Chuck Berry has today died at the age of 90.
The musical icon passed away after being found at his home in Missouri.
A statement from St Charles County police confirmed the sad news and revealed that he was found lifeless at home.
They said: “St Charles County police responded to a medical emergency on Buckner Road at approximately 12:40 p.m. today (Saturday, March 18).
“Inside the home, first responders observed an unresponsive man and immediately administered lifesaving techniques. Unfortunately, the 90-year-old man could not be revived and was pronounced deceased at 1:26 p.m.
“The St Charles County Police Department sadly confirms the death of Charles Edward Anderson Berry Sr., better known as legendary musician Chuck Berry.
“The family requests privacy during this time of bereavement.”
The rock n’ roll legend – known as the father of that movement – had been producing music since the 1950s and wrote pioneering tracks such as Johnny B Goode.
His first No.1 came in 1972 with My Ding-a-Ling.
He was the great-grandchild of African-American slaves, and his parents, Martha and Henry Berry, migrated from the South during World War I to St Louis in search of work.
Chuck’s early childhood was in the deeply segregated community of St Louis, where he didn’t encounter a single white person until the age of three, when he spotted white firefighters putting out a blaze.
”I thought they were so frightened that their faces were whitened from fear of going near the big fire,” he once told an interviewer.
”Daddy told me they were white people, and their skin was always white that way, day or night.”
