People: Oct. 27, 1986

• Share

Remember the duck walk? Or did you savor the split that Michael J. Fox pulled off in the climactic scene of Back to the Future? In the 1950s dawn of rock, rubber-legged Chuck Berry was the man who made music strut 'n' roll. And so when Berry, creator of hits like Maybelline, Johnny B. Goode and Sweet Little Sixteen, turned 60 last week, the pop establishment came out to pay tribute to the grand, gyrating old man. Through two celebratory concerts for 9,000 fans at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, Berry, in a rhinestone, mustard- colored shirt, slinked along, scissored his knees and thumped on his guitar until 2:30 a.m. Working hard to keep up with him were such progeny as Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Linda Ronstadt and Julian Lennon. At a party afterward, Berry was presented with an oversize guitar-shaped birthday cake and asked how the evening had gone. "I don't ever form an opinion on my own performance," he said. "There's nothing for me to say because I did it."