The father of rock ‘n’ roll is celebrating his 90th birthday by announcing his first album in 38 years.
For the past 209 months in a row, Chuck Berry has been focused just on playing in small venues. According to Blueberry Hill’s owner Joe Edwards, “Chuck and I have been good friends since the early ’80s. One night in 1996 he was reminiscing about the smaller clubs he used to play when he was just starting out and how much he would love to play an intimate club again in contrast to large stadiums. There was a split-second pause. We looked at each other and said ‘Let’s do it.’”
But on Tuesday, Berry surprised the world when he announced “Chuck,” his first record since 1979’s “Rock It.”
“This record is dedicated to my beloved Toddy,” Berry said, referring to his wife of 68 years, Themetta Berry, in a statement on his website. “My darlin’ I’m growing old! I’ve worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!”
There is no release date yet for the new LP, but it should come out sometime in 2017. In the meantime, the only thing we can say is that the hype is real!