Richard Perry

Richard Van Perry (June 18, 1942 – December 24, 2024) was an American record producer. He began his musical career as a performer while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late 1960s and early 1970s to become a successful and popular record producer. He had more than twelve Gold records to his credit by 1982, four of which went Platinum.

From 1978 to 1983 he ran his own record label, Planet Records, which scored a string of hits with the main act on its roster, pop and R&B group the Pointer Sisters. After Planet's sale to RCA Records, Perry continued his work in the music industry as an independent producer. With hit records stretching from the 1960s through the 2000s, his successful modern releases included albums by Rod Stewart and Carly Simon. In 1972 he produced Simon's hit single "You're So Vain".

Early life Perry was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on June 18, 1942, the eldest of four sons of Mack Perry and Sylvia (nee Haykin). He had Jewish ancestry and his parents were music teachers who ran a business selling musical instruments to schools. in Brooklyn. He was inspired by seeing Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly perform and met them backstage. He took a degree course in music at the University of Michigan (BMus '64), then shifted briefly into songwriting and acting while working at Kama Sutra Records in its marketing division, collaborating with Kenny Vance. He began his career as a producer with early projects including Captain Beefheart's debut Safe as Milk The album was Perry's first charting hit, reaching No. 7 on Billboard magazine's Pop Albums chart.

Career 1970s and 1980s Perry went freelance and was established as a producer by 1970. His first independent production was Barbra Streisand's million-selling album Stoney End.

AllMusic's Bruce Eder stated that in the 1970s Perry was "the most renowned producer in the field of popular music", and said 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."

In 1978, Perry played the part of a record producer in the film American Hot Wax, which was based on the life of disc jockey Alan Freed, and launched his own label, Planet Records, which he ran for six years until it was purchased by RCA Records in 1983. He had "huge success" with the Pointer Sisters and produced a string of dance hits for them including "Fire", "I'm So Excited" and "Neutron Dance". Among the label's roster during his tenure were acts such as Billy Thermal, Bates Motel, the Plimsouls, the Cretones, Bill Medley, Sue Saad and the Next, and the Pointer Sisters,

After leaving Planet Records Perry continued to produce some of its acts, including the Pointer Sisters, and worked with artists such as Streisand, Donna Summer, Julio Iglesias, Neil Diamond, and Randy Travis. Streisand found working with Perry "fun and musically liberating" and said he "had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist". He is credited with helping to craft Rod Stewart's charting pop standards albums in the Great American Songbook series, including It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook. Perry co-produced the first three records in the series. The resultant collaboration was 2005's Moonlight Serenade, which reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and was also a top Internet download. In 2006 he worked with another previous collaborator, Art Garfunkel, receiving both producer and singing credits on 2007's Some Enchanted Evening. The last credit on the discography page on his website is from 2011 for producing the cast recording of the Broadway production of Baby It's You!.

Personal life and death Perry was married twice; both marriages ended in divorce. and they shared a home in Beverly Hills for eight years. At the time of his death, he also had Parkinson's disease, and had lost his ability to speak due to the disease.