Vice Dean Chris Sampson remembers legendary guitarist Chuck Berry

USC Thornton Contemporary Music faculty member Chris Sampson was recently quoted in a Los Angeles Wave article honoring the life of legendary guitarist Chuck Berry, who passed away earlier this month.

Describing Berry as “a great rock poet” whose lyricism and stage presence brought a new interpretation to R&B music, Sampson explained that Berry’s emergence in the 1950s disrupted what was a relatively conservative music industry. Berry is well known for hits like “Johnny B Goode” and “Maybellene” and Sampson characterized his work as “one of the starting points for [R&B] music.”