Musical News - Chuck Berry

The terrible news just reached me that rock and roll legend Chuck Berry passed away on March 18, 2017 at the tender age of 90!

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born in St. Louis, MO on October 18, 1926. He was interested in music at a young age, and first performed publicly in high school.

Berry had several hits throughout the 1950s and 1960s, such as Maybellene (1955), Roll Over Beethoven (1956), Johnny B. Goode (1958), and No Particular Place to Go (1964). He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame during its  inaugural year (1986). He received accolades for “having laid the groundwork for… a rock and roll sound”. He was one of the most influential musicians of the genre.

Mr. Berry received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984, and is honored in several of Rolling Stones magazine’s greatest of all times lists.

Mr. Berry appeared in several movies about his style of music, and his music was featured in the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction. He is now gone, but his music will never be forgotten.

 

Chuck Berry [1926 – 2017]

© 03/18/2017
 

Musical News - Joni Sledge of Sister Sledge

Joni Sledge of the popular 1970s group Sister Sledge has died on March 10, 2017 at the age of 60. The cause of her death in Phoenix, AZ has not yet been announced.

Joni and her sisters Debbie, Kim and Kathy formed the group in 1971 in their hometown of Philadelphia, PA. They practiced their craft for several years before hooking up with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the group Chic. Nile and Bernard co-wrote and produced the 1979 Sister Sledge album We Are Family, which produced the singles The Greatest Dancer as well as We Are Family.

Although Kathy Sledge left the Sisters for a solo career in 1989, the remaining trio continued to perform until as recently as October 2016, including a performance at the White House in 2000, and for Pope Francis in 2015.

Sister Sledge is one of the defining acts of the 1970s, and they will never be forgotten.
 

Joni Sledge [1956 — 2017]

© 03/11/2017