Chuck Berry of course. He wrote his own songs, and he could shred on the guitar before shredding really appeared in rock. "Johnny B. Goode" is a incredibly famous song covered by (possibly) hundreds of musicians, and it's still good today. Yup, Chuck Berry hands down.

A lot were written or co-written by Chuck's piano player Johnnie Johnson but never credited to him but Chuck alone.

the King is dead but never forgotten,
this is the story of Johnny Rotten (Johnny Rotten Johnny Rotten)

- Neil Young

Elvis got my vote :)
Just listen to Blue Suede Shoes!

yeah go ahead and listen to Blue Suede Shoes and realize that he had nothing to do with creating it. All he did was perform it.

Sounds like you should be voting for Carl Perkins then.

ya Carl Perkins ftw

Elvis... he changed rock and roll forever.. before him, labels manufactured artists. He came in his own terms. The Beatles and others called him "the messiah" of music later on but during earlier years, he was called Satanist, Demon, and other terms with the same meaning because he was just so different. the world didn't know how to handle him.

he was banned in Asia and several parts of US and Europe. that's how revolutionary he was.

What Elvis did was push the beat and make it rock & roll. The Carl Perkins original is laid-back country in feel. Sometimes the vehicle driving the song (Elvis) is more important than the original writer. Another example is Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain covered by Willie Nelson. Elvis brought Rock & Roll, which was black music, to the masses. Such things can not be understated. But, this is just my opinion. Not saying you are wrong, just what I feel. Someone has to break the mold.

Yes , I agree with you to a certain degree that he was a great performer and he used that ability to make Rock and Roll a more common thing in people's mind. I just don't agree that he should have that title for just being a really good performer. He was really the Britney Spears of his time.