St. Louis to celebrate Chuck Berry's 100th birthday with albums, multiyear event series

Duck-walking rock ’n’ roller Chuck Berry’s 100th birthday is Oct. 18, 2026. Unfortunately, the man behind the hits “Johnny B. Goode,” “Maybellene” and “Rock and Roll Music” won’t be around to see it. He died in 2017 at the age of 90.

But this month, St. Louis will still kick off a yearslong commemoration of one of its most famous native sons with a series of events called CHUCK100.

Evolution Festival will be the first to honor Berry, who grew up in the Ville, graduated from Sumner High School and spent his later years in St. Louis playing at the Blueberry Hill Duck Room (named for his iconic walk). The festival will feature one of Berry’s Cadillacs, which appeared in the 1987 film “Hail! Hail! Rock ’n’ Roll.”

Named the Chuck Berry House activation, it will be open to all attendees at the festival and will include memorabilia, videos and Chuck Berry/Evolution Fest merchandise.

Guests will also be able to record themselves reenacting the dance that John Travolta and Uma Thurman did in “Pulp Fiction” to Berry’s “You Never Can Tell.” It is also the 30th anniversary of the movie.

The festival runs Saturday and Sunday. Also on Saturday, the first in a series of CHUCK100 EPs will hit streaming platforms. Produced by Carl Nappa at the St. Louis Recording Club, the EPs each feature four versions of a classic Chuck Berry hit.

The first single will be “You Never Can Tell” and local bands Dave Grelle’s Playadors, FatPocket and Mattie Schell are all providing interpretations of the classic.

The group What the Chuck?!, which includes Berry’s son, grandsons and members of his touring band, will provide the featured cover.

“We’re taking iconic Chuck Berry songs and letting some of St. Louis’ best musicians use their talents and creativity to reimagine them in new and unique ways,” says Nappa, who was nominated for a Grammy for his producing work. “Hearing Chuck’s son and grandsons play a song that their father and grandfather wrote, while giving their own spin, moved the whole room.”

That’s not the only music coming during the celebration. Isalee Music Co., which Chuck Berry created to manage his own catalog after he gained control of it, will release the tribute album, “Chuck Berry Reimagined” in 2025. It will feature covers from internationally renowned artists and will be produced by St. Louis natives Lawrence and Yves Rothman.

Isalee Music Co. along with the family of Chuck Berry are organizing CHUCK100. Other planned events include a themed event at Jingle, a holiday pop-up, and a collaboration with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Updates about events will come via Chuck Berry’s official social media channels @chuckberry on Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok. You can also visit chuckberry.com to learn more.

©2024 STLtoday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.