The Rolling Stones were majorly influenced by the late rock legend and their 1963 debut single was even a cover version of his hit ‘Come On’.
Ronnie might not have joined the ‘Satisfaction’ band as bassist until 1975, but he has long been a fan of Chuck.
Now he’s recorded some of his best songs and even a tribute to the ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ hitmaker for his first solo studio project in nine years, ‘Mad Lad’, which is named after an instrumental originally featured on Chuck’s 1960 LP ‘Rockin’ At The Hops’ and features vocals from Imelda May.
Ronnie told radio station SiriusXM: “I sing most of the songs and I have a friend called Imelda May and she is singing a couple.
“‘Mad Lad’ is an original instrumental song by Chuck. On the album I have done my own Chuck Berry tribute song.
“Then it goes into ‘Mad Lad’. It is a mad instrumental song and it sums me up.”
Chuck – who toured with the Stones – passed away at the age of 90 in March 2017.
Upon hearing the sad news, the band hailed Chuck a “true pioneer of rock and roll” and a said he was a “massive influence on us”.
They said: “The Rolling Stones are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Chuck Berry.
“He was a true pioneer of rock & roll and a massive influence on us. Chuck was not only a brilliant guitarist, singer and performer, but most importantly, he was a master craftsman as a songwriter. His songs will live forever.”
Speaking last year, Ronnie, 72, admitted that Chuck would never “tune up” his guitars which he found “annoying”, but praised his “originality”.
And he also recalled how he would always insist on playing his chart-topping cover of Dave Bartholomew’s novelty song ‘Ding-A-Ling’.
He said: “Chuck had his own originality which was so fantastic. But he would never tune up, which was so annoying.
And he kept playing [novelty song] My Ding-A-Ling at live shows. You would go, ‘Chuck, you can’t keep playing that’, and he would say, ‘It was number one for fuck’s sake!'”
‘Mad Lad’ is set to be released in October.
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