23 Facts About Richard Perry

Richard Van Perry was an American record producer.

Richard Perry began his musical career as a performer while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn.

Richard Perry had more than 12 gold records to his credit by 1982, four of which went platinum.

Richard Perry was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on June 18,1942, the eldest of four sons of Mack Richard Perry and Sylvia.

Richard Perry had Jewish ancestry and his parents were music teachers who ran a business selling musical instruments to schools.

Richard Perry was classically trained on piano and oboe from a young age, and added guitar, bass and drums to his repertoire with the arrival of rock 'n' roll.

Richard Perry began his career in rock music as a local performer during his adolescence.

Richard Perry was inspired by seeing Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly perform and met them backstage.

Richard Perry attended Brooklyn's Poly Prep Country Day School, where he sang bass in a doo-wop group called The Legends with three other students.

Richard Perry took a degree course in music at the University of Michigan, then shifted briefly into songwriting and acting while working at Kama Sutra Records in its marketing division, collaborating with Kenny Vance.

Richard Perry began his career as a producer with early projects including Captain Beefheart's debut Safe as Milk and Fats Domino's Fats Is Back.

Richard Perry formed a production company in New York called Cloud Nine before moving to Los Angeles in 1967.

The album was Richard Perry's first charting hit, reaching No 7 on Billboard magazine's Pop Albums chart.

Richard Perry went freelance and was established as a producer by 1970.

Richard Perry was a perfectionist in the studio and "worked his artists hard".

Richard Perry had one of his biggest hits with his production on Carly Simon's song "You're So Vain".

Richard Perry produced the group's first three albums, Fanny, Charity Ball, which featured the top 40 title track, and Fanny Hill.

In 1978, Richard 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.

Nilsson had wanted a simple piano backing for the song, but Richard Perry convinced him that a "theatrical monster balled, complete with orchestra", would work better.

Richard Perry 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.

Richard Perry married Linda Goldner in the 1970s and was married to actress Rebecca Broussard from 1987 to 1988.

Richard Perry was in a relationship with Jane Fonda from 2009 to 2017, and they shared a home in Beverly Hills for eight years.

Richard Perry died from cardiac arrest at a hospital in Los Angeles, on December 24,2024, at the age of 82.