Lynn Goldsmith – Chuck Berry with Clock – St. Louis, 1987

Chuck Berry. “When I was ten years old, I saw him perform “Johnny B. Goode” on American Bandstand. Now I was flying to St. Louis to photograph him. I’d heard how difficult he could be. He would often insist on being paid in cash before he went onstage or would threaten not to perform. He used unrehearsed backing bands for gigs and expected them to follow his lead. I knew musicians who had performed with him whom he never spoke to or thanked. I thought I would be able to handle him by letting him feel completely in charge. We were scheduled to meet at a restaurant called Blueberry Hill, where he wanted me to have a drink with him. I don’t hold my alcohol well, so I declined. That started a negative vibe. He suggested we go to a place that he owned for the shoot. We arrived at a building that appeared to be vacant, and as we climbed a set of stairs I started to feel afraid. Berry opened the door to a small room that was basically empty with the exception of a clock on the wall with a classic image of him int he 1950s on the dial. He had his guitar and there was a stool. I decided to flirt. That is very unusual for me. I’m more comfortable trying to be funny and make people laugh, but somehow my inner voice told me to act like something sexual could happen between us. It worked. He started posing and smiling, acting like he loved me making pictures of him. When I felt I had the shot, I said, ‘Oh look at the time, I have to catch my plane back to New York, they have to have the photographs for their deadline!’ If you flirt with Chuck Berry, Be prepared to put out or get out.”

Lynn Goldsmith’s imagery is in numerous collections: The Smithsonian, The Polaroid Collection, The Kodak Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the permanent collection of Museum Folkwang. She is a multi-awarded portrait photographer whose work has appeared on and between the covers of Life, Newsweek, Time, Rollingstone, Sports Illustrated, People, Elle, Interview, The New Yorker, etc. Her subjects have varied from entertainment personalities to sports stars, from film directors to authors, from the extra-ordinary to the ordinary man on the street.

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