Richard Perry, a hitmaking record producer with a flair for both standards and contemporary sounds whose many successes included Carly Simonsa国际传媒 鈥淵ou鈥檙e So Vain,鈥 Rod Stewartsa国际传媒 鈥淭he Great American Songbook鈥 series and a Ringo Starr album featuring all four Beatles, died Tuesday. He was 82.
Perry, a recipient of a Grammys Trustee Award in 2015, died at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest, friend Daphna Kastner said.
鈥淗e maximized his time here,鈥 said Kastner, who called him a 鈥渇ather friend鈥 and said he was godfather to her son. 鈥淗e was generous, fun, sweet and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweeter without him here. But it's a little bit sweeter in heaven.鈥
Perry was a onetime drummer, oboist and doo-wop singer who proved at home with a wide variety of musical styles, the rare producer to have No. 1 hits on the pop, R&B, dance and country charts. He was on hand for Harry Nilssonsa国际传媒 鈥淲ithout You鈥 and The Pointer Sisters' 鈥淚鈥檓 So Excited,鈥 Tiny Timsa国际传媒 novelty smash 鈥淭iptoe Through the Tulips鈥 and the Willie Nelson-Julio Iglesias lounge standard 鈥淭o All the Girls I鈥檝e Loved Before.鈥 Perry was widely known as a 鈥渕usiciansa国际传媒 producer,鈥 treating artists like peers rather than vehicles for his own tastes. Singers turned to him whether trying to update their sound (Barbra Streisand), set back the clock (Stewart), revive their career (Fats Domino) or fulfill early promise (Leo Sayer).
鈥淩ichard had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist,鈥 Streisand wrote in her 2023 memoir,
Perrysa国际传媒 life was a story, in part, of famous friends and the right places. He was backstage for 1950s performances by Little Richard and Chuck Berry, sat in the third row at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival during Otis Reddingsa国际传媒 memorable set and attended a recording session for the Rolling Stones鈥 classic 鈥淟et It Bleed鈥 album. A given week might find him dining one night with Paul and Linda McCartney, and Mick and Bianca Jagger the next. He dated Elizabeth Taylor among others and was briefly married to the actor Rebecca Broussard.
In Stewart's autobiography, 鈥淩od,鈥 he would remember Perry's home in West Hollywood as 鈥渢he scene of much late-night skulduggery through the 1970s and beyond, and a place you knew you could always fall into at the end of an evening for a full-blown knees-up with drink and music and dancing.鈥
In the '70s, Perry helped facilitate a near-Beatles reunion.
He had produced a track on Starrsa国际传媒 first solo album, 鈥淪entimental Journey,鈥 and grown closer to him through Nilsson and other mutual friends. 鈥淩ingo,鈥 released in 1973, would prove the drummer was a commercial force in his own right 鈥 with some well-placed names stopping by. The album, featuring contributions from Nilsson, Billy Preston, Steve Cropper, Martha Reeves and reached No. 2 on Billboard and sold more than 1 million copies. Hit singles included the chart toppers 鈥淧hotograph,鈥 co-written by Starr and George Harrison, and a remake of the 1950s favorite 鈥淵ou鈥檙e Sixteen.鈥
But for Perry and others, the most memorable track was a non-hit, custom made. John Lennonsa国际传媒 鈥淚鈥檓 the Greatest鈥 was a mock-anthem for the self-effacing drummer that brought three Beatles into the studio just three years after the bandsa国际传媒 breakup. Starr was on drums and sang lead, Lennon was on keyboards and backing vocals and longtime Beatles friend Klaus Voormann played bass. They were still working on the song when Harrisonsa国际传媒 assistant phoned, asking if the guitarist could join them. Harrison arrived soon after.
鈥淎s I looked around the room, I realized that I was at the very epicenter of the spiritual and musical quest I had dreamed of for so many years,鈥 Perry wrote in his 2021 memoir, 鈥淐loud Nine.鈥 鈥淏y the end of each session, a small group of friends had gathered, standing silently along the back wall, just thrilled to be there.鈥
McCartney was not in town for 鈥淚鈥檓 the Greatest,鈥 but he did help write and arrange the ballad 鈥淪ix O鈥機lock,鈥 featuring the ex-Beatle and Linda McCartney on backing vocals.
Perry had helped make pop history the year before as producer of 鈥淵ou鈥檙e So Vain,鈥 which he would call the nearest he came to a perfect record. Simonsa国际传媒 scathing ballad about an unnamed lover, with Voormannsa国际传媒 bass runs kicking off the song and Jagger joining on the chorus, hit No. 1 in 1972 and began a long-term debate over Simonsa国际传媒 intended target. Perrysa国际传媒 answer would echo Simonsa国际传媒 own belated response.
鈥淚鈥檒l take this opportunity to give my insidersa国际传媒 scoop,鈥 he wrote in his memoir. 鈥淭he person that the song is based on is really a composite of several men that Carly dated in the 鈥60s and early 鈥70s, but primarily, itsa国际传媒 about my good friend, Warren Beatty.鈥
Perrysa国际传媒 post-1970s work included such hit singles as The Pointer Sisters鈥 鈥淣eutron Dance鈥 and DeBargesa国际传媒 鈥淩hythm of the Night,鈥 along with albums by Simon, Ray Charles and Art Garfunkel. He had his greatest success with a project made possible by the rock starsa国际传媒 writersa国际传媒 block and troubled private life. In the early 2000s, Stewartsa国际传媒 marriage to Rachel Hunter had ended and Perry was among those consoling him. With Stewart struggling to come up with original songs, he and Perry agreed that an album of standards might work, including 鈥淭he Very Thought of You,鈥 鈥淎ngel Eyes鈥 and 鈥淲here or When.鈥
鈥淲e were at a back table in our favorite restaurant as we exchanged ideas and wrote them down on a napkin,鈥 Perry wrote in his memoir. Stewart softly sang the options. 鈥淎s I sat there and listened to him sing, it was clear that we both sensed we were on to something,鈥 Perry added.
Perry was a New York City native born into a musical family; his parents, Mark and Sylvia Perry, co-founded Peripole Music, a pioneering manufacturer of instruments for young people. With his familysa国际传媒 help and encouragement, he learned to play drums and oboe and helped form a doo-wop group, the Escorts, that released a handful of singles. A music and theater major at the University of Michigan, he initially dreamed of acting on Broadway. Instead, he made the 鈥渓ife-changing鈥 decision in the mid-1960s to form a production company with a recent acquaintance, Gary Katz, who would go on to work among others.
By the end of the decade, Perry was an industry star, working on Captain Beefheartsa国际传媒 acclaimed cult album, 鈥淪afe As Milk鈥 and the debut recording of Tiny Tim and Ella Fitzgeraldsa国际传媒 鈥淓lla,鈥 featuring the jazz great's interpretations of songs by the Beatles, Smokey Robinson and Randy Newman. In the early 1970s, he would oversee Streisandsa国际传媒 million-selling 鈥淪toney End鈥 album, on which the singer turned from the show tunes that made her famous and covered a range of pop and rock music, from the title track, a Laura Nyro composition, to Gordon Lightfootsa国际传媒 鈥淚f You Could Read My Mind.鈥
鈥淚 liked Richard from the moment we met. He was tall and lanky, with a mop of dark, curly hair and a big smile, which his big heart,鈥 Streisand wrote in her memoir. 鈥淎t our first meeting, he arrived laden with songs, and we listened to them together. Whatever hesitation I may have felt about our collaboration soon vanished and I thought, 鈥楾his could be fun, and musically liberating.鈥欌
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AP Music Writer Maria Sherman and AP Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. contributed.
