Pegg, Bruce

PERSONAL:

Born in Leicester, England; immigrated to the United States, 1981. Education: Loughborough University, Leicestershire, England, B.A.; State University of New York, Brockport, M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—NY. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

Held positions as assistant director of writing center, writing center administrator, and writing consultant, Syracuse University Writing Program, Syracuse, NY, 2000-2003; Herkimer County Community College, Herkimer, NY, associate dean of academic affairs, humanities division, 2006; previously taught at Colgate University.

WRITINGS:

Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry, Routledge (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:

Bruce Pegg has written a biography of rock 'n' roll legend Chuck Berry that, while unauthorized, has been considered by some as the definitive work on the singer's life and career. Berry, who invented rock music as a form, wrote his autobiography in the mid-1980s, but Pegg's volume is a far more comprehensive work, illuminating the darker side of Berry's life that the singer edited out of his own book. Pegg's efforts are fair and balanced, however, revealing him to be both a fan and an unbiased observer of Berry's career and experiences. In Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry, Pegg chronicles Berry's rise to stardom with his series of catchy, new tunes that mixed blues, jazz, and hillbilly music into a fresh format that set the standard for rock music going forward. He also delves into Berry's childhood grow- ing up in segregated St. Louis, and his more questionable exploits as an adult, including his jail sentence for tax evasion and an arrest for allegedly having sex with a minor. Pegg reveals not only Berry's talent as a singer and musician, but as a successful businessman, while being upfront about Berry's failures as well, and includes details gleaned from various interviews with the singer's friends and peers. In a review for Library Journal, Henry L. Carrigan, Jr., remarked that "Pegg alternates between hagiography and harsh judgments of Berry, making the book feel off-balance," but ultimately found the biography to be "an often-engaging portrait" of Berry. Tony Glover, writing for the Blues on Stage Web site, called Pegg's effort "a quite readable entry into the life and times of a gifted, but fatefully flawed musician."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Studies, spring, 2004, Glenn C. Altschurer, review of Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry, pp. 169-170.

Biography, spring, 2003, Jeff Turrentine, review of Brown Eyed Handsome Man, p. 348.

Boston Herald, November 10, 2002, Marc Flores, review of Brown Eyed Handsome Man, p. 60.

Gazette (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), December 7, 2002, Ian McGillis, review of Brown Eyed Handsome Man, p. H4.

Library Journal, October 1, 2002, Henry L. Carrigan, Jr., review of Brown Eyed Handsome Man, p. 97.

Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), March 23, 2003, Mark Bialczak, "Pinmonkey Blends Music Styles," p. 13.

Riverfront Times (St. Louis, MO), May 14, 2003, J. Konkel, review of Brown Eyed Handsome Man.

ONLINE

Blues on Stage,http://www.mnblues.com/ (April 27, 2007), Tony Glover, review of Brown Eyed Handsome Man.

OneidaDispatch.com,http://www.oneidadispatch.com/ (September 25, 2002), Alex Bonafice, review of Brown Eyed Handsome Man.