Richard Perry
Encyclopedia
Richard Perry is an American music producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. Perry began as a performer in his adolescence, but shifted gears after graduating college and rose through the late 1960s and early 1970s to become a highly successful and popular record producer with over a dozen gold records to his credit by 1982. From 1978 to 1983, he ran his own record label, Planet Records, but continued after its sale to RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
as an independent producer. With hit records stretching from the 1960s through the 2000s, Perry's more successful modern releases includes albums by Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
and Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
.
Early life and career
Born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
18 June 1942, Perry came to his interest in rock music young. In 1955, at the age of 12, he attended the first of Alan Freed
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
's live rock shows at the Paramount Theatre
Paramount Theatre (Brooklyn, New York)
The Paramount Theatre is a former movie palace located at 1 University Plaza at the intersection of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues in downtown Brooklyn, New York. Originally opened in 1928, the building has been owned by Long Island University since 1962...
. He began his career in rock music as a local performer during his adolescence. After graduating from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, he shifted into songwriting briefly, collaborating with Kenny Vance
Kenny Vance
Kenny Vance is an American singer and music producer who was an original member of Jay and the Americans....
. Perry was launched on his career as a producer, with early projects including Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
's debut Safe as Milk and Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
's Fats Is Back. In 1967, Perry moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and in 1968 produced God Bless Tiny Tim
God Bless Tiny Tim
God Bless Tiny Tim was the first album by Tiny Tim. Released in 1968 on the Reprise label, it included "Tip-Toe Thru' The Tulips With Me" , a version of "I Got You Babe", and a collection of more obscure songs. Many of the songs have humorous lyrics, are sung for humorous effect, or have an...
, the debut album of Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
artist Tiny Tim
Tiny Tim (musician)
Tiny Tim , , born in Manhattan, was an American singer and ukulele player. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice.-Rise to fame:Born to Lebanese parents in 1932, Khaury displayed musical talent at a very young age...
. The album was Perry's first charting hit, reaching #7 on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine's Pop Albums
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart.
1970s and 1980s
Perry was well established as a producer by 1970. His credits during the decade include albums by Harry NilssonHarry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
, Art Garfunkel
Art Garfunkel
Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...
, Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
, Martha Reeves
Martha Reeves
Martha Rose Reeves is an American R&B and Pop singer and former politician, and was the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. During her tenure with The Vandellas, they scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Jimmy Mack", "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run"...
,the Manhattan Transfer
The Manhattan Transfer
The Manhattan Transfer is an American vocal music group. There have been two manifestations of the group, with Tim Hauser being the only person to be part of both...
, Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s...
, Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
, and even Percy Faith
Percy Faith
Percy Faith was a Canadian-born American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with creating the "easy listening" or "mood music" format which became staples of American popular music in the 1950s and...
. Among his notable projects in the period was the 1973 album Ringo
Ringo (album)
Ringo is the third album by Ringo Starr, released in 1973 on Apple Records. It peaked at #7 on the UK Albums Chart and #2 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. In Canada, it reached #1 on the RPM national albums chart...
, by former Beatles member Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
. The album featured work by each of the other Beatles and peaked at #2 on the Pop Albums chart. Another high point was his work with Fanny, the first all-female band signed to a major label to release a full-length album. Perry produced the group's first three albums, which included "Fanny" (1970), "Charity Ball", which featured the Top 40 title track (1971) and "Fanny Hill" (1972).
According to Allmusic's Bruce Eder, the 1970s found Perry "the most renowned producer in the field of popular music"; Eder goes on to indicate that "his mere involvement with a recording project was enough to engender a mention in the music trade papers and even the popular music press, and the array of gold- and platinum-selling albums with which he was associated made his name synonymous with success." As early as 1973, Village Voice said of Perry that "the rungs on the ladder of success seem so much closer together when Perry is your guide."
In 1978, Perry launched his own label, Planet Records, which he ran for six years until its 1983 sale to RCA, by which point Perry had produced throughout his career at least fifteen gold records (four of which had gone platinum) and a dozen gold singles. Among the label's roster during his tenure were acts such as Billy Thermal
Billy Thermal
Billy Thermal is a band formed by hit songwriter Billy Steinberg in 1979. The name Billy Thermal comes from the vineyards located in Thermal, California where Steinberg's father Lionel Steinberg owned Freedman Farms....
, Bates Motel
Bates Motel
Bates Motel is a 1987 television movie about Alex West, a mentally disturbed youth who was committed to an asylum after killing his abusive stepfather. There he befriends Norman Bates and ends up inheriting the infamous Bates Motel.-Plot:...
, the Plimsouls, The Cretones
The Cretones
The Cretones were a United States, Los Angeles-based new wave rock and power pop group in the early 1980s. Led by singer/guitarist and former Eddie Boy Band member Mark Goldenberg , the group had a strong sense of melody and a lyrical wit that placed them a cut above most of their new wave peers...
, Bill Medley
Bill Medley
William Thomas Medley is an American singer and songwriter, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers....
and the Pointer Sisters
Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop/R&B recording act from Oakland, California that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Spanning over three decades, their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, disco, jazz, bebop, blues, soul, funk, dance, country and rock.The...
, whose charting album Energy
Energy (Pointer Sisters album)
Energy is the fifth studio album by The Pointer Sisters, released in 1978 on the Planet label.-History:After a brief split following sister Bonnie's departure from the group, a musically reinvented and recharged Pointer Sisters returned composed of Ruth, Anita and June. Their first album for...
was the label's debut. After leaving Planet Records, Perry continued producing some of its acts, including the Pointer Sisters, as well as producing efforts by such artists as Streisand, Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
, Julio Iglesias
Julio Iglesias
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva , better known simply as Julio Iglesias, is a Spanish singer who has sold over 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages and released 77 albums. According to Sony Music Entertainment, he is one of the top 15 best selling music artists in history,...
, Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
, and Randy Travis
Randy Travis
Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...
. While pursuing these projects, Perry spent the latter part of the 1980s also pulling together a passion project, 1989's Rock, Rhythm & Blues, which featured contemporary artists like Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, Rick James
Rick James
James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. , better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. James was a popular performer in the late 1970s and 1980s, scoring four number-one hits on the U.S. R&B charts performing in the genres of funk and R&B...
, and Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
performing classic rock songs by musicians of the 1950s and early 1960s.
Also in 1978, Perry played the part of a record producer in the film American Hot Wax
American Hot Wax
American Hot Wax is a 1978 biopic film directed by Floyd Mutrux and written by John Kaye telling the story of Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed, who was instrumental in introducing and popularizing rock 'n' roll in the 1950s...
, which was based on the life of disc jockey Alan Freed
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
.
1990s and beyond
In the 1990s and the 2000s, he worked with Ray CharlesRay Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
on 1993's My World, which was a minor chart success, reaching #145 on Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
. He is credited with helping to craft Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
's charting pop standards albums in the Great American Songbook
Great American Songbook
The Great American Songbook is a hypothetical construct that seeks to represent the best American songs of the 20th century principally from Broadway theatre, musical theatre, and Hollywood musicals, from the 1920s to 1960, including dozens of songs of enduring popularity...
series, including It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook
It Had to Be You: the Great American Songbook
It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook is Rod Stewart's first album of pop standards, released in 2002.-Chart Performance:It Had To Be You: The Great American Songbook reached a peak position of #4 in the USA, and was certified 2x Platinum. It also went Platinum in the United Kingdom,...
. Perry would go on to co-produce the first three records in the series. In 2004, he reunited with Carly Simon, with whom he had worked earlier in his career. The resultant collaboration was 2005's Moonlight Serenade, which reached #7 on the Billboard 200 and was also a top Internet download. In 2006, he re-entered the studio with another previous collaborator, Art Garfunkel, receiving both producer and singing
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
credits on 2007's Some Enchanted Evening
Some Enchanted Evening (Art Garfunkel album)
Some Enchanted Evening is the tenth and most recent album by Art Garfunkel released in 2007. It is Garfunkel's interpretation of many standards of the Great American Songbook...
.
Perry is currently dating actress Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
.