<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Richard Perry, a hitmaking record producer with a flair for both standards and contemporary sounds whose many successes included Carly Simon’s </span><em><span>You’re So Vain</span></em><span> Rod Stewart’s </span><em><span>The Great American Songbook</span></em><span> series and a Ringo Starr album featuring all four Beatles, died on Tuesday. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He was 82.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Perry, a recipient of a Grammys Trustee Award in 2015, died at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest, friend Daphna Kastner said.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“He maximised his time here,” said Kastner, who called him a “father friend” and said he was godfather to her son. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“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.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>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&amp;B, dance and country charts. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He was on hand for Harry Nilsson’s </span><em><span>Without You</span></em><span> and The Pointer Sisters' </span><em><span>I’m So Excited, </span></em><span>Tiny Tim’s novelty smash </span><em><span>Tiptoe Through the Tulips</span></em><span> and the Willie Nelson-Julio Iglesias lounge standard “</span><em><span>To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before</span></em><span>.” </span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/richard-perry-death-record-producer-behind-youre-so-vain-and-other-hits-dies-at-82/676f2650-e6a8-4386-8b6b-9f684ece0459" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Perry was widely known as a “musician’s producer,” treating artists like peers rather than vehicles for his own tastes. </span></div></div><div class="styles__Wrapper-sc-2o34ro-0 cmwkBV"><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><a href="/content/2024/12/24/12/12/today-in-history-december-25-what-happened-on-this-day-in-pictures"><img alt="JonBenet Ramsay." sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 636px, (min-width: 768px) 396px, 100vw" src="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/--FsrDF9Q36P-vDNuQ2NR8xbMpU=/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fc29a7b11-5542-464b-aef3-e251d9fa4d36" srcset="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/--FsrDF9Q36P-vDNuQ2NR8xbMpU=/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fc29a7b11-5542-464b-aef3-e251d9fa4d36 396w, https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/7w8Sq3IdfkgcIeTVhMidHLUzOOE=/636x358/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fc29a7b11-5542-464b-aef3-e251d9fa4d36 636w"/></a></div><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><div class="styles__Headline-sc-2o34ro-4 hpbOlz">Bizarre note that accompanied murder of child 'beauty queen'</div><div class="styles__Button-sc-2o34ro-1 eBjlmW"><a class="styles__ButtonLink-sc-2o34ro-2 hqpklJ" href="/content/2024/12/24/12/12/today-in-history-december-25-what-happened-on-this-day-in-pictures">View Gallery</a></div></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>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).</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Richard had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist,” Streisand wrote in her 2023 memoir, </span><em><span>My Name is Barbra.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Perry’s life was a story, in part, of famous friends and the right places. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>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’s memorable set and attended a recording session for the Rolling Stones’ classic </span><em><span>Let It Bleed</span></em><span> album. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A given week might find him dining one night with Paul and Linda McCartney, and Mick and Bianca Jagger the next. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He dated Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Fonda among others and was briefly married to the actor Rebecca Broussard.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In Stewart's autobiography, “Rod,” he would remember Perry's home in West Hollywood as “the 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.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the '70s, Perry helped facilitate a near-Beatles reunion.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He had produced a track on Starr’s first solo album, </span><em><span>Sentimental Journey</span></em><span>,” and grown closer to him through Nilsson and other mutual friends. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Ringo</span></em><span>, released in 1973, would prove the drummer was a commercial force in his own right — with some well-placed names stopping by. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The album, featuring contributions from Nilsson, Billy Preston, Steve Cropper, Martha Reeves and all five members of The Band, reached No 2 on Billboard and sold more than 1 million copies. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Hit singles included the chart toppers </span><em><span>Photograph</span></em><span>, co-written by Starr and George Harrison, and a remake of the 1950s favourite </span><em><span>You’re Sixteen.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But for Perry and others, the most memorable track was a non-hit, custom made. John Lennon’s </span><em><span>I’m the Greatest </span></em><span>was a mock-anthem for the self-effacing drummer that brought three Beatles into the studio just three years after the band’s breakup. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Starr was on drums and sang lead, Lennon was on keyboards and backing vocals and longtime Beatles friend Klaus Voormann played bass. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They were still working on the song when Harrison’s assistant phoned, asking if the guitarist could join them. Harrison arrived soon after.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“As I looked around the room, I realized that I was at the very epicentre of the spiritual and musical quest I had dreamed of for so many years,” Perry wrote in his 2021 memoir, </span><em><span>Cloud Nine.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“By the end of each session, a small group of friends had gathered, standing silently along the back wall, just thrilled to be there.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>McCartney was not in town for </span><em><span>I’m the Greatest</span></em><span>, but he did help write and arrange the ballad </span><em><span>Six O’Clock,</span></em><span> featuring the ex-Beatle and Linda McCartney on backing vocals.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Perry had helped make pop history the year before as producer of</span><em><span> You’re So Vain, </span></em><span>which he would call the nearest he came to a perfect record. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Simon’s scathing ballad about an unnamed lover, with Voormann’s 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’s intended target.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Perry’s answer would echo Simon’s own belated response.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“I’ll take this opportunity to give my insider’s scoop,” he wrote in his memoir. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“The person that the song is based on is really a composite of several men that Carly dated in the ’60s and early ’70s, but primarily, it’s about my good friend, Warren Beatty.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Perry’s post-1970s work included such hit singles as The Pointer Sisters’ </span><em><span>Neutron Dance</span></em><span> and DeBarge’s </span><em><span>Rhythm of the Night</span></em><span>, along with albums by Simon, Ray Charles and Art Garfunkel. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He had his greatest success with Stewart’s million-selling </span><em><span>The Great American</span></em><span> </span><em><span>Songbook</span></em><span> albums, a project made possible by the rock star’s writer’s block and troubled private life. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the early 2000s, Stewart’s marriage to Rachel Hunter had ended and Perry was among those consoling him. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>With Stewart struggling to come up with original songs, he and Perry agreed that an album of standards might work, including </span><em><span>The Very Thought of You, Angel Eyes</span></em><span> and </span><em><span>Where or When.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“We were at a back table in our favourite restaurant as we exchanged ideas and wrote them down on a napkin,” Perry wrote in his memoir. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Stewart softly sang the options. “As I sat there and listened to him sing, it was clear that we both sensed we were on to something,” Perry added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>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. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>With his family’s 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. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A music and theatre major at the University of Michigan, he initially dreamed of acting on Broadway. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Instead, he made the “life-changing” decision in the mid-1960s to form a production company with a recent acquaintance, Gary Katz, who would go on to work with Steely Dan among others.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>By the end of the decade, Perry was an industry star, working on Captain Beefheart’s acclaimed cult album, </span><em><span>Safe As Milk</span></em><span> and the debut recording of Tiny Tim and Ella Fitzgerald’s </span><em><span>Ella</span></em><span>, featuring the jazz great's interpretations of songs by the Beatles, Smokey Robinson and Randy Newman. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the early 1970s, he would oversee Streisand’s million-selling </span><em><span>Stoney End</span></em><span> 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’s </span><em><span>If You Could Read My Mind.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“I 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,” Streisand wrote in her memoir. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“At 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, ‘This could be fun, and musically liberating.’”</span></div></div>