Johnny B. Bad: Chuck Berry and the Making of Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll

by Stephanie Bennett, Keith Richards (Contribution by), Helen Mirren (Contribution by), Little Richard (Contribution by), Bo Diddley (Contribution by)

Overview

Thirty years ago, Chuck Berry starred in the seminal music documentary Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ’N’ Roll, which profiled the legend during a star-studded concert celebrating his sixtieth birthday. Now, on the heels of Berry’s death, comes the complete story behind one of America’s most enduring and embattled icons.

Compiled as an oral history by the film’s producer, Stephanie Bennett, Johnny B. Bad combines interviews from the film’s participants, including its music director— Keith Richards. These unique interviews and accounts paint a vivid and multifaceted picture of the artist. Berry was at once a witty, articulate genius, now widely considered the godfather of rock and roll; a shrewd businessman, who had no trouble endlessly renegotiating contracts and refusing to perform until additional cash was gathered up; and also a convicted criminal, who in addition to serving time in prison for transporting a minor across state lines for “immoral purposes” had also been accused of sexual assault and sued in civil court for installing cameras in the restroom of the Southern Air, a restaurant he owned in Wentzville, Missouri.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781947856905
Publisher:	Rare Bird Books
Publication date:	03/19/2019
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Stephanie Bennett's association with the music business started in the 1970s with the creation of Delilah Books, the first publisher of rock and roll books, including the bestselling biography of Bruce Springsteen’s early career, Born to Run. In the early 1980s, she created Delilah Films, where she produced many critically acclaimed music and concert documentaries, including The Compleat Beatles, the first rockumentary on VHS to sell over one million copies, The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert, Roy Orbison: A Black and White Night, Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind, The Beach Boys: Endless Harmony, and Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ’N’ Roll. In total she has produced over thirty films. She resides in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Foreword Taylor Hackford 9

Introduction Stephanie Bennett 16

Chapter 1 A Conversation with Chuck Berry and Robbie Robertson 20

Chapter 2 Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, & Little Richard 33

Chapter 3 Making the Deal with Chuck Berry 57

Chapter 4 Checking Out Chuck's Performance 68

Chapter 5 Meeting Chuck on his Home Turf 73

Chapter 6 Finding a Director 76

Chapter 7 Finding a Musical Director 85

Chapter 8 Chuck and Keith in Chicago 91

Chapter 9 A Scout to Chuck's Prison 96

Chapter 10 Two Nights in Chuck's Missouri Home 108

Chapter 11 A Grand Tour of St. Louis in Chuck's Winnebago 111

Chapter 12 Chuck Visits Keith Richards in Jamaica 113

Chapter 13 The Making of Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll: Nuts & Lightning Bolts 121

Chapter 14 The Cosmo ClubProduction Starts: Where's Chuck 140

Chapter 15 An Unscheduled Trip to Ohio 147

Chapter 16 The Chuck Berry Rehearsals: Keith and Go Head-to-Head 152

Chapter 17 The Concert: A Night to Remember 169

Chapter 18 Chuck's House in LA: Full of Surprises 185

Chapter 19 Mixing it up with Chuck 194

Chapter 20 Chuck Arrested at Screening 203

Chapter 21 The Grand Publicity Tour 206

Chapter 22 Chuck's Passing 212

Chapter 23 Final Thoughts 216

Photos 219

Acknowledgments and Thanks 221

Editorial Reviews

I’m the perfect test of a book like Johnny B. Bad because before reading it I had precisely zero interest in Chuck Berry or in rock and roll, to be honest. But this is the superbly written story of a man whose style, determination, ambition and life-force are utterly captivating, irrespective of his chosen field. Stephanie Bennett makes him and his world leap off the page and convince even an ignoramus like me to search for his music and for the film which forms the kernel of this entirely captivating book.”
—Stephen Fry

Praise for Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
"Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll is...probably the most revealing look we'll ever get of its subject, and the most loving evocation of his music."
—The Washington Post

"...a fascinating character study."
—The Los Angeles Times

"...works on two levels: as a portrait of a private, bitter and streetwise man, and as a major musical talent performing with obvious delight."
—Chicago Tribune

"...marvelously energetic."
—Christian Science Monitor

From the Publisher