In this Oct. 17, 1986 photo, Chuck Berry performs during a concert celebration for his 60th birthday at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Mo., a performance captured in the documentary “Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

Berry’s indelible guitar licks helped form the bedrock of rock n roll. As Leonard Cohen once remarked, “We are all footnotes to the words of Chuck Berry.”

Berry died on on Saturday, March 18, 2017. He was 90.

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born in St. Louis on Oct. 18, 1926. A fan of blues, swing and boogie woogie, he began his musical career at age 15 when he went on stage at a high school revue, performing Jay McShann’s “Confessin’ the Blues.”

“Long did the encouragement of that performance assist me in programming my songs and even their delivery while performing,” he wrote in his 2001 autobiography. “I added and deleted according to the audiences’ response to different gestures, and chose songs to build an act that would constantly stimulate my audience.”

By his mid-twenties he had his first big hit. 

In 1955, Berry got his break in music when he travelled to Chess Records in Chicago to meet Leonard Chess. “He told me to bring four numbers,” Berry told CBS News’ Charles Osgood in 1972. “And as a matter of fact, I brought six. And ‘Maybellene’ was one.”

A Number 1 R&B hit, “Maybellene” changed his life. He went from making $94 a week at an assembly plant to playing 40 weeks a year. “At $50 a night! And the Lord had answered my blessings.”

In the late ‘50s he laid down one classic after another, many built on the obsessions of his youthful audience: cars, dates, school, and rock music.

“Everybody drives cars. Everybody has to have money. Everybody has a love affair, inspiration. And these are the things I write about,” he said. 

An undated publicity photo of Chuck Berry.

Other Berry hits included “Roll Over Beethoven,” ‘’School Day,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Too Much Monkey Business,” ‘’Nadine,” ‘’No Particular Place To Go,” and ‘’Almost Grown.” 

He released 30 studio and live albums, and was featured in another three dozen compilation albums. 

Chuck Berry kisses his guitar, on stage at the Rock & Roll Revival concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden, October 15, 1971.

He topped the charts in 1972 with the risqué novelty hit “My Ding-A-Ling.”

Rock and roll musician Chuck Berry laughs with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards at New York’s Studio 54, Feb. 28, 1980.

American guitarist and singer Chuck Berry performs his “duck walk” on stage as he plays his guitar on April 4, 1980.

American singer and guitarist Chuck Berry is shown at the annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Feb. 28, 1984.

Musician Chuck Berry performs at the Grammy Awards, Feb. 28, 1984, in Los Angeles.

American singer and guitarist Chuck Berry poses with his Lifetime Achievement Award presented to him at the 26th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Feb. 28, 1984.

An undated publicity photo of Chuck Berry.

Bruce Springsteen, left, and Chuck Berry laugh during their performance of the Berry hit “Johnny B. Goode” at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Saturday, Sept. 2, 1995.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chuck Berry does the duck walk as football fans in the bleachers cheer during halftime of the New Orleans Saints-St. Louis Rams football game, Sunday, Sept. 10, 1995, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Rock ‘n Roll legend Chuck Berry performs during the “Legends of Rock ’n’ Roll” concert in Zurich, Switzerland, July 5, 2000.

Rock’n’ Roll musician Chuck Berry performs on stage in the “Piazza Blues” Festival in Bellinzona, Switzerland, on Saturday, June 29, 2002.

Rock and roll legend Chuck Berry poses in Burgos, Spain in 2007.

Berry died on March 18, 2017, just three months before the release of his first album in 38 years, comprised of new, original songs.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan. The Associated Press contributed to this report.