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Chuck Berry’s Maybellene is recorded and reaches number one on the R&B charts several months later.
1955 (May 21)
Chuck Berry records Maybellene, and the song reaches number one on the R&B charts by mid-September. Ten more top-ten Berry hits followed in the next six years, including Roll Over Beethoven, Too Much Monkey Business, School Days, Rock and Roll Music, and Johnny B. Good. Chuck Berry influenced the generation's musicians and listeners with his unique brand of guitar playing and showmanship. David Marsh of Rolling Stone magazine claimed, "Chuck Berry is to rock what Louis Armstrong was to jazz." Among other awards, Berry received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1984; he was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986; and he received Guitar Player magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.