According to Ray Charles Elvis was a punk (60 Minutes, 2022).

Rock and roll started in

the early 1950s with four prominent rock personalities Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis

Presley, and Chuck Berry. These performances created what we know today as rock and roll in

an era of major conflict. They also had a huge effect on society creating a divide between the

young generation and the old who worried about the effect this music would have on society.

This essay will discuss the lives, music, contributions, and actions which led these personalities

to create rock and roll.

Little Richard’s life began in 1932 being born to a family of Adventists in Macon

Georgia. He took up singing for sideshows and circuses but when his father was injured in a

brawl Richard had to sing full time. By nineteen he had turned from gospel music to R&B with

his first record called “Taxi Blues”. He made his way through nightclubs performing rhythm and

blues which his family thought was the devil's music. He developed his aura to be a party-hard,

sexual, bisexual rocker wild child. Being black and gay would have had him lynched during that

time but because of his performance, people loved him. The first song which became his hit was

“Tutti Frutti” with an openly sexual theme it offended many middle-class Americans so

Specialty Records broke the song down into safe lyrics. Little Richard’s style back then was a

prototype as people had never seen someone with a flamboyant performance style like that.

“Long Tall Sally” written in 1956 was another hit but this one was about an affair between Uncle

John and Sally. Richards's song was sung in a raw manner with a fast beat and hard piano beat.

He helped create the rock genre by using sexual content in his songs, intense sound, energetic

vocal style, and a distinctive beat. Due to his religious roots pulling him Richard 1957 quit his

rock career and went into ministry rock while recording gospel music. Though he would come
back to rock a few times Richard stuck with his new religious character and never gained the

publicity he had before (Potter, 2022).

Jerry Lee Lewis or Carl Perkins was known as the “killer”. Jerry Lee Lewis was born in

1935 in Louisiana and started playing the piano at the age of nine (Jerry lee Lewis, 2018). He got

his start in gospel music growing up in a religious environment but his family was poor. Jerry,

unlike Elvis, had a chaotic life. At the age of twenty-one, Jerry was already married three times.

But this lifestyle helped give Jerry an interesting character arc as he had major flaws which drew

people to him. His version of “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On” hit number three on the Billboard

charts. Jerry set himself apart from other artists at the time because he wasn’t as charming as

Elvis. He had a unique playing style with a percussive backbeat with rolls. His music combined

blues, country, and jazz. His performance was his greatest attribute as he would dance, kick, and

thrust on his piano. He was able to make his audience fall in love with him due to his movements

as he was constantly swinging his entire body back and forth. Jerry also wore bright-colored

clothing adding to his lively personality. In one instance Jerry got into an argument with Chuck

Berry as Jerry wanted to close a show but Chuck had a contract to end the show. Because of this

at the end of Jerry’s performance, he set the piano on fire after his song “Great Balls of Fire ''

ending his part in an explosive finale (Reiko, 2022). His career ended shortly in 1958 when the

public found out he married his thirteen-year-old cousin whom he claimed was fifteen. People

then found out that he hadn’t been divorced from his last marriage making his current one illegal.

Soon the public boycotted his shows and he was blacklisted from the radios while his support

dwindled to zero.

Elvis Presley was one of the few rock stars to escape controversy. Elvis was born in

Mississippi in 1936 growing up as one of the south's poor folk. Due to his father searching for
jobs the family moved to Memphis Tennessee where Elvis grew up near a musical hub for R&B

musicians. Elvis had a love for music when he was young singing gospel music but began his

career in 1953 when he recorded two records in Philips Sun Studio for his mother as a birthday

present. He started another session which had not gone well till 1954 when he sang “That's

Right, Mama”. This became a single hit that was on the top music chart in Memphis. Presley set

the standard for performing by using hip thrusts, dancing, and an aura that attracts a large crowd

of screaming high school girls. Presley was drafted which helped to change his focus from a

sexual rock and roll star to a model citizen. He appeared in thirty-one movies afterward and

started his music career again in 1968 ending in retirement in 1972. Due to Elvis being marketed

by Tom Parker he reached a wide audience of both young and old bringing rock to the masses.

He also helped bring the style influences such as R&B to people who would ordinarily never

listen to African American music. Presley did cheat other musicians out of their respected

money by using their songs without much payment but because these musicians were black

almost no one cared during that period. Presley is credited as the king of rock and roll not

because he was the first to sing it but because he was the first to make it a generational icon

when we think of the 1950s most turn to Elvis.

Chuck Berry was born in 1926 sang gospel music and started practicing guitar in the St.

Louis ballroom circuit. In 1955 his first song now named “Maybellene” was able to make it into

white pop music which at the top was hard because of segregation. He was able to appeal to

white audiences because his songs were about what the audience did. Another large song of his

was “Johnny B. Goode '' which was an autobiography written about his life just with a name

change. This led to the use of songs to tell a story. Numerous other artists took over this song

style such as Bruce Springsteen with his songs about growing up in the middle of nowhere in
rural America and the struggle to do something greater. Berry brought the guitar to the front

stage and did the duck walk which became his signature move. AC/DC and Ted Nugent would

use this move also during their concerts. Chuck Berry is credited by some to be the inventor of

rock and roll because he made the guitar a must for rock and roll by making the guitar mimic his

voice. Berry was destined to become a big hit but in 1959 he was found guilty of trafficking a

minor across state lines for sex. This tarnished his career but later he returned to rock with minor

success.

All in all this essay talked about the life, music, contributions, and actions of the people

who started rock and roll. These performers were able to please the younger generation and start

a rift between them and the old with their sexual movements plus bombastic sounds. The end of

the 1950s almost saw the end of rock and roll as most rock stars had been destroyed by

controversy. But the rock was able to come back with all of its signature moves and defined

future generations.

Works Cited

“Biography Jerry Lee Lewis.” Jerry Lee Lewis, 14 May 2018,

https://jerryleelewis.com/about/biography/.

Potter, Jordan. “When Little Richard Quit Rock and Roll for Religion.” Far Out Magazine,

22 June 2022, https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/little-richard-quit-rock-and-roll-for-religion/.

“Ray Charles - Interview with Bob Costas.” 60 Minutes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=0vDP72531FA. Accessed 30 Aug. 2022.

Country Music, 14 Jan. 2022, https://classiccountrymusic.com/why-jerry-lee-lewis-set-his-

piano-on-fire-mid-concert/.