American

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

musician

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

's discography includes 20 studio albums, 12 live albums, 31 compilation albums, 50 singles, 8 EPs, and 2 soundtrack albums. Berry's recording career began in 1955, with the release of his single "

Maybellene "Maybellene" is a rock and roll song. It was written and recorded in 1955 by Chuck Berry, adapted in part from the Western swing fiddle tune " Ida Red". Berry's song told the story of a hot rod race and a broken romance, the lyrics describing ...

", and spanned a total of 62 years, although the latter 4 decades featured few or no releases. His most prolific and successful period spanned the 1950s and early 1960s, during which time he recorded for

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

. By 1960 he had released most of his hits, including "Maybellene", "

Roll Over Beethoven "Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 hit song written by Chuck Berry, originally released on Chess Records single, with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to replace classi ...

", "

Sweet Little Sixteen "Sweet Little Sixteen" is a rock and roll song written and first recorded by Chuck Berry, who released it as a single in January 1958. His performance of it at that year's Newport Jazz Festival was included in the documentary film ''Jazz on a Summ ...

", and " Johnny B. Goode". Legal troubles, resulting in his imprisonment in 1961, caused a reduction in his output, but his release in 1963, combined with an interest in his songs thanks to the

British invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...

, rejuvenated his career. By the time Berry left Chess in 1966, he had released 36 singles, 5 EPs, and 12 albums, including the fake live album, '' Chuck Berry On Stage'' and 2 compilation albums, as well as having featured in the soundtrack album for the film '' Rock, Rock, Rock!''. Berry subsequently signed to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

, where he stayed until 1970. During his tenure at Mercury, he released 5 albums, including his first real live album, as well as 5 singles, before he returned to Chess, where he released a further 5 singles and albums each, including The London Chuck Berry Sessions, which became his best-selling album, supported by his only #1 single, " My Ding-a-Ling". After his release from Chess in 1975, Berry's releases became sporadic, briefly recording for

Atco Atco or ATCO may refer to: Businesses * ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies ** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company * Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing ...

in 1979, resulting in his final studio album released during his life, '' Rockit''. His final, posthumous, studio album was 2017's ''

Chuck Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer * C ...

''. Berry's discography includes a large amount of unofficial live albums, as he performed without being signed to any label for most of his latter years, as well as a number of re-packaged or unofficial compilation albums, owing to Chess Records complicated ownership history. Overseas, Berry's discography differed from that in the US, most notably in the UK, where his early work was released mostly by London Records until 1960, then

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherho ...

until 1965, before being issued directly by Chess or Mercury. This resulted in a number of exclusive British EP releases on the one hand, and a number of unissued LPs and singles on the other. In the US, Berry saw a total of 25 charting singles and 4 charting B-sides, as well as 5 charting albums. Of these, 2 singles have been certified Platinum by the RIAA, as well as 1 Gold single and 1 Gold album.

Albums

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Soundtrack albums

EPs

Singles

'' Billboard'' did not publish a separate R&B singles chart in 1964. For this year only, R&B chart positions are from '' Cash Box'' magazine.

''Billboard'' Year-End performances

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Chuck

Discography Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...

Rock music discographies Discographies of American artists