Famous for his collaborations with A list artists from Carly Simon to Barbra Streisand, legendary music producer Richard Perry, has passed away. He was 82 years old.
Delivering the sad news about Perry who died at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest, friend Daphna Kastner, sold ABC News:
“He maximized his time here.” “He 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.” Kastner said that Perry
Richard cemented his legendary status by producing a myriad of popular 70s albums, including Carly Simon’s No Secrets, Streisand’s Stoney End, and Ringo Starr’s Ringo and Goodnight Vienna albums.
In addition to musical successes, Perry detailed his personal life in his 2021 memoir Cloud Nine: Memoirs of a Record Producer that included his marriages to Linda Goldner, his first wife, and Rebecca Broussard ended in divorce. More recently, Perry was in a relationship with Jane Fonda from 2009 until 2017
In a 1973 interview with Rolling Stone, Simon said that working with Perry is like working with “a movie director.”
“He sees himself as holding the camera, as directing the players, as calling the final shots, as doing a theme, rather than as an interpreter.” “Richard has much more endurance than I have and much more perseverance, so where I would leave off, he would continue. Whenever he tried to direct my singing in a certain way and I would try to go along with direction, it ended up unnatural. He would realize that and say, ‘I’m sorry. Go back and sing it the way you feel it,’ and that would invariably end up to be the right way.’”
According to Variety, Carly said she recorded over 100 takes of “You’re So Vain” at Perry’s direction. Streisand also wrote about Perry in her 2023 memoir, saying, “Richard had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist.” The catalogue of artists Richard worked with during his time in the music industry included Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, Donna Summer, Harry Nilsson, and the Pointer Sisters.
Throughout the course of his career, Richard Perry was nominated for seven Grammys and in 2015 he was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Recording Industry of America.
In a 1973 interview with Rolling Stone, Stephen Holden said “Perry is a commercial genius.” “The quality of sound Perry can produce is frightening. It is cold and glamorous in its corporate calculation, flexible enough to embrace the entire pop mainstream. Voices — Nilsson’s, Streisand’s, Simon’s — through electronic manipulation, become perfect technological artifacts, and every song a potential hit single.”
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Author: Al Denté