Darlin Ingrid Berry (1950-2026)

Sad to report the death of Darlin Ingrid Berry Clay, eldest daughter of Chuck and Themetta Berry in the early morning hours of September 25, 2026, at the age of 75. She performed regularly with her dad, singing and playing blues harmonica and bringing more than a modicum of glamour to the stage. Ingrid was the ‘beautiful daughter’ Chuck once sang about and I guess his 1958 instrumental ‘Ingo’ was named for her too.
Ingrid first recorded with her dad on his 1968 Mercury session which produced the delightful ‘Song Of My Love’ where father and daughter harmonise perfectly and bring a charm and passion to the song not heard in the original Chess recording. In 1974 she sang backup on some of Chuck’s Chess recordings, taking the lead vocal on ‘Baby What You Want Me To Do’ issued on the B side of Chess CH-2169. Ingrid toured extensively with Chuck from Tokyo to Peterborough, featured in the ‘Hail Hail Rock And Roll’ movie and performed regularly with her dad and brother Chuck Jr. at Blueberry Hill in St Louis. Ingrid also performed with St Louis group The Spoon River Band and following Chuck's death in 2017 she sang the national anthem at the St. Louis Cardinals’ opening day game, Chuck’s favourite baseball team.

The author likes to thank Now Dig This magazine for allowing to reprint this obituary here.