cover image Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry. Random House Value Publishing, $4.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-517-56666-4

At age 60, with lots of humor and very little inhibition, one of the founding fathers of rock 'n' roll has set down the unghostwritten story of his life as a song writer, versifier, singer, family man and lover. Brought up in a religious household in St. Louis, young Charles Edward Anderson Berry got into bad company, stole a car and was given a 10-year prison term. Paroled at 21, he soon began a phenomenal musical career, achieving one triumph after another, except for two other periods in prison, one for violating the Mann Act and the other for nonpayment of income taxes. This is an unbuttoned, refreshing, if rather unedifying, account of a poor black man's rise to fame and glory. Photos not seen by PW. First serial to People magazine. Author tour. (October 18)