John Berry (singer)

John Edward Berry was born on September 14, 1959, in Aiken, South Carolina, to James and Marie Berry, and raised in the Atlanta, Georgia area. He was exposed to a variety of music, as his father preferred Van Cliburn, his mother had a strong taste for gospel. Berry grew up listening to an AM station from Atlanta; "It was on in dad's garage constantly, WQXI 79 AM," Berry says. "They played a pretty eclectic selection, country and Top 40 in the 1970s."[3][4]

Berry began learning the guitar in 1972 (at the age of 12), he has named influences such as James Taylor, Harry Chapin, and, his favourite, John Denver. In a 2006 interview he said: "prior to playing guitar, I really loved the “Philly Soul Sound” like The Chi-Lites and The Stylistics."[3] Berry moved to soul, gospel and country music and began recording his own albums at home in 1979.[5]

In 1981, at age 21, while riding his motorcycle, Berry was hit by a car, breaking both of his legs and his left hip. He had just lost his mother earlier that year. Doctors were afraid that he may not walk again. He spent several months in physical therapy, working to regain the use of his legs. Berry said of the incident "The coolest thing in the world that came out of it...all I could do is sit on my stool and play guitar. That’s all I’ve done ever since."[3]

Two years later, Berry started performing solo acoustic shows in northeast Georgia (Athens, Georgia), then expanded around the southeast, building a strong name and following. He eventually made six self-produced albums, with the last one selling over 10,000 copies. He was finally signed to Liberty Records in 1992.[5] Berry received high praise from former President George H.W. Bush and wife Barbara when she invited him to sing for Mr. Bush's birthday party.[6][7][8][9][10]

Early in 1994, Berry began to have terrible headaches, lost his appetite and finally blacked out during a concert. He was rushed to the hospital on May 9, 1994, in Atlanta, where a cyst was found in the third ventricle of his brain. He stated: They went in with a fiber optic camera and laser, and removed it. I still suffer a little from short-term memory loss. This is a rebirth of sorts and I am into that. [4] He uses humor when he occasionally forgets the words to a song and his wife, Robin, uses sign language to assist him.[4] The same day he underwent brain surgery, he celebrated his first No. 1 single, "Your Love Amazes Me", from his hospital bed in Atlanta.

In 1997, a year before recording his Wildest Dreams album (released in 1999), Berry again had surgery, for nodes on his vocal cords.[3][11]

John Berry started playing after Georgia Bulldogs home football games, at college clubs and bars in Athens, Georgia, in 1985, self-released six albums, soon becoming a local and regional celebrity. Berry worked on his music for almost ten years, and built a substantial following among students at the University of Georgia. He even started his own record company to produce and distribute recordings of his songs for local fans. Berry also hosted benefit concerts for local charities around his home.

Berry is involved in charitable causes including fighting children's diseases, The American Red Cross[22] and cystic fibrosis,[23] as well as lending his name to adult literacy causes and Haven Hospice. He performed a benefit concert for a young kidney transplant recipient on October 16, 2008.[4] He will perform his third charity fundraiser for the New Montcalm County 4-H Fair at Greenville High School, in Greenville, Michigan in December 2010.[19][24] He gave a free concert at the Greene County Relay for Life on June 18, 2010. He performs yearly, in Florida at the annual Newberry Watermelon Festival which benefits the American Legion.[23][25]

Berry has at least two Charity performances scheduled for his popular Christmas tour. A show benefiting "Challenged Child and Friends" is scheduled for November 26 at the Pearce Auditorium in Gainesville, Georgia. Another "John Berry Christmas Concert" for charity is scheduled for November 27 in Toccoa, Georgia.[20]

Berry often performs with his wife of 25 years, Robin, as his backup singer. They have three children: a daughter, Taylor Marie (born January 24, 1990) and two sons, Sean Thomas (born April 28, 1994) and Caelan James (born June 21, 1995). He wrote a song "Sanctuary," dedicated to Robin. It contains his favorite line that he's ever sung, "You're the prayer that mothers whisper each night for their sons everywhere."[14][27] They lived on a 72-acre (290,000 m²) farm called "ElderBerry Farm on Little Rose Creek" in Watkinsville, Georgia. "I'm not in so much of a hurry anymore," Berry told Billboard's Peter Cronin, explaining how undergoing brain surgery had changed his life. "And I try to spend as much time as I can with my family."[28] The Berry family currently resides in Gallatin, TN.

• Horizon Award Winner and top male vocalist nomination, Country Music Association, 1995.
• Grammy nomination for "Your Love Amazes Me", his No. 1 hit in 1995
• Honorary Inductee the M.M.A.I. (Modeling Association of America) into the Modeling Hall of Fame—not as a fashion model, but as a role model.[29]

Studio albums

• Humble Beginnings (1979)
• In The Nighttime (1981)
• Waiting For You (1982)
• Tired of the Game (1984)
• Things Are Not The Same (1986)
• Saddle The Wind (1988)
• John Berry (1993)
• Standing on the Edge (1995)
• O Holy Night (1995)
• Faces (1996)
• Wildest Dreams (1999)
• Greatest Hits (2000)
• All the Way to There (2001)
• My Heart Is Bethlehem (2002)
• I Give My Heart (2004)
• Songs and Stories (2005)
• Celebrate This Christmas (2006)
• Hits (2006)
• Those Were the Days (2008)
• Christmas Live in Kalamazoo (2010)
• Live Hits in Kalamazoo (2009)
• Real Man. Real Life. Real God. (2012)
• What I Love the Most (2016)
• Christmas (2016)

• John Berry Official Website