Richard Berry (musician)

Richard Berry ( born April 11, 1935 in Extension, Louisiana, † 23 January 1997 in Inglewood, California ) was an American singer and songwriter who in the 1950s in the genres of rock ' n ' roll and rhythm and blues was successful. His most famous piece is the rock ' n' roll classic Louie Louie.

Berry's family moved to Los Angeles when he was still a toddler. As a teenager, he sang in local doo-wop groups like The Penguins, The Cadets, The Chimes and from 1953 The flair. The Flairs recorded the song She Wants to Rock, produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Leiber and Stoller produced the group The Robins, leaving Berry the lead voice in the hit Riot In Cell Block # 9 sing - without naming names, because he was with another disk label. Berry's distinctive bass was used in the sequence in a number of recordings of other singers and groups, including Etta James, The Crown and The Dreamers, which later became The Blossoms were. End of 1954, Berry started his own band, The Pharaoh, but continued to work with other groups as a singer and songwriter. In 1955 he wrote Louie Louie, inspired by his collaboration with the Latino group Rick and The Rhythm Rockers Rillera, particularly their version of the song El Loco Cha Cha by René Touzet. Another source of inspiration was Chuck Berry composition Havana Moon. The Flair took Louie Louie 1956 for the first time. Other groups also played the song, the most successful cover version came in 1963 by The Kingsmen. The text has been temporarily classified as obscene, there was even an FBI investigation. To date, Louie Louie was recorded over 1,000 times. However, Berry did not have financial success with it, as he sold the Copyright 1959 cheap. Additional pieces that wrote Berry, include Have Love, Will Travel, later a hit for The Sonics, and Crazy Lover, 1987 on the debut album by the Rollins Band. In February 1996, Richard Berry joined one last time at a charity concert. He died in 1997 of heart failure.