Richard Perry produced “ You're So Vain » by Carly Simon, but also albums by Barbra Streisand, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart and Neil Diamond.
Music producer Richard Perry, known for his iconic collaborations with artists from Carly Simon to Barbra Streisand, has died at the age of 82.
Daphna Kastner, Perry's friend, confirmed his death to ABC News : “ He maximized his time here. He was generous, fun, kind and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweet without him. But it's a little sweeter in heaven “. Perry died in a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest.
Richard Perry cemented his legendary status by producing a number of popular albums in the seventies, including No Secrets of Simon, Stoney End by Streisand and the album Ringo by Ringo Starr, as well as the drummer's next album, Goodnight Vienna.
Perry detailed his personal life in his memoir Cloud Nine: Memoirs of a Record Producer. His marriages to Linda Goldner, his first wife, and Rebecca Broussard ended in divorce. Most recently, Perry was in a relationship with Jane Fonda from 2009 to 2017.
In an interview given to WECB In 1973, Carly Simon said that working with Perry was like working with ” a film director » : « He considers himself to be holding the camera, directing the actors, deciding the last shots, choosing a theme, rather than being a performer.. Richard has a lot more endurance than me and a lot more perseverance, so where I stopped, he continued. Every time he tried to direct my singing in a certain way and I tried to follow that direction, it ended up being unnatural. He realized it and said, “I’m sorry. Forget and sing the way you feel,” and that invariably ended up being the right way to sing. »
The producer has built a reputation over his long career working with accomplished artists. According to VarietySimon assured that he recorded more than 100 takes of “ You're So Vain » under the direction of Perry. Streisand also spoke about Perry in her 2023 memoir, saying, “ Richard had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist “. The list of artists Perry has worked with during his career is long: Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, Donna Summer, Harry Nilsson and the Pointer Sisters.
Over the course of his career, Richard Perry has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards, and in 2015 the Grammys presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
“ Perry is a business geniussays Stephen Holden in WECB in 1973. The quality of sound Perry can produce is frightening. She is cold and glamorous in her calculating side, flexible enough to embrace the entire mainstream pop trend. The voices – those of Nilsson, of Streisand, of Simon – become, thanks to electronic manipulation, perfect technological artifacts, and each song a potential hit. »
