Elvis and Chuck Berry

 

Elvis and Chuck Berry crossed paths in Las Vegas

 The only known encounter between Chuck Berry and Elvis took place in 1972. Musician Billy Peek, who was working with Berry at the time, recalls suddenly seeing Elvis in the wings watching Chuck’s show at the Hilton:

“He was dressed to the nines, he had the cape, he had the whole nine yards. He was with his wife at the time, Priscilla Presley; then he comes back the following night with his wife and he’s got Sammy Davis, Jr., with him. So he came two nights to watch Chuck Berry play. It was a pretty big nod to Chuck. I mean you could tell he was enjoying it. Chuck was trying to get him to come up and sing one, but he wouldn’t do it. But that was one of the big highlights at the time.”

Coincidently, that same year Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley converged at the top of the Hot 100 with each singer’s final hit record. On October 28, 1972, “My Ding-A-Ling” became Chuck Berry’s only #1 record, with Elvis’s “Burning Love” right below at #2. It was an appropriate chart-topping meeting of rock ’n’ roll’s old guard. Chuck Berry was 46 and Elvis was 37.

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