Richard Perry, with a flair for both standards and contemporary sounds whose many successes included Rod Stewart鈥檚 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 Nilsson鈥檚 鈥淲ithout You鈥� and The Pointer Sisters' 鈥淚鈥檓 So Excited,鈥� Tiny Tim鈥檚 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usician鈥檚 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,
Perry鈥檚 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 Redding鈥檚 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 Starr鈥檚 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 Lennon鈥檚 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 band鈥檚 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 Harrison鈥檚 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. Simon鈥檚 scathing ballad about an unnamed lover, with Voormann鈥檚 bass runs kicking off the song and Jagger joining on the chorus, hit No. 1 in 1972 and began a long-term debate over Simon鈥檚 intended target. Perry鈥檚 answer would echo Simon鈥檚 own belated response.
鈥淚鈥檒l take this opportunity to give my insider鈥檚 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, it鈥檚 about my good friend, Warren Beatty.鈥�
Perry鈥檚 post-1970s work included such hit singles as The Pointer Sisters鈥� 鈥淣eutron Dance鈥� and DeBarge鈥檚 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 star鈥檚 writer鈥檚 block and troubled private life. In the early 2000s, Stewart鈥檚 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 family鈥檚 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 Beefheart鈥檚 acclaimed cult album, 鈥淪afe As Milk鈥� and the debut recording of Tiny Tim and Ella Fitzgerald鈥檚 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 Streisand鈥檚 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 Lightfoot鈥檚 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.
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
