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Chuck Berry received the prestigious Polar Music Prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on Tuesday (Aug 26). American opera and theatre director, Peter Sellars, was also honoured at the ceremony, which was attended by members of the Swedish Royal Family.

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Dave Edmunds collected the award on Chuck’s behalf from His Majesty King Carl XVI of Sweden. Edmunds read out the following message from Chuck:

There was also a congratulatory message from Keith Richards:

Chuck Berry was celebrated at the show with a medley of his songs performed by Maria Anderson (“Come On”), Nisse Hellberg (“Little Queenie”), Kim Cesarion (“No Particular Place to Go”), Kajsa Grytt (“Memphis Tennessee”), and Nicke Andersson and Dregen (“Johnny B. Goode”). The performers were backed by the Polar Music Prize Band & Choir and The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

Chuck Berry medley

There were also performances from Jerry Williams (“You Never Can Tell”) and Amanda Jenssen (“Rock and Roll Music”).

Jerry Williams – “You Never Can Tell”

Amanda Jenssen – “Rock and Roll Music”

Chuck Berry’s Polar Music Prize citation reads as follows:

The Polar Music Prize 2014 is awarded to Chuck Berry from St. Louis, USA. The parameters of rock music were set one day in May 1955, when Chuck Berry recorded his debut single “Maybellene”. Chuck Berry was the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer who turned the electric guitar into the main instrument of rock music. Every riff and solo played by rock guitarists over the last 60 years contains DNA that can be traced right back to Chuck Berry. The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and a million other groups began to learn their craft by playing Chuck Berry songs. Chuck Berry is also a superb songwriter. In the course of three minutes he conjures up an image of the everyday life and dreams of a teenager, often with the focus on cars. Chuck Berry, born in 1926, was the first to drive up onto the highway and announce that we are born to run.

The Polar Music Prize is regarded as the equivalent for music of the Nobel Prizes. It was founded 25 years ago by Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, who was the publisher, lyricist and manager of ABBA. Anderson’s intention was to “break down musical boundaries by bringing together people from all the different worlds of music.”

Previous recipients of the Polar Music Prize have included Sir Paul McCartney, Dizzy Gillespie, Sir Elton John, Kronos Quartet, Ravi Shankar, Renee Fleming, Bob Dylan, Yossou N’Dour, Patti Smith, Pink Floyd, Mstislav Rostropovich, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin and Ennio Morricone.