Editing Chuck Berry (section)

===1952–1955: Music career beginnings===
By the early 1950s, Chuck Berry was working with local bands in clubs in St. Louis as an extra source of income.<ref name=page179/> He had been playing [[blues music|blues]] since his teens, and he borrowed both guitar riffs and [[guitar showmanship|showmanship]] techniques from the blues musician [[T-Bone Walker]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohn|first=Lawrence|title=Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians|year=1993 |author2=Aldin, Mary Katherine |author3=Bastin, Bruce|publisher=Abbeville Press|isbn=978-1-55859-271-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nothingbutbluesm00cohn/page/174 174] |url=https://archive.org/details/nothingbutbluesm00cohn/page/174}}</ref> He also took guitar lessons from his friend Ira Harris, which laid the foundation for his guitar style.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Official Site of Chuck Berry |url=http://www.chuckberry.com/about/bio.htm|access-date=February 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109044235/http://www.chuckberry.com/about/bio.htm|archive-date=January 9, 2010|url-status=dead|publisher=chuckberry.com}}</ref> By early 1953, Berry was performing with [[Johnnie Johnson (musician)|Johnnie Johnson]]'s trio, starting a long-time collaboration with the pianist.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chuck Berry plays tribute to Johnnie Johnson |date=April 15, 2005 |publisher=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/chuck-berry-plays-tribute-to-johnnie-johnson-1.559275 |access-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-date=February 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216231953/https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/chuck-berry-plays-tribute-to-johnnie-johnson-1.559275 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Chuck Berry Remembers Johnnie Johnson |url=http://www.firstcoastnews.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=35622 |last=Wittenauer|first=Cheryl |agency=Associated Press |publisher=firstcoastnews.com |access-date=June 5, 2010}} {{dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> The band played blues and ballads as well as [[Country music|country]]. Berry wrote, "Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of our country stuff on our predominantly black audience and some of our black audience began whispering 'who is that black [[hillbilly]] at the Cosmo?' After they laughed at me a few times, they began requesting the hillbilly stuff and enjoyed dancing to it."<ref name="Chuck Berry" />

In 1954, Berry recorded the tracks "I Hope These Words Will Find You Well" and "Oh, Maria!" with the group Joe Alexander & the Cubans. The songs were released as a single on the Ballad label.<ref>{{Citation |title=Joe Alexander And The Cubans – Oh Maria (1954, Vinyl) |url=https://www.discogs.com/Joe-Alexander-And-The-Cubans-Oh-Maria/release/4543698 |language=en |access-date=2021-06-19}}</ref> Berry's showmanship, along with a mix of country tunes and R&B tunes, sung in the style of [[Nat King Cole]] set to the music of [[Muddy Waters]] brought in a wider audience, particularly affluent white people.<ref name="Britannica" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.chuckberry.com/about/bio.htm|title=The Official Site of Chuck Berry|publisher=chuckberry.com|access-date=June 6, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109044235/http://www.chuckberry.com/about/bio.htm|archive-date=January 9, 2010}}</ref>