Chess

Chuck Berry didn't just play rock 'n' roll; he invented its swagger. Released in 1959 on Chess Records, Berry is on Top is where Berry slammed his flag into the musical mountaintop and declared, "This land is rock 'n' roll, and I own the real estate." Thi

Etta James's debut album, originally released in 1961 on the Chess subsidiary Argo Records. The album's title-track and "All I Could Do Was Cry" (co-written by future Motown founder Berry Gordy) both went to No. 2 on the R&B charts.

When Etta James ste

Howlin' Wolf's Moanin' in the Moonlight is a compilation album released by Chess Records in 1959, comprising songs recorded between 1951 and 1959 previously issued as singles, including the iconic hit "Smokestack Lightnin'." As Rolling Stone put it, "The

The story of Chess Records is the story of American popular music in the second half of the twentieth century. Best known for capturing the sound of acoustic blues, originating from the Mississippi Delta and filtered through Chicago's South Side, going el