(born 1926) Rock ’n’ roll pioneer known best for his flamboyant guitar playing, duck walk and runins with the law. His first single for Chess Records, “Maybellene,” was released in 1955.

The following year “Roll Over Beethoven” defined the spirit of rock ’n’ roll, rising to the top of the charts. Mixing country music guitar picking with an R&B beat and incisive, humorous lyrics aimed at teenagers, Berry created an interracial music for an interracial audience in the 1950s. Still rocking in the early twenty-first century he has been the single greatest influence on the subsequent development of rock ’n’roll.