Father of Rock & Roll The Story of Johnnie “B. Goode” Johnson

On December 30, a piano player named Johnnie Johnson phoned me, asking me to join his Sir Johns Trio for a gig on the eve of the year of 1953, remembers rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry. And the rest was history. Or was it? Now for the first time, author Travis Fitzpatrick opens the door on the life of the legendary piano man Johnnie B. Goode Johnson, the modest musical savant who created rock and roll–and never received credit for it. They called him the music man. For over twenty years, Johnnie Johnson manned the keys as Chuck Berrys pianist and bandleader, collaborating with him on more than one hundred songs and providing Berry with the distinct sound and boogie rhythm that made him a star. The inspiration behind the first rock and roll hero, Johnny B. Goode, Johnsons music would influence the entire rock pantheon, from Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Yet through it all, Johnnie Johnson remained a mystery. Driven by a partners greed and his own personal demons into a life of impoverished anonymity, the world seemed destined to never know the truth about Johnnie Johnson. Until now. This is the story behind the best kept secret in rock and roll. It is a story of a man who was lost and found, the partner who forsook him, the woman who saved him, and a young friend who dedicated his life to secure an unsung hero his rightful place in history. This is the story of the music that shaped the world. This is the story of the Father of Rock & Roll.