Chuck Berry Statue — Duck Room, St. Louis

A bronze statue of Chuck Berry — the founding father of rock and roll — stands outside Blueberry Hill, the beloved St. Louis music venue and restaurant on Delmar Boulevard in the Delmar Loop neighbourhood of University City. The statue, unveiled in 2011, depicts Berry in his signature duck walk pose — left knee bent, right leg extended, guitar angled upward — the move he invented and that became one of the most imitated gestures in rock history. Berry played monthly residencies at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room for over two decades, turning the small club into one of the most significant rock and roll venues in America.

Berry was born in St. Louis in 1926 and spent most of his life in the city and the surrounding Missouri region. His Chess Records recordings of the mid-1950s — "Maybellene," "Roll Over Beethoven," "School Day," "Johnny B. Goode," "Rock and Roll Music" — defined the vocabulary of rock and roll with a completeness that has never been surpassed. His guitar riffs, his lyrical celebration of teenage life and American mobility, and his performance energy were the template on which virtually every subsequent rock musician built. John Lennon said that if you wanted to call rock and roll by one name, that name should be Chuck Berry.

The Duck Room at Blueberry Hill, where Berry played his legendary residencies, continues to operate as a music venue. The Delmar Loop neighbourhood, of which it is a part, is one of St. Louis's most vibrant cultural districts. Berry died on March 18, 2017, at his home in St. Charles, Missouri, at the age of 90. His final studio album, "Chuck," was released posthumously.