September 24, 1984 was a Monday and I suppose for the rest of the world, it was just another beginning to a meaningless work week in some suddenly dropping temperatures. But for Karen and Chuck Berry, it involved an early morning trip to the now non-existent Highland Hospital in Rochester, NY to witness the birth of their first child: me!

It wasn’t exactly quick and painless, for me or my mother, but eventually I made my way out of the birth canal and into the world by way of forceps delivery. That pretty much means they pulled me out with metal clamps, leaving me bruised all around my face and compelling my grandfather to give me my first nickname: Rocky.

My first place of residence was a modest home in the City of Rochester at 13 Peckham Street, also the first house that my parents bought in their relatively young marriage. It was also in this house that I developed my early childhood obsession with the kitchen.

As my mother tells it, I would crawl around on the kitchen floor, pull all of the pots and pans out of the cabinets and crash them together, all while having one of them on top of my head like a helmet that came over my eyes. Even until I was around the age of five, I would turn away from the footballs or basketballs that my uncles would try to put in my hands, instead opting to play house and prepare pretend meals on my little kid’s stove. That’s also how I earned my second nickname, thanks to my loving uncles: Pussy Boy.

My mother also tells me that I loved carrots. So much, in fact, that during one of my early check-ups, the doctor noted that my skin had begun to take on an orange-ish hue.

So there you have it; the Cliff’s Notes of my younger years.  And to take you away, I will leave you with 3 little known facts about David Berry.

1. I was born in the same hospital room as my cousin, five days after she was born.
2. I have broken 14 bones in my body - not an exaggeration.
3. I was nominated for Homecoming King all four years of high school - and I lost every single time.