost needed an arm amputated, and he sustained internal injuries. (Wilkeson reportedly coded at the hospital and had to be revived.)

Those were the fortunate ones.
In addition to the pilot (Walter McCreary) and co-pilot (William Gray), Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, and Dean Kilpatrick (Skynyrd’s road manager) were killed.

According to Billy Powell on VH1′s “Behind The Music”, Cassie Gaines’s throat had been cut from ear to ear and she bled to death in his arms. He also stated that Ronnie Van Zant had sustained a severe head injury, which was the cause of his death. Powell’s account of events scandalized many associated with the band, and was contradicted by Artimus Pyle and Judy Van Zant Jenness (Ronnie’s widow). In 1998, the widow Van Zant posted Ronnie’s autopsy on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s website to prove the truth of his injuries.

Steve Gaines was 28. Cassie Gaines and Ronnie Van Zant were 29.

Steve and Cassie Gaines were laid to rest on 23 October 1977 in Orange Park, Florida. A private ceremony was held for Ronnie on 25 October. Among those who attended were Ed King and Bob Burns (both former members of Skynyrd), Billy Powell, Dickey Betts (Allman Brothers Band), Charlie Daniels, Al Kooper (founder of Blood, Sweat & Tears), and Tom Dowd (producer/engineer who had worked on the Manhattan Project). Merle Haggard’s “I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am” and David Allan Coe’s “Another Pretty Country Song” were played. Charlie Daniels read a poem, and with .38 Special, performed “Amazing Grace”. Ronnie Van Zant was buried to the left of Steve Gaines and in front of Cassie. Van Zant’s and the Gaines’ resting places were moved in 2000 after Ronnie’s and Steve’s grave sites were broken into and vandalized. The monuments (shown below) remain as memorials for the fans.

The band’s fifth album, Street Survivors, was released three days before the crash. The cover showed the band engulfed in flames. After the crash, the album was pulled from stores and re-released with new artwork, showing the band against a plain black background. Street Survivors went on to become the band’s second platinum album, and reached #5 on the U.S. album chart. The single “What’s Your Name” reached #13. Also included on the album is the song “That Smell”: “The smell of death surrounds you. The angel of darkness is upon you…”

Author’s note: What I find eerie is that, on the original cover of Street Survivors, Steve Gaines is positioned in the middle, consumed by flames. He perished in the crash. Next to him are Ronnie Van Zant (who also perished) and Leon Wilkeson (who seems to have received the worst injuries of the survivors and reportedly coded at one point). As you fan out, the injuries seem arguably less life-threatening – the next two are Gary Rossington and Artimus Pyle, then Allen Collins and Billy Powell – who sustained “merely” facial lacerations and general cuts and bruises. Cassie Gaines, not in the photo, but “close” to Steve because they were siblings, also perished in the crash.

In 1986, Allen Collins crashed his car while driving drunk near his home in Jacksonville, Florida. His girlfriend was killed and he was paralyzed from the waist down. He died in 1990 from pneumonia, which was a result of decreased lung capacity from the paralyzation. He was 37.

During the early ’90s, Ed King found Leon Wilkeson on the group’s tour bus, sleeping, but with his throat cut and bleeding. Wilkeson was taken to the hospital and recovered. It is still a mystery as to who was responsible – Ed King blames Wilkeson’s girlfriend-at-the-time. Leon Wilkeson passed away from liver disease in 2001. He was 49.

In 2006, Lynyrd Skynyrd was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The honorees were: Bob Burns, Allen Collins, Steve Gaines, Ed King, Billy Powell, Artimus Pyle, Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant, and Leon Wilkeson.

1965 – At the Newport Folk Festival today, Bob Dylan performs “All I Really Wanna Do” at an afternoon workshop. The following day he scandalizes the festival when he makes his electric debut.

1958 – Rock siren Lita Ford (“Kiss Me Deadly”) is born in London this day in rock!

Just kiss me once…maybe twice…. ok… bring it on.

Lita Ford (born September 23, 1958) is an American rock musician and singer who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways and achieved popularity for her solo career during the 1980s.

Biography

Early life

Ford was born Lita Rosanna Ford to a British father, and an Italian mother in London, England. She moved with her family to the United States at age 4. She began playing the guitar at age 11. Her vocal range is that of a mezzo-soprano.

In 1975 at the age of 17 she joined the all-female rock band The Runaways, for whom she played lead guitar.

Solo career

After the group folded in 1979, she began a solo career. Her first two albums, Out for Blood and Dancin’ on the Edge were moderately successful. Out For Blood featured the single “Out For Blood”. Her next album Dancin’ on the Edge was even more successful. It featured the single “Fire in my Heart” which reached the top 10 in several countries. The next single “Gotta Let Go” was one of Ford’s biggest hits. It reached number one on the Mainstream Rock charts.

Ford toured extensively and made several guest appearances on TV shows for the next four years, but had no releases; a follow-up to Dancin’ on the Edge, titled The Bride Wore Black, was abandoned and never released due to the fact Ford did not like the production of the album and this upset the head of her record label causing Ford to switch from Mercury Records to RCA Records. By the time Ford returned again, the lighter pop-metal she had long favored had broken through to mainstream audiences, which set the stage for her most commercially successful album, 1988′s Lita. With Sharon Osbourne as her manager, and again produced by herself, the album featured four commercial hits, including the #1 “Kiss Me Deadly”, #9 “Back to the Cave”, #2 “Close My Eyes Forever”, and #3 “Falling In and Out of Love” (co-written with Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe). The ballad “Close My Eyes Forever,” was a duet with Ozzy Osbourne. It was also her only Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit, reaching #8.

Her next release was called Stilleto. It featured the singles “Hungry” and “Lisa”; which was dedicated to her mother. However this album was not as successful as Dancin’ on the Edge and Lita.

Ford’s next release was Dangerous Curves. Ford’s last release would be with ZYX Records and would be titled Black. It failed to repeat the success of 1991′s Dangerous Curves.

Ford was asked by VH-1 to be in the cast of “The Surreal Life” for its 7th season, in 2007. She declined.

During her solo years, she was an endorsee of B.C. Rich guitars and used Mockingbird and Bich double-neck models.

In mid June 2008, Ford and her new solo band played several warm up gigs prior to Rocklahoma under the name Kiss Me Deadly in the New York City area.

Personal life

Ford was married to Chris Holmes (from W.A.S.P.) from June 1990 to July 1991. She has been romantically involved with Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx, Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner, Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, Hurricane / ASIA drummer Jay Schellen, and Jimmy Tavis of Lostboys, Odin and The Anti Social. Currently, she is married to Jim Gillette, of the band Nitro. With him she has two sons, with their first son having been born on Jim and Lita’s third wedding anniversary.

Tributes

An achievement in the Xbox 360 version of the game Guitar Hero II, is titled the “Joan & Lita Award” in tribute to Lita and Joan Jett. It is awarded to two players who can get a 100 note streak in cooperative mode.

The song Kiss Me Deadly was covered in a Compilation album called Metalliska. The song was covered by Reel Big Fish.

Rocklahoma 2008

For the first time in 15 years, Lita Ford will be taking the stage in her only North American appearance at Rocklahoma, in Pryor, Oklahoma, on Saturday, July 12th. Her new band is drummer Stet Howland (Wasp), Guitarist Tom Cavanagh (Bent Pussycat/Almost Queen), Teddy Cook (Dio) and Michael T. Ross (Angel/XYZ).

Discography

Studio albums
Year     Title     Chart positions     RIAA Certification
US     UK
1983     Out For Blood     #-     #-     RIAA: -
1984     Dancin’ on the Edge     #65     #119     RIAA: -
1988     Lita     #29     #58     RIAA: Platinum
1990     Stiletto     #52     #75     RIAA: -
1991     Dangerous Curves     #139     #123     RIAA: -
1995     Black     #-     #-     RIAA: -

Compilation albums

* Greatest Hits (1999)
* Greatest Hits Live (2000)
* Platinum and Gold Collection – The Best of Lita Ford (2004)

Other appearances

* “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” with Twisted Sister on A Twisted Christmas (2006)
* “I Want To Be Loved” with LOU on The Other Side (2005)

Singles
Year     Title     Chart positions     Album
US     US Mainstream Rock     UK
1983     “Out For Blood”     –     –     –     Out For Blood
1983     “Dressed To Kill”     –     –     –     Dancin’ On The Edge
1984     “Fire in my Heart”     –     –     –     Dancin’ On The Edge
1984     “Gotta Let Go”     –     –     #94     Dancin’ On The Edge
1988     “Kiss Me Deadly”     #12     #40     #75     Lita
1988     “Back To The Cave”     –     #22     –     Lita
1989     “Close My Eyes Forever” (with Ozzy Osbourne)     #8     #25     #47     Lita
1989     “Falling In And Out Of Love”     –     #37     –     Lita
1990     “Hungry”     #98     #14     #76     Stiletto
1990     “Lisa”     –     –     –     Stiletto
1991     “Shot Of Poison”     #45     #21     #63     Dangerous Curves
1992     “Playing With Fire”     –     –     –     Dangerous Curves
1992     “Larger Than Life”     –     –     –     Dangerous Curves
1995     “Killin’ Kind”     –     –     –     Black

Tours

* 1981 – Queens of Rock Tour with Joan Jett and Sandy West
* 1982 – Rulers of Metal Tour with Black Sabbath
* 1983 – Out For Blood Tour with Scandal, Wes Luthor, and Tony Schladora
* 1984 – Dressed To Kill Tour with Anthrax, The Johnson Brothers Band, Skillet, Metal Mania
* 1985 – South and Central America Tour with Soundgarden
* 1986 – Wild Tour with several local bands opening at different venues
* 1986 – Metal Rulz Tour with Poison, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne.

1943 – Jim Morrison of the Doors is born in Melbourne, Fla., the son of a U.S. Navy admiral.

James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943—July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and film director. He is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history. and the director of a documentary and short film. Morrison was known for his baritone vocals.

Biography

Early years

Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clarke Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in 1948 in Los Altos, California. He was of Scottish and Irish ethnic heritage.

In 1947, Morrison, then four years old, allegedly witnessed a car accident in the desert, where a family of Native Americans were injured and possibly killed. He referred to this incident in a spoken word performance on the song “Dawn’s Highway” from the album An American Prayer, and again in the songs “Peace Frog” and “Ghost Song”.

Indians scattered on dawn’s highway bleeding
Ghosts crowd the young child’s fragile eggshell mind

Morrison believed the incident to be the most formative event in his life and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems and interviews. Interestingly, his family does not recall this incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison’s family did drive past a car accident on an Indian reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it. However, the book The Doors written by the remaining members of The Doors, explains how different Morrison’s account of the incident was from the account of his father. This book quotes his father as saying, “We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him . He always thought about that crying Indian.” This is contrasted sharply with Morrison’s tale of “Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death”. In the same book, his sister is quoted as saying, “He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a dead Indian by the side of the road, and I don’t even know if that’s true.”

With his father in the Navy, Morrison’s family moved often. He spent part of his childhood in San Diego, California. In 1958, Morrison attended Alameda High School in Alameda, California. However, he graduated from George Washington High School (now George Washington Middle School) in Alexandria, Virginia in June 1961. His father was also stationed at Mayport Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.

Morrison went to live with his paternal grandparents in Clearwater, Florida where he attended classes at St. Petersburg Junior College. In 1962, he transferred to Florida State University in Tallahassee where he appeared in a school recruitment film.

In January 1964 Morrison moved to Los Angeles, California. He completed his undergraduate degree in UCLA’s film school, the Theater Arts department of the College of Fine Arts in 1965. He made two films while attending UCLA. First Love, the first of these films, was released to the public when it appeared in a documentary about the film Obscura. During these years, while living in Venice Beach, he became friends with writers at the Los Angeles Free Press. Morrison was an advocate of the underground newspaper until his death in 1971.

The Doors

In 1965, after graduating from UCLA, Morrison led a Bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Photographer Joel Brodsky took a series of black-and-white photos of Morrison. Known as “The Young Lion” photo session, the pictures included the shot that was later featured on the Best of the Doors LP cover.

Morrison and fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek were the first two members of The Doors. Shortly thereafter, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger joined. Krieger auditioned at Densmore’s recommendation and was then added to the lineup.

It is widely believed that the Doors took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception (a reference to the ‘unlocking’ of ‘doors’ of perception through psychedelic drug use), Huxley’s own title was a quote from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote that “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”

Although Morrison is known as the lyricist for the group Krieger also made significant lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group’s biggest hits, including “Light My Fire”, “Love Me Two Times”, “Love Her Madly” and “Touch Me”.

In 1967, Morrison and The Doors produced a promotional film for “Break On Through”, which was to be their first single release. The video featured the four members of the group playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lip-synched the lyrics. Morrison and The Doors continued to make music videos, including “The Unknown Soldier”, “Moonlight Drive”, and “People Are Strange”.

In June 1966, Morrison and The Doors were the opening act at the Whisky a Go Go on the last week of the residency of Van Morrison’s band Them.

The Doors achieved national recognition after signing with Elektra Records in 1967.

By the release of their second album, Strange Days, The Doors had become one of the most popular rock bands in the United States. Their blend of blues and rock tinged with psychedelia included a number of original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as the memorable rendition of “Alabama Song”, from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s operetta, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs “The End”, “When The Music’s Over”, and “Celebration of the Lizard”.

In 1968, The Doors released their third studio LP, Waiting for the Sun. Their fourth LP, The Soft Parade, was released in 1969. It was the first album where the individual band members were given credit on the inner sleeve for the songs they had written.

After this, Morrison started to show up for recording sessions inebriated (he can be heard hiccuping on the song “Five To One”). He was also frequently late for live performances. As a result, the band would play instrumental music or force Manzarek to take on the singing duties.

By 1969, the formerly svelte singer gained weight, grew a beard, and began dressing more casually – abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for slacks, jeans and T-shirts.

During a 1969 concert at The Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience. He failed, but a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Dade County Police department three days later for indecent exposure. Consequently, many of The Doors’ scheduled concerts were canceled.

Following The Soft Parade, The Doors released the Morrison Hotel LP. After a lengthy break the group reconvened in October 1970 to record their last LP with Morrison, L.A. Woman. Shortly after the recording sessions for the album began, producer Paul A. Rothchild — who had overseen all their previous recordings — left the project. Engineer Bruce Botnick took over as producer.

Solo: poetry and film

Morrison began writing in adolescence. In college, he studied the related fields of theater, film and cinematography.

He self-published two volumes of his poetry in 1969, The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. The Lords consists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison’s thoughts on cinema. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in structure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures. These were the only writings published during Morrison’s lifetime.

Morrison befriended Beat Poet Michael McClure who wrote the afterword for Danny Sugerman’s biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive. McClure and Morrison reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projects to include a film version of McClure’s infamous play The Beard in which Morrison would have played Billy The Kid.

After his death two volumes of Morrison’s poetry were published. The contents of the books were selected and arranged by Morrison’s friend, photographer Frank Lisciandro, and girlfriend Pamela Courson’s parents, who owned the rights to his poetry. The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume 1 is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an instant New York Times best seller. Volume 2, The American Night, released in 1990, was also a success.

Morrison recorded his own poetry in a mausoleum in a professional sound studio on two separate occasions. The first was in March 1969 in Los Angeles and the second was on December 8, 1970. The latter recording session was attended by Morrison’s personal friends and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the segments from the 1969 session were issued on the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes and were later used as part of the Doors’ An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached number 54 on the music charts. The poetry recorded from the December 1970 session remains unreleased to this day and is in the possession of the Courson family.

Morrison’s best-known but seldom seen cinematic endeavor is HWY: An American Pastoral, a project he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete control of the project. Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro and Babe Hill assisted with the project. Morrison played the main character, a hitchhiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend, composer/pianist Fred Myrow, to select the soundtrack for the film.

Personal life

Morrison’s family

Morrison’s early life was a nomadic existence typical of military families. Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison’s brother Andy explaining that his parents had determined never to use corporal punishment on their children. They instead instilled discipline and levied punishment by the military tradition known as “dressing down”. This consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings.

Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most of his family contact. By the time Morrison’s music ascended to the top of the charts in 1967 he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that his parents and siblings were dead (or claiming, as it has been widely misreported, that he was an only child). This misinformation was published as part of the materials distributed with The Doors’ self-titled debut album.

In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office dated October 2, 1970, Morrison’s father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications as the result of an argument over his assessment of his son’s musical talents. He said he could not blame his son for being reluctant to initiate contact and that he was proud of him nonetheless.

Women in his life

Morrison met his long-term companion, and she encouraged him to develop his poetry. At times, Courson used the surname “Morrison” with his apparent consent or at least lack of concern. After Courson’s death in 1974 the probate court in California decided that she and Morrison had what qualified as a common law marriage (see below, under “Estate Controversy”).

Courson and Morrison’s relationship was a stormy one, however, with frequent loud arguments and periods of separation. Biographer Danny Sugerman surmised that part of their difficulties may have stemmed from a conflict between their respective commitments to an open relationship and the consequences of living in such a relationship.

In 1970 Morrison participated in a Celtic Pagan handfasting ceremony with rock critic and science fiction/fantasy author Patricia Kennealy. Before witnesses, one of them a Presbyterian minister, however, none of the necessary paperwork for a legal marriage was filed with the state. Kenneally discussed her experiences with Morrison in her autobiography Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison and in an interview reported in the book Rock Wives.

Morrison also regularly had sex with fans and had numerous short flings with women who were celebrities in their own right, including Nico, the singer associated with The Velvet Underground, a one night stand with singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, an on-again-off-again relationship with 16 Magazine’s editor in chief Gloria Stavers and an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. Judy Huddleston also recalls her relationship with Morrison in Living and Dying with Jim Morrison. At the time of his death there were reportedly as many as 20 paternity actions pending against him, although no claims were made against his estate by any of the putative paternity claimants, and the only person making a public claim to being Morrison’s son was shown to be a fraud.

Death

Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971, taking up residence in an apartment. Once there, Morrison grew a beard.

It was in Paris that Morrison made his last studio recording with two American street musicians — a session dismissed by Manzarek as “drunken gibberish”. The session included a version of a song-in-progress, “Orange County Suite”, which can be heard on the bootleg Lost Paris Tapes.

Morrison died on July 3, 1971, aged 27. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison’s cause of death.

In Wonderland Avenue, Danny Sugerman discussed his encounter with Courson after she returned to the U.S. According to Sugerman’s account, Courson stated that Morrison had died of a heroin overdose, inhaling the substance because he thought it was cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison’s death, at times saying that she had killed her common-law husband, or that his death was her fault. Courson’s story of Morrison’s unintentional ingestion of heroin, followed by accidental overdose, is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has written that Morrison died of a hemorrhage after snorting Courson’s heroin, and that Courson nodded off, leaving Morrison bleeding to death instead of phoning for medical help.

Ronay confessed in an article in Paris-Match that he then helped cover up the circumstances of Morrison’s death. In the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman write that Ronay and Varda say Courson lied to police who responded to the death scene and later in her deposition, telling them Morrison never took drugs.

In the epilogue to No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins says that 20 years after Morrison’s death Ronay and Varda broke silence and gave this account: They arrived at the house shortly after Morrison’s death and Courson said that she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking in bars. Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and had thrown up blood. Courson said that he appeared to recover and that she then went to sleep. When she awoke sometime later Morrison was unresponsive and so she called for medical assistance.

Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death.

However, in the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman also claim that Morrison had asthma and was suffering from a respiratory condition involving a chronic cough and throwing up blood on the night of his death. This theory is partially supported in The Doors (written by the remaining members of the band) in which they claim Morrison had been coughing up blood for nearly two months in Paris. However, none of the members of the Doors were in Paris with Morrison in the months before his death.

In the first version of No One Here Gets Out Alive published in 1980, Sugarman and Hopkins gave some credence to the theory that Morrison may not have died at all, calling the fake death theory “not as far-fetched as it might seem”.

In a July 2007 newspaper interview, a self-described close friend of Morrison’s, Sam Bernett, resurrected an old rumor and announced that Morrison actually died of a heroin overdose in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus nightclub, on the Left Bank in Paris. Bernett claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson then did some himself and died in the bathroom. Bernett alleges that Morrison was then moved back to the rue Beautreillis apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the same two drug dealers from whom Morrison had purchased the heroin. Bernett says those who saw Morrison that night were sworn to secrecy, in order to prevent a scandal for the famous club,

Grave site

Morrison is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris, one of the city’s most visited tourist attractions. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it which was stolen in 1973. In 1981, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin placed a bust of Morrison and the new gravestone with Morrison’s name at the grave to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death; In the 1990s a flat stone was placed on the grave, possibly by his birth family, with the Greek inscription: ???? ??? ??????? ??????. Mikulin later made two more Morrison portraits in bronze but is awaiting the license to place a new sculpture on the tomb.

Estate controversy

In his will, made in Los Angeles County on February 12, 1969, Morrison (who described himself as “an unmarried person”) left his entire estate to Courson, also naming her co-executor with his attorney, Max Fink. She thus inherited everything upon Morrison’s death in 1971.

When Courson died in 1974, a battle ensued between Morrison’s and Courson’s parents over who had legal claim to Morrison’s estate. Since Morrison left a will the question was effectively moot. Upon his death his property became Courson’s; and on her death her property passed to her next heirs at law, her parents. Morrison’s parents contested the will under which Courson and now her parents had inherited their son’s property.

To bolster their positions Courson’s parents presented a document they claimed she had acquired in Colorado, apparently an application for a declaration that she and Morrison had contracted a common-law marriage under the laws of that state. The ability to contract a common-law marriage was abolished in California in 1896, but the state’s conflict of laws rules provided for recognition of common-law marriages lawfully contracted in foreign jurisdictions — and Colorado was one of the 11 U.S. jurisdictions that still recognized common-law marriage. As long as a common-law marriage was lawfully contracted under Colorado law it was recognized as a marriage under California law.

Artistic roots

As a naval family the Morrisons relocated frequently. Consequently Morrison’s early education was routinely disrupted as he moved from school to school. Nonetheless he proved to be an intelligent and capable student drawn to the study of literature, poetry, religion, philosophy and psychology, among other fields.

Biographers have consistently pointed to a number of writers and philosophers who influenced Morrison’s thinking and, perhaps, behavior. While still in his teens Morrison discovered the works of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He was also drawn to the poetry of William Blake, Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. Beat Generation writers such as Jack Kerouac also had a strong influence on Morrison’s outlook and manner of expression; Morrison was eager to experience the life described in Kerouac’s On the Road. He was similarly drawn to the works of the French writer Céline. Céline’s book, Voyage au Bout de la Nuit (Journey to the End of the Night) and Blake’s Auguries of Innocence both echo through one of Morrison’s early songs, “End of the Night”. Morrison later met and befriended Michael McClure, a well known beat poet. McClure had enjoyed Morrison’s lyrics but was even more impressed by his poetry and encouraged him to further develop his craft.

Morrison’s vision of performance was colored by the works of 20th century French playwright Antonin Artaud (author of Theater and its Double) and by Julian Beck’s Living Theater.

Other works relating to religion, mysticism, ancient myth and symbolism were of lasting interest, particularly Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. James Frazer’s The Golden Bough also became a source of inspiration and is reflected in the title and lyrics of the song “Not to Touch the Earth”.

Morrison was particularly attracted to the myths and religions of Native American cultures. While he was still in school, his family moved to New Mexico where he got to see some of the places and artifacts important to the Southwest Indigenous cultures. These interests appear to be the source of many references to creatures and places such as lizards, snakes, deserts and “ancient lakes” that appear in his songs and poetry. His interpretation of the practices of a Native American “shaman” were worked into parts of Morrison’s stage routine, notably in his interpretation of the Ghost Dance, and a song on his later poetry album, The Ghost Song. The songs “My Wild Love” and “Wild Child” were also inspired by his ideas of Native American rhythm and ritual. He also consumed 8 buttons of peyote and tripped for a week and wrote about seeing the “God of Peyote”.

Influence

Morrison remains one of the most popular and influential singers/writers in rock history as The Doors’ catalog has become a staple of classic rock radio stations. To this day he is widely regarded as the prototypical rock star: surly, sexy, scandalous and mysterious. The leather trousers he was fond of wearing both on stage and off have since become stereotyped as rock star apparel.

Iggy and the Stooges are said to have formed after lead singer Iggy Pop was inspired by Morrison while attending a Doors concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After Morrison’s death, Pop was considered as a replacement lead singer for The Doors; the surviving Doors gave him some of Morrison’s belongings and hired him as a vocalist for a series of shows.

Wallace Fowlie, professor emeritus of French literature at Duke University, wrote Rimbaud and Jim Morrison, subtitled “The Rebel as Poet – A Memoir”. In this book, Fowlie recounts his surprise at receiving a fan letter from Morrison who, in 1968, thanked him for his latest translation of Arthur Rimbaud’s verse into English. “I don’t read French easily”, he wrote, “…your book travels around with me.” Fowlie went on to give lectures on numerous campuses comparing the lives, philosophies and poetry of Morrison and Rimbaud.

Scott Weiland, the vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, as well as Scott Stapp of Creed, claim Morrison to be their biggest influence and inspiration. Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver have both covered “Roadhouse Blues” by the Doors. Weiland also filled in for Morrison to perform “Break On Through” with the rest of the Doors. Stapp filled in for Morrison for “Light my fire”, “Riders on the Storm” and “Roadhouse Blues” on VH1 Storytellers. Creed performed their version of “Riders on the Storm” with Robbie Krieger for the 1999 Woodstock Festival.

The book The Doors by the remaining Doors quotes Morrison’s close friend Frank Lisciandro as saying that too many people took a remark of Morrison’s that he was interested in revolt, disorder, and chaos “to mean that he was an anarchist, a revolutionary, or, worse yet, a nihilist. Hardly anyone noticed that Jim was restating Rimbaud and the Surreal poets.”

Books

By Jim Morrison

* The Lords and The New Creatures (1969). 1985 edition: ISBN 0-7119-0552-5
* An American Prayer (1970) privately printed by Western Lithographers. (Unauthorized edition also published in 1983, Zeppelin Publishing Company, ISBN 0-915628-46-5. The authenticity of the unauthorized edition has been disputed.)
* Wilderness The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1988). 1990 edition: ISBN 0-14-011910-8
* The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison (1990). 1991 edition: ISBN 0-670-83772-5

About Jim Morrison

* Linda Ashcroft, Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison, (1997) ISBN 1-56025-249-9
* Lester Bangs, “Jim Morrison: Bozo Dionysus a Decade Later” in Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, John Morthland, ed. Anchor Press (2003) ISBN 0-375-71367-0
* Patricia Butler, Angels Dance and Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison, (1998) ISBN 0-8256-7341-0
* Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, (2004) ISBN 1-592-40064-7
* John Densmore, Riders On The Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and the Doors (1991) ISBN 0-385-30447-1
* Dave DiMartino, Moonlight Drive (1995) ISBN 1-886894-21-3
* Wallace Fowlie, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison (1994) ISBN 0-8223-1442-8
* Jerry Hopkins, The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison (1995) ISBN 0-684-81866-3
* Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) ISBN 0-85965-138-X
* Patricia Kennealy, Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison (1992) ISBN 0-525-93419-7
* Frank Lisciandro, Morrison — A Feast Of Friends (1991) ISBN 0-446-39276-6
* Frank Lisciandro, Jim Morrison — An Hour For Magic (A Photojournal) ISBN 0-85965-246-7
* Ray Manzarek, Light My Fire (1998) ISBN 0-446-60228-0L. First by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman (1981)
* Peter Jan Margry, The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison’s Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery: The Social Construction of Sacred Space. In idem (ed.), Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. New Itineraries into the Sacred. Amsterdam University Press, 2008, p. 145-173.
* Thanasis Michos, The Poetry of James Douglas Morrison (2001) ISBN 960-7748-23-9 (Greek)
* Mark Opsasnick, The Lizard King Was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia (2006) ISBN 1-4257-1330-0
* James Riordan & Jerry Prochnicky, Break on through : The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (1991) ISBN 0-688-11915-8
* Adriana Rubio, Jim Morrison: Ceremony…Exploring the Shaman Possession (2005) ISBN 0-9766590-0-X
* The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres, The Doors (2006) ISBN 1-4013-0303-X

Films

By Jim Morrison

* HWY: An American Pastoral (1969)
* A Feast of Friends (1970)

Documentaries featuring Jim Morrison

* The Doors Are Open (1968)
* Live in Europe (1968)
* Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1968)
* Feast of Friends (1969)
* The Doors: A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981)
* The Doors: Dance on Fire (1985)
* The Soft Parade, a Retrospective (1991)
* Final 24: Jim Morrison (2008), The Biography Channel

Films about Jim Morrison

* The Doors (1991), A film by director Oliver Stone, starring Val Kilmer as Morrison and with cameos by Krieger and Densmore. Kilmer’s performance was praised by critics. Members of the group criticized Stone’s portrayal of Morrison, however.

Footnotes

1. ^ Bio of Jim Morrison.
2. ^ a b “See e.g., Morrison poem backs climate plea”, BBC News, January 31, 2007.
3. ^ Bio of Jim Morrison.
4. ^ “Dead Famous: Jim Morrison”, The Biography Channel. (Retrieved Dec. 2, 2007).
5. ^ Riordan, James (1992). Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison, HarperCollins. pp. 32. ISBN 0688119158.
6. ^ Walters, Glenn D. (2006). Lifestyle theory: Past, Present And Future, Nova Publishers. pp. 78. ISBN 1600210333.
7. ^ “Recruitment Film”. Retrieved on 2008-08-24.
8. ^ “FSU Arrest”. Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
9. ^ Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith, “Criticism Lighting His Fire: Perspectives on Jim Morrison from the Los Angeles Free Press, Down Beat, and The Miami Herald (master’s thesis, Interdepartmental Program in Liberal Arts, Louisiana State University, 2007). Available at “http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11162007-105056/”.
10. ^ Getlen, Larry, Opportunity knocked so The Doors kicked it down, http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/investing/20030616a1.asp, retrieved on 24 August 2008
11. ^ Paul Lawrence (2002). “The Doors and Them: twin Morrisons of different mothers”. waiting-forthe-sun.net. Retrieved on 2008-07-07.
12. ^ Hinton (1997), page 67.
13. ^ Corry Arnold (2006-01-23). “The History of the Whisky-A-Go-Go”. chickenonaunicyle.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-30.
14. ^ “Glossary entry for The Doors”. Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. from Van Morrison website. Photo of both Morrisons on stage. Access date 2007-05-26.
15. ^ “Doors 1966 – June 1966″. doorshistory.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
16. ^ Leopold, Todd, Confessions of a record label owner, http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/19/holzman.elektra/index.html, retrieved on 9 September 2007
17. ^ Light My Fire, http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6595880/light_my_fire, retrieved on 24 August 2008
18. ^ When the Doors went on Sullivan, http://archives.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/03/ed.sullivan.sidebar/index.html, retrieved on 9 September 2007
19. ^ The Doors: Biography: Rolling Stone, http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thedoors/biography, retrieved on 24 August 2008
20. ^ Dead Rock Star to Get Pardon?, http://www.wltx.com/fyi/story.aspx?storyid=48833, retrieved on 9 September 2007
21. ^ Notable Actors – UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, http://www.tft.ucla.edu/alumni/notable-actors/, retrieved on 3 December 2008
22. ^ McClure, Michael, Michael McClure Recalls an Old Friend, http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Players/Personal/mcclure_recalls.html, retrieved on 9 September 2008
23. ^ Unterberger, Richie, Liner Notes for Diane Hildebrand’s “Early Morning Blues and Greens, http://www.richieunterberger.com/diane.html, retrieved on 24 August 2008
24. ^ HWY: An American Pastoral, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388097/combined, retrieved on 24 August 2008
25. ^ Jim Morrison Biography, http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/1930:2450/1/Jim_Morrison.htm, retrieved on 24 August 2008
26. ^ Letter from Jim’s Father to probation department 1970
27. ^ Hoover, Elizabeth, The Death of Jim Morrison, http://www.americanheritage.com/entertainment/articles/web/20060703-jim-morrison-doors-drugs-rock-n-roll-aldous-huxley-paris-heroin-pamela-courson.shtml, retrieved on 24 August 2008
28. ^ Jim Morrison Biography, http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/1930:2450/4/Jim_Morrison.htm, retrieved on 24 August 2008
29. ^ Kennealy, Patricia (1992). Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison. New York: Dutton/Penguin. pp. p.63. ISBN 0-525-93419-7.
30. ^ Kennealy (1992) plate 7, p.175
31. ^ Davis, Steven (2004) “The Last Days of Jim Morrison” in Rolling Stone. Retrieved 25 December 2007
32. ^ Kennealy (1992) pp.314-16
33. ^ “Ask Ray Manzarek” Transcript, Talk, BBC, 10 April 2002,
34. ^ Ronay, Alain (2002) “Jim and I – Friends Until Death”. Originally published in KING. Retrieved 25 December 2007
35. ^ Kennealy (1992) pp: 385-92 quotes from Ronay’s interview in Paris-Match
36. ^ Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman, No One Here Gets Out Alive page 373
37. ^ Hopkins, Jerry; and Danny Sugerman (1980) No One Here Gets Out Alive ISBN 0-85965-138-X
38. ^ Kennealy (1992) pp.344-6
39. ^ Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman, No One Here Gets Out Alive page 375, also see copyright in front of book on new material added in 1995
40. ^ Walt, Vivienne, How Jim Morrison Died, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1643884,00.html, retrieved on 24 August 2008
41. ^ “The shocking truth about Jim Morrison’s death surfaces”. AndhraNews.net story, July 8, 2007.
42. ^ “The shocking truth about how my pal Jim Morrison REALLY died”, mailonsunday.co.uk Accessed July 13, 2007.
43. ^ Doland, Angela, Morrison Bathtub Death Story Questioned, http://news.aol.com/entertainment/music/story/_a/morrison-bathtub-death-story-questioned/20070711145609990001, retrieved on 24 August 2008
44. ^ Mladen Mikulin – Sculptor
45. ^ photo of defaced bust on Morrison’s grave before it was stolen.
46. ^ Jim Morrison, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5221/is_2005/ai_n19141572/pg_2, retrieved on 24 August 2008
47. ^ The Stooges: Biography: Rolling Stone, http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thestooges/biography, retrieved on 24 August 2008
48. ^ Webb, Robert, ROCK & POP: STORY OF THE SONG – ‘THE PASSENGER’ Iggy Pop (1977), http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20051014/ai_n15713651, retrieved on 24 August 2008
49. ^ The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres), The Doors, page 104
50. ^ Biography Channel documentary
51. ^ The Doors (1991)

1926 – Chuck Berry is born in St. Louis this day in rock!

Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry (born October 18, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter.

Chuck Berry is an influential figure and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s website, “While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together.”

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000 in a “class” with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Plácido Domingo, Angela Lansbury, and Clint Eastwood. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Chuck Berry #5

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included three of Chuck Berry’s songs (Johnny B. Goode, Maybellene, Rock & Roll Music), of the 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.

Biography

Early life, and first arrest and conviction (1926-1947)

Born in St. Louis, Missouri,

In 1944, before he could graduate, he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery after taking a joy ride with his friends to Kansas City, Missouri. In his 1987 autobiography, Chuck Berry: The Autobiography, he retells the story that his car broke down on the side of a highway and, not having a way home, flagged down a passing car. Berry attempted to commandeer the man’s car at gunpoint with a non functional pistol. The carjacked man called the police from a nearby pay phone who quickly pulled over Berry in the car and arrested him and his friends.

Early career (1948-1955)

After his release from prison Berry married Themetta “Toddy” Suggs on October 28, 1948 and pursued a number of jobs in St. Louis. He worked briefly as a factory worker at two automobile assembly plants, and he also took on the position of janitor for the apartment building where he and his wife lived. Afterwards he trained as a beautician at the Poro College of Cosmetology, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone. He also considered a career as a photographer.

Berry began moonlighting as a guitarist for various bands in St. Louis as an extra source of income. He had been playing the blues since his teens, according to the 1987 Taylor Hackford film Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll, and he used both guitar riffs and grandstanding done earlier by jump blues player T-Bone Walker.

Berry’s calculated showmanship began luring larger white audiences to the club. He also began singing the songs of Nat “King” Cole and Muddy Waters. “Listening to Nat Cole prompted me to sing sentimental songs with distinct diction,” he said at Blueberry Hill. “The songs of Muddy Waters impelled me to deliver the down-home blues in the language they came from. When I played hillbilly songs, I stressed my diction so that it was harder and whiter. All in all, it was my intention to hold both the black and the white clientele by voicing the different kinds of songs in their customary tongues.”

In May 1955, Berry traveled to Chicago where he met Waters himself, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. Berry thought his blues material would be of most interest to Chess, but to his surprise it was an old country and western recording by Bob Wills, entitled “Ida Red” that got Chess’s attention. At that time, Chess had seen the blues market shrink and was looking to move beyond the rhythm and blues market, and he thought Berry might be that artist who could do it. So on May 21, 1955 Berry covered “Ida Red” (renamed “Maybellene”) with Johnny Johnson, Jerome Green (from Bo Diddley’s band) on the maracas, Jasper Thomas on the drums and blues legend Willie Dixon on the bass. “Maybellene” sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Rhythm and Blues chart and #5 on the Hot 100.

Ascent to stardom (1956-1959)

At the end of June 1956, his song “Roll Over Beethoven” reached #29 on the Billboard Top 100 chart.

In 1956 Berry toured as one of the “Top Acts of ’56″. He and Carl Perkins became friends. Perkins said that “I knew when I first heard Chuck that he’d been affected by country music. I respected his writing; his records were very, very great.” As they toured, Perkins discovered that Berry not only liked country music, but knew about as many songs, and Jimmie Rodgers was one of his favorites. “Chuck knew every Blue Yodel”, and most of Bill Monroe’s songs as well. Perkins remembered, “He told me about how he was raised very poor, very tough. He had a hard life. He was a good guy. I really liked him.”

In the autumn of 1957 Berry joined the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and other rising stars of the new rock and roll to tour the United States. The hits continued from 1957 to 1959, with Berry scoring over a dozen chart singles during this period, including the top 10 U.S. hits “School Days,” “Rock and Roll Music,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” and “Johnny B. Goode.” Author/producer Robert Palmer wrote that Berry’s songs tended to feature country and western inflected light blues melodies, along with plenty of guitar twang. He also had a taste for the “Spanish tinge”, as in “La Juanda” and “Havana Moon”.

Berry appeared in two early rock ‘n’ roll movies. The first was Rock Rock Rock, released in 1956. He is shown singing “You Can’t Catch Me.”

Second jail term (1959-1963)
Berry in Deauville France in 1987
Berry in Deauville France in 1987

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name, as well as a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry’s Club Bandstand.

But in December 1959, Berry encountered legal problems after he invited a 14-year-old Apache waitress whom he met in Mexico to work as a hat check girl at his club. After being fired from the club, the girl was arrested on a prostitution charge and Berry was arrested under the Mann Act. After a trial and retrial, Berry was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison. This event, coupled with other early rock and roll scandals such as Jerry Lee Lewis’ marriage to his 13-year-old cousin and Alan Freed’s payola conviction, gave rock and roll an image problem that limited its acceptance into mainstream U.S. society.

Career resurgence (1963-1965)

When Berry was released from prison in 1963, his musical career enjoyed a resurgence due to many of the British invasion acts of the 1960s — most notably the Beatles and the Rolling Stones — releasing cover versions of Berry’s songs. Additionally, The Beach Boys’ hit “Surfin’ USA”, while originally credited as composed by Brian Wilson, is in large part a direct copy of Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen”. Berry has since been given full writer credit (both lyrics and music) on the track.

In 1964–65 Berry resumed recording and placed six singles in the U.S. Hot 100, including “No Particular Place To Go” (#10), “You Never Can Tell” (#14), and “Nadine” (#23).

Exit and return to Chess (1966-1972)

In 1966 Berry left Chess Records, moving to the Mercury label. During his brief time at Mercury, he recorded several albums, including an album of re-recordings of his Chess hits, and an album dominated by an 18-minute-long instrumental, “Concerto in B. Goode”. For a variety of reasons—including changing musical tastes and different production techniques—the hits dried up for Chuck during the Mercury era.

He was still a top concert draw, however, and in July 1969 Berry was the headliner of the Schaefer Music Festival in New York City’s Central Park, along with The Byrds, Miles Davis, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, B.B. King, The Beach Boys, Frank Zappa and Patti LaBelle. In the same year he also played the Toronto Rock ‘N Roll Revival festival which also included, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddly, Little Richard, and John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band with Eric Clapton on lead guitar, and Alan White on drums.

After a hitless four-year stint at Mercury, Berry returned to Chess from 1970 to 1973. Although his 1970 Chess effort Back Home yielded no hit singles, in 1972 Chess released a new live recording of “My Ding-a-Ling”, a song Berry had initially recorded years earlier as a novelty track. The track became Berry’s only No. 1 single, and it remains popular today. A live recording of “Reelin’ And Rockin’” was also issued as a follow-up single that same year and would prove to be Berry’s final top-40 hit in both the U.S. and the UK. Both singles were featured on the part-live/part-studio album “The London Chuck Berry Sessions” which was part of a series of several albums by that title which included other Chess mainstay artists Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

Berry’s second tenure with Chess ended with the 1973 album Bio, after which he did not make a studio record for 6 years.

Touring as Chuck Berry, the legend (1970s)

In the 1970s Berry toured on the basis of his earlier successes. He was on the road for many years, carrying only his Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went. Allmusic has said that in this period his “live performances became increasingly erratic,

Among the many bandleaders performing this backup role were Bruce Springsteen and Steve Miller when each was just starting his career. Springsteen related in the video Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll that Berry did not even give the band a set list and just expected the musicians to follow his lead after each guitar intro. Berry neither spoke to nor thanked the band after the show. Nevertheless, Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

Third jail term, White House performance and final studio album (1979)

Berry’s type of touring style, traveling the “oldies” circuit in the 1970s — where he was often paid in cash by local promoters — added ammunition to the Internal Revenue Service’s accusations that Berry was a chronic income tax evader. Facing criminal sanction for the third time, Berry pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to four months imprisonment and 1,000 hours of community service — doing benefit concerts — in 1979.

At the request of Jimmy Carter, Chuck Berry performed at The White House on June 1, 1979.  Also in 1979, Berry released Rockit for Atco Records, his last studio album to date.

The post-studio era (1980-2000)
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Berry continued to play 70 to 100 one-nighters per year in the 1980s, still travelling solo and requiring a local band to back him at each stop.
Berry performing live in 1997
Berry performing live in 1997

In 1986, Taylor Hackford made a documentary film, Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll, of a celebration concert for Berry’s sixtieth birthday. Keith Richards was the musical leader. Eric Clapton, Etta James, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray and Linda Ronstadt, among others, appeared with Berry on stage and film. During the concert, Berry played a Gibson ES-355, the luxury version of the ES-335 which he favored on his 1970s tours. Richards played a black Fender Telecaster Custom, Cray a Fender Stratocaster and Clapton a Gibson ES 350T, the same guitar Berry used on his early recordings.

One of the highlights in the film version was a testy exchange between Richards and Berry on how to set an amplifier for a guitar. Image Entertainment released a new version of the film in June 2006, which contains the original movie and bonus material such as rehearsals and documentaries.

Berry’s business enterprises (1980s-1990s)

In the late 1980s, Berry owned a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri, called The Southern Air. He also owns a custom built estate in Wentzville, which he dubbed Berry Park. For many years, Berry hosted rock concerts throughout the summer at Berry Park. However, he eventually closed the estate to the public due to the riotous behaviour of many of the guests.

In 1990 Berry was sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the ladies’ bathrooms at two of his St. Louis restaurants. A class action settlement was eventually reached with 59 women on the complaint. Berry’s biographer, Bruce Pegg, estimated that it cost Berry over $1.2 million plus legal fees. It was during this time that he began using Wayne T. Schoeneberg as his legal counsel.

Writing credit dispute (2000)

In November 2000, Berry was sued by his former pianist Johnnie Johnson, who claimed that he co-wrote over 50 songs, including “No Particular Place to Go”, “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Roll Over Beethoven”, that credit Berry alone. The case was dismissed when the judge ruled that too much time had passed since the songs were written.

Current activities

Currently, Berry usually performs one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis. In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Finland, England, Holland, Ireland, Switzerland and Spain. In the summer of 2008, he played at Virgin Festival in Baltimore, MD.

Influence
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A pioneer of rock and roll, Chuck Berry was a significant influence on the development of early rock and roll guitar techniques. He was the first to define the classic subjects of rock and roll in his songwriting; cars, girls and school. His guitar style is legendary and many later guitar musicians acknowledge him as a major influence in their own style. When Keith Richards inducted Berry into the Hall of Fame he said, “It’s hard for me to induct Chuck Berry, because I lifted every lick he ever played!”

Jerry Garcia, of The Grateful Dead, cited Chuck Berry as a major influence along with other musicians such as Wes Montgomery and Bill Monroe. The Grateful Dead have played and recorded “Johnny B. Goode”, “Around and Around” – AKA – Reelin’ and Rockin’ and “Promised Land”, at least and possibly others. Jerry Garcia performed “Let It Rock” on his Compliments – 1974. Both his and the Dead’s efforts may have been a little more laid-back, because of the nature of their improvisational approach, but musically they were pretty much in the same vein.

Angus Young, of AC/DC, who has cited Berry as one of his biggest influences, is famous for using Berry’s duck walk as one of his gimmicks.

Berry was also a large influence on such second generation rockers as The Who and Bob Dylan. In the 1980s, George Thorogood created a reasonable career out of what was essentially a Chuck Berry tribute show. Covering a number of Chuck Berry songs and appropriating the duckwalk, Thorogood toured relentlessly as a high-energy, rock and roll revival act.

While there is debate about who recorded the first rock and roll record, Chuck Berry’s early recordings, including his cover of the 1938 country hit “Ida Red”, entitled “Maybellene” (1955), are among the first fully synthesized rockabilly singles, combining blues and country music with lyrics about girls and cars.

Most of his famous recordings were on Chess Records with pianist Johnnie Johnson from Berry’s own band and legendary record producer Willie Dixon on bass, Fred Below on drums, and Berry’s guitar. It should be noted, however, that Lafayette Leake, not Johnnie Johnson, played the piano on “Johnny B. Goode”, “Reelin’ and Rockin’”, “Sweet Little Sixteen”, and “Rock and Roll Music”. Additionally, Otis Spann played the piano on “You Can’t Catch Me” and “No Money Down”.

As quoted in the liner notes of Berry’s album 28 Greatest hits, Leonard Chess recalled:

“I told Chuck to give it a bigger beat. History, the rest, you know? The kids wanted the big beat, cars and young love. It was a trend and we jumped on it.”

Clive Anderson wrote for the compilation Chuck Berry — Poet of Rock ‘n’ Roll:

While Elvis was a country boy who sang “black” to some degree … Chuck Berry provided the mirror image where country music was filtered through an R&B sensibility.

Throughout his career Berry recorded both smooth ballads like “Havana Moon” and blues tunes like “Wee Wee Hours”. He recorded more than a dozen Top Ten R&B chart hits, crossed over to have a strong impact on the pop charts with seven top ten U.S. pop hits and four top ten pop hits in the UK and he found his songs being covered by hundreds of blues, country and rock and roll performers.

Berry was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984.

In 2003, Rolling Stone named him number six on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

His compilation album The Great Twenty-Eight was also named 21st on the magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. .

In 2004 six of his songs were included in Rolling Stone’s “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list, namely “Johnny B. Goode” (# 7), “Maybellene” (# 18), “Roll Over Beethoven” (# 97), “Rock and Roll Music” (#128), “Sweet Little Sixteen” (# 272) and “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” (# 374).

Also in 2004, Berry was rated #5 in Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and in 2008 his song Johnny B. Goode won first place in the 100 greatest guitar songs according to Rolling Stone Magazine.

Chuck Berry songs
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Many of his songs are among the leading rock and roll anthems:

* “Johnny B. Goode” – the autobiographical saga of a country boy (“colored boy” in the original lyrics) who could “play a guitar just like ringing a bell”. It was given the honor of being the only rock and roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record, which are actual gold-plated records attached on the Voyager I & II space probes with the intent to convey greetings, sounds and images from humanity to any extraterrestrial life encountering the spacecraft as they travel beyond our solar system. The song was also featured in the feature film Back to the Future; during the song, “Marvin Berry” calls his cousin “Chuck” and has him listen to Marty singing this song, telling him to listen to this “new sound”. The band The Grateful Dead recorded this song in the 1970s. The punk band NOFX has covered this song a few times live. Judas Priest did so as well in the 80′s. (Johnny Winter’s version boasts “he could play a guitar like a bat out of Hell”.) Chuck Berry wrote a sequel song, “Bye Bye Johnny”, in 1960. This song was covered on the 1975 album On the Level by Status Quo and played live by The Rolling Stones in the 1960s. Johnny Hallyday-the French rocker-covered Johnny B. Goode :”Johnny,reviens!” The song was also often performed by Jimi Hendrix in his live performances.

* “Rock and Roll Music” – recorded by The Beatles on their 1964 album Beatles for Sale and by the Beach Boys on their 1976 album 15 Big Ones.

* “Sweet Little Sixteen” – with new lyrics, became a hit for The Beach Boys as “Surfin’ USA”

* “Roll Over Beethoven” – and “tell Tchaikovsky the news” a battle yell for rock and roll. In 1973, new owners of New York City classical music station WNCN announced a change of format to rock and roll by interrupting a performance of the Mozart Requiem with “Roll Over Beethoven”. The station’s classical audience was so outraged they successfully petitioned the FCC to force a return to the previous format.

* “School Days” – its chorus, “Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll”, was chosen as the title of the documentary concert film organized by Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones as his tribute to Chuck, who appears in the film with many others. It was also recorded by “hard” rock & roll band AC/DC on their second album, T.N.T. (Australia). Also, on an album by Matt Groenings “The Simpsons” called “The Simpsons Sing the Blues”, a cover is made of this song as Bart Sing/Rapping.

* “Let It Rock” – fantasia of gambling railroad workers that lives up to the title, written under the pseudonym E. Anderson. It is a rare performer who can turn a line like “There’s an off-schedule train comin’ two miles out” into a Dionysian cry. It was famously covered by the Rolling Stones during their 1971 UK Tour and by Yardbirds on their Live at Craw Daddy Club album. Motorhead and the Jerry Garcia Band have also performed it.
* “Around and Around” – describes how “the joint was rockin’, goin’ ’round and ’round.” This song has been recorded by David Bowie, The Animals, The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, The Germs, and Maureen Tucker of The Velvet Underground.

* “Little Queenie” – covered by many artists, notably the Rolling Stones on the live album Get Yer Ya-Yas Out and in 2007 as a duet with Jerry Lee Lewis and Kid Rock on the Lewis DVD Last Man Standing Live. T. Rex borrows the line, “Meanwhile I’m still thinkin”, at the conclusion of “Bang A Gong”. David Bowie paraphrases the song in his tune The Jean Genie – Go, Go, Go, Little Genie. The British rock supergroup Queen references the song (and themselves) in the song “Now I’m Here” with the line “Go! Go! Go! Little Queenie!”

His other hits, many of them novelty narratives, include:

* “Maybellene” – car, girl, rival, jealousy — tune based on the traditional Bluegrass standard “Ida Red”. (Berry was familiar with the 1938 recording of “Ida Red” by western swing band Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys.)

* “Too Much Monkey Business” – teenage attitudes, predecessor to rap, “Same thing every day, gettin’ up, goin’ to school, no need of me complaining, my objection’s overruled”. Also inspired the Bob Dylan song, “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. Johnny Thunders’ “Too Much Junky Business” is a play on the title

* “Promised Land” – Cross country journey in song, from Norfolk, Virginia, to the Promised Land, California, covered by the Grateful Dead, Elvis Presley and The Band.

* “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” – adult attitudes, racism, “arrested on charges of unemployment”
* “Back in the U.S.A.” – which inspired The Beatles’ “Back in the USSR”, covered by the MC5, the Modern Lovers and Linda Ronstadt, which in turn inspired Industrial rock band KMFDM’s song “Back in the U.S.S.A.” .
* “No Particular Place To Go” – car, girl, “parking way out on the ko-ko-mo”.

* “Memphis, Tennessee” – unique beat, sweet story with a twist. Lonnie Mack’s biggest hit single was an instrumental take-off on this tune that started the blues-rock guitar style in 1963. A few months later, Johnny Rivers recorded his second-biggest hit single with a version that included both Berry’s lyrics and some of Mack’s improvisations. Izzy Stradlin also recorded a version on his album 117°, calling it ‘Memphis.’

* “My Ding-a-Ling” – his only #1, a New Orleans novelty song that he had been singing for years and included on a live recording in Coventry in February, 1972.

* “Run, Run Rudolph” – his top Christmas song

* “You Never Can Tell” – song included in the movie Pulp Fiction. Also recorded by Emmylou Harris, John Prine, and Bob Seger on his Greatest Hits album, under the title “C’est la Vie.”

Among his blues tributes:

* “Come On” — recorded by the Rolling Stones and was their first song and single ever released.

* “Confessing the Blues” – signature tune of the famed Kansas City, Missouri jazz band of Jay McShann

* “Worried Life Blues” — originally by Chicago piano man Big Maceo Merriweather

* “Merry Christmas, Baby” – originally by Charles Brown

* “Route 66″ – written by Bobby Troup and originally performed by Nat King Cole. Similar to Berry’s “Come On”, the Rolling Stones recorded a cover of it, which appeared as the first track on their first album.

* “The Things That I Used to Do” by Louisiana’s Guitar Slim
* “Wee Wee Hours”, his own blues song, B-side to “Maybellene”.

His songs are collected on albums like:

* The Great Twenty-Eight is Berry’s definitive greatest hits album, but the two-CD Anthology set has better sound and provides a much more complete overview of his musical output.

Discography

Main article: Chuck Berry discography
See also: Category:Chuck Berry songs

See also

* List of artists who reached number one in Ireland
* Guitar Moves
* Chicago Blues Festival
* Honorific titles in popular music

References

1. ^ “Chuck Berry”. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
2. ^ “Chuck Berry biography”. allmusic. Retrieved on 2006-10-05.
3. ^ “Brainy Quote – John Lennon”. Retrieved on 2006-10-05.
4. ^ “Chuck Berry”. Joe Perry. Rolling Stone Issue 946. Rolling Stone.
5. ^ “The Immortals: The First Fifty”. Rolling Stone Issue 946. Rolling Stone.
6. ^ “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. Rolling Stone Issue 931. Rolling Stone.
7. ^ The 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll
8. ^ Chuck Berry
9. ^ Weinraub, Bernard.  “Sweet Tunes, Fast Beats and a Hard Edge”, The New York Times, February 23, 2003. Accessed December 11, 2007. “A significant moment in his early life was a musical performance in 1941 at Sumner High School, which had a middle-class black student body.”
10. ^ Chuck Berry
11. ^ Pegg, Bruce (2002). Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry. New York: Routledge, 20-22. ISBN 978-0415937481.
12. ^ Cohn, Lawrence; Aldin,Mary Katherine; Bastin,Bruce . Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. Abbeville Press, 174.
13. ^ Chuck Berry
14. ^ Chuck Berry News
15. ^ Chuck Berry
16. ^ Chuck 1955-56
17. ^ Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 pages 215,216 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1
18. ^ Rock, Rock, Rock (1956). IMDb
19. ^ Go, Johnny, Go! (1959). IMDb
20. ^ a b Chuck Berry
21. ^ Chuck Berry
22. ^ “Rock pioneer Johnson dies aged 80″. BBC News Online (2005-04-14). Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
23. ^ “Official Concert Schedule (2008)”. Retrieved on 2008-08-11.
24. ^ The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time : Rolling Stone
25. ^ The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time : Rolling Stone
26. ^ The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time : Rolling Stone
27. ^ The Immortals: The First Fifty : Rolling Stone