11 Jun: Chuck Berry v the I.R.S.

It was the THIRD time behind bars for legendary rock n’ roller Chuck Berry when he was found to have dodged $110,000 in income tax on 11th June, 1979.

He insisted on being paid cash-in-hand for his sometimes shambolic personal appearances, and his propensity for stashing it was so well-known that in Australia the authorities introduced limits on the amount of cash that could be transited across their border, specifically in response to him once stuffing $50,000 in his guitar case.

In this episode, Rebecca, Arion and Olly dig deeper into some of Chuck Berry’s former convictions; take a disturbing peek into his home video library; and reveal the true origins of the ‘duck walk’…

Content Warning: detail of underage, exploitative and non-consensual sexual acts

Further Reading:

• The New York Post on Berry’s scandalous sex life (2017):

https://nypost.com/2017/03/21/the-dark-past-of-chuck-berrys-scandal-filled-sex-life/

• Inc. on why Berry’s ‘musical genius was also his financial undoing’ (2017):

https://www.inc.com/jay-jay-french/how-chuck-berrys-musical-genius-was-also-his-financial-undoing.html

• Chuck Berry’s duck walk – a compilation: