The thing with musicians is that there were so many "pioneers", the ones that got credit are the ones that either got airplay first or had better managers.
There are plenty of singers out there that can sing a hell of a lot better than the current popular ones, it just depends on who has better publicists and managers. Most have their songs written for them anyway so it's not really about the song itself.
Anyway, yes, RIP Chuck Berry, he was indeed a legend.