Music Legend and Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer Chuck Berry Dead at 90

Singer-songwriter was found unresponsive in his Missouri home

Rock 'n' roll has lost one if its founding fathers. 

Singer-songwriter and music legend Chuck Berry passed away this afternoon at the age of 90. The St. Charles County Police Department in Missouri released a statement to their Facebook page, confirming his sudden passing.

Authorities responded to a medical emergency at 12:40 p.m. on Saturday, March 18, where they found Berry unresponsive. Despite taking lifesaving measures, the Missouri native could not be revived and was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Known as one of rock 'n' roll's most influential pioneers, Berry broke onto the music scene in the mid-1950s with hits like "Maybelline," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Johnny B. Goode" and "Rock and Roll Music."

Upon its opening in 1986, Berry was one of the first artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, applauded for having "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Two years prior, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is named in several of Rolling Stone's "Greatest of All Time" roundups and fellow icons like John Lennon and Ted Nugent have credited the late star with changing the landscape of music forever. 

Music remained a pinnacle of Berry's life well into his later years, and in October 2016 announced that he would release his first studio album in 38 years sometime in 2017.

Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this time.