A life well played.

Johnnie Johnson was shy, and Chuck Berry took the lead, adapting Johnson's piano-playing style to the guitar, according to the brilliant documentary "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll." He was thus one of the absolutely fundamental creators of rock and roll. Though the character in the song "Johnny B. Goode" played the guitar, the song was dedicated to the piano player Johnnie Johnson. Johnnie Johnson, dead at 80.