When rock’n’roll legend Chuck Berry broke a guitar string on stage at Wembley, someone thrust a replacement guitar into his hand so he could finish the show. That guitar, a 1964 Gibson Firebird V, is now expected to fetch up to £20,000 at auction in Wiltshire.
Riding high in the charts with his hit My Ding-A-Ling, Berry headlined the 1972 London Rock And Roll Show at Wembley alongside Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Bill Haley and the Comets. During the show’s climax, Berry broke a guitar string – and quick-thinking backing guitarist Terry Gibson handed him the Gibson Firebird.
The moment was captured in a film of the concert and a photographer took a photograph, which became the cover of a 2017 album of Berry’s greatest hits. The strap being auctioned with the guitar is also believed to be the same one worn by Chuck Berry.
