Chuck Berry

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Lore & Background

Billy Peek first encountered Chuck Berry's music as a child growing up in St. Louis in the 1950s, and it "completely changed his life." Peek later performed on a TV show, *Russ Carter's St. Louis Hop*, which led to him opening for Berry at the first-anniversary show at the Casa Loma Ballroom. In 1963, during the "Gaslight Square" Era, Berry attended one of Peek's performances, congratulated him, and invited him to play at Berry's club on Sunday afternoons. This association led to Peek playing in Berry's backup band on a European tour. Peek also performed with Berry at Berry's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. On January 21, 2013, Peek performed for the Chuck Berry Lifetime Achievement Award Show in St. Louis.

Reader's Guide

Chuck Berry's music is featured in Billy Peek's discography. Peek recorded a single in 1962 titled "Twistin' Johnny B. Goode / 7-Come-11," referencing Berry's classic song "Johnny B. Goode." Peek also played on Berry's album *Concerto in B Goode* (1969). Berry's influence on Peek's guitar style is noted in the source, with Peek laying down a "hard driving Chuck Berry-style rhythm" during his audition for Rod Stewart. The source emphasizes that Berry was "the most important influence" on Peek, shaping his focus on blues and rock music.

Did You Know?

• Billy Peek performed with Chuck Berry during Berry's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
• Peek opened for Chuck Berry at the first-anniversary show at the Casa Loma Ballroom after appearing on the TV show *Russ Carter's St. Louis Hop*.
• Chuck Berry attended one of Peek's performances in 1963 during the 'Gaslight Square' Era and invited him to play at Berry's club on Sunday afternoons.
• Peek played in Chuck Berry's backup band during a European tour.
• On January 21, 2013, Peek performed for the Chuck Berry Lifetime Achievement Award Show in St. Louis.

Roots in the St. Louis Blues Scene

Billy Peek was born in 1940 in South St. Louis, Missouri, and his earliest musical memories are tied to the flat above his family's bar, the Peek-A-Boo Inn. It was there, as a young child in the 1950s, that he first picked up a guitar alongside his father. As he grew a bit older, the sounds of fellow St. Louis musicians—Chuck Berry, Ike Turner—reached him and fundamentally redirected his artistic path toward blues and rock. By fifteen, Peek had assembled his own band and made the short trip across the river to East St. Louis to soak in the performances of Ike Turner, Little Milton, and Albert King. At eighteen he was sitting in with Turner's group, absorbing the vocabulary of the blues from B.B. King, Elmore James, and Muddy Waters. Yet among all those voices, Chuck Berry remained the single most formative influence on his playing and his understanding of what rock and roll could be.

The Berry Connection: From Ballroom to Europe

Peek's path to Chuck Berry began on a local television program, Russ Carter's St. Louis Hop, which earned him a spot opening for Berry at the first-anniversary celebration at the Casa Loma Ballroom. The deeper bond formed during the Gaslight Square era of 1963 on the DeBaliviere Strip, where Berry happened to be in the audience one night. After the set, Berry approached Peek, praised his guitar work, and extended an invitation to play at his own club on Sunday afternoons. On those afternoons, Berry would sometimes join Peek's group, and the two would trade licks and share the stage. That musical and personal rapport eventually carried them across the Atlantic for a European tour, with Peek serving as a member of Berry's backing band. Years later, in 1986, Peek was again on stage with Berry during the guitarist's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a full-circle moment for two musicians whose careers had been braided together since the early sixties.

The Rod Stewart Years: An Audition That Changed Everything

In 1975, Peek and Berry shared a stage on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, a television appearance that would have an unexpected ripple effect. Rod Stewart, watching the broadcast alongside his then-guitarist Ronnie Wood—who was about to leave for the Rolling Stones—was struck by what he saw. Stewart called and arranged an audition for Peek a few months later. During that session, Peek launched into a hard-driving, Chuck Berry–style rhythm, and Stewart reportedly leaped to his feet, bonked his head on the control-booth ceiling, and shouted that he had found exactly what he needed. The job was his. For the next five years, Peek's guitar helped set the pace for the Rod Stewart Group, one of the best-selling acts in the world. His solos anchored tracks like Better Off Dead, Blondes Have More Fun, Ball Trap, Wild Side of Life, Big Bayou, She Won't Dance with Me, Born Loose, and Hot Legs, keeping the band rooted in a traditional rock-and-roll groove. When Stewart's group dissolved in 1980, Peek returned home to St. Louis.

A Local Legend with a National Resonance

After the Stewart era ended, Peek settled back into the St. Louis scene, where he remained a beloved local presence. That grounded reputation eventually led to his first solo blues album, Can a White Boy Play the Blues? (1986), which drew attention in the United States, England, and on blues radio stations. He went on to record three albums under his own name, including The Answer (1992) and Tribute to a Poet (2006). In the twenty-first century, while he continued to perform primarily in the St. Louis area, his connections to major rock and blues artists kept his profile alive. A PBS documentary, Living St. Louis, aired on KETC in November 2007, and on January 21, 2013, Peek took the stage at the Chuck Berry Lifetime Achievement Award Show in his hometown. Perhaps the most poignant reunion came on June 6, 2014, when he shared the stage with Rod Stewart once more at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, bringing a full circle to a partnership that had begun with a single television broadcast nearly four decades earlier.