Rock 'n' roll pioneer Chuck Berry dies at 90 in Missouri

UNITED STATES - Chuck Berry, who duck-walked his way into the pantheon of rock 'n' roll pioneers as one of its most influential guitarists and as the creator of raucous anthems that defined the genre's early sound and heartbeat, died on Saturday at his Missouri home. He was 90.

Police in St. Charles County, outside St. Louis, said they were called to Berry's home by a caretaker who reported he had fallen ill, and emergency responders found the performer unconscious. Emergency medical technicians tried to revive him with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, to no avail, and Berry was pronounced dead at 1:26 pm, police said.

Although Elvis Presley was called the king of rock 'n' roll, that crown would have fit just as well on the carefully sculpted pompadour of Charles Edward Anderson Berry. He was present in rock's infancy in the 1950s and emerged as its first star guitarist and lyricist.