When he was released in 1963, Berry found his songs as popular as ever, thanks to covers by the Beatles, Stones and Beach Boys. His chart successes slowed to a trickle, even as he recorded classic songs such as "Memphis," a poignant portrait of a divorced father looking to reunite with his young daughter.



He finally scored his first No. 1 single in 1972, albeit with one of his most trivial songs, the smutty "My Ding-A-Ling," while substantive songs such as "Tulane" and "Have Mercy Judge," which loosely chronicled his misadventures with the law, were largely overlooked.



Berry's last studio album arrived in 1979, but he maintained a robust touring schedule, demanding a hefty fee upfront in cash. His cash-and-carry routine made him a target of Internal Revenue Service investigators, who charged him with tax evasion in 1979. Berry pleaded guilty and served four months in prison.



He got into further legal trouble in 1990 when he was sued over allegations that he planted a video camera in the women's bathroom at a restaurant he owned in Missouri. He settled a class action suit out of court with 59 accusers for a reported $1.2 million. A police raid at his home turned up marijuana and the bathroom videotapes, including one allegedly showing a minor. Berry pleaded guilty to misdemeanor drug possession and was given a six-month suspended jail sentence and probation.



Berry the stage performer also had a checkered history. He played monthly shows at his hometown club Blueberry Hill from 1996 to 2014 that could be galvanizing. But he could also come off as petulant in his travels, voicing his displeasure with the pickup bands hired to perform with him around the world and cutting shows short.



The heavy road schedule eventually took its toll. At a Jan. 1, 2011, concert at the Congress Theater in Chicago, he collapsed after about an hour onstage and had to be escorted off, suffering from exhaustion.



Berry's place in rock history was already ensured. He was among the first musicians inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and the next year he was celebrated in a Taylor Hackford documentary, "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll," with acolytes such as Richards, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Cray and Linda Ronstadt paying homage. He is at best a reluctant and often a surly participant in the party captured on film, as if carrying decades of accumulated bitterness for various insults and indignities, both real and imagined.



Here was an artist on intimate terms with various forms of imprisonment, both racial and legal, and music was his way of breaking the shackles. Little wonder he provided the movie — and by extension, his life — with its cornerstone statement: "Rock 'n' roll … it's freedom."



He was to release his final album, simply titled "Chuck Berry," in 2017.