"Maybellene" Reaches #5 on Billboard Chart

May 21, 1955

In 1955, Chuck Berry was signed to major label Chess Records. He recorded a version of "Ida Red" that would then become "Maybellene," which reached #5 on Billboard's overall chart and #1 for R&B. But R&B would prove retrospectively to be a misnomer: Berry, a black musician from St. Louis, alongside many other black R&B artists, with some country music influences, were about to usher in a new era. Of this musical development, Little Richard famously declared, "Rhythm and Blues had a baby, and somebody named it Rock 'n' Roll."

"Chuck Berry" accessed on May 15, 2018. http://aaep1600.osu.edu/book/06_Berry.php