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Chuck Berry v the IRS
Description
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):
• Chuck Berry’s duck walk - a compilation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwZcLpYPKoI
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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.
This episode originally aired in 2021.
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