Richard Perry, who has died aged 82 from cardiac arrest, was one of the most successful record producers of the last 50 years. Among his best known works are Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain, Harry Nilsson’s version of Without You and the Pointer Sisters’ I’m So Excited. His early credits include the production on Captain Beefheart’s debut album, Safe As Milk (1969), and Tiny Tim’s God Bless Tiny Tim (1968).
Perry worked with all four members of the Beatles when he produced Ringo (1973), Ringo Starr’s third solo album. It featured John Lennon on I’m the Greatest, with Starr on drums and George Harrison on guitar, and Six O’Clock, written by Paul and Linda McCartney, who both contributed vocals.
Barbra Streisand called on Perry’s skills to help her make a transition from show tunes to a contemporary pop sound: the title track of the album Stoney End, written by Laura Nyro and released in 1971, peaked at No 6 on the Billboard Hot 100; the album established Streisand’s presence in a different genre. Perry also took the production role on Barbra Joan Streisand (1971), which featured members of the all-female rock group Fanny.
The British singer Leo Sayer also made use of Perry at a pivotal career moment. Perry produced the album Endless Flight in 1976, which included the huge disco hit You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (which Sayer co-wrote with Vini Poncia), and Albert Hammond and Carole Bayer Sager’s ballad When I Need You. The album went platinum.
Perry’s knack with a counterintuitive collaboration led to his producing Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson’s single To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before, which reached No 1 on Hot Country Songs in 1984 and was named single of the year by the Academy of Country Music.
Perry (with Clive Davis and Phil Ramone) worked with Rod Stewart on the first release in The Great American Songbook series (2002); Stewart has described their work together as some of his most memorable. Perry received the Grammy Trustee award in 2015 in recognition of his contributions to the music industry.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Sylvia (nee Haykin) and Mark Perry. His parents founded a music education project and Richard was classically trained on the piano and the oboe, as well as mastering the guitar, drums, and bass. He formed his first band when he was 14, and a doo-wop vocal group, the Escorts, at 16. He sang bass. The Escorts recorded several singles for Decca in the early 60s.
Perry went on to study music at the University of Michigan, graduating in 1964. He then found work at the marketing department at the newly formed Kama Sutra records, alongside Kenny Vance, founder of the pop group Jay and the Americans.
Perry formed his own independent production company, Cloud Nine, in 1965. Two years later he moved to Los Angeles where he was hired by Warner Brothers as a staff producer. It was there that he was called on to produce Tiny Tim, who was riding the crest of a wave after appearing on the hit television show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. The novelty song Tip-Toe Through the Tulips made the top 20 of Billboard’s Hot 100. Perry also worked with Fats Domino and Ella Fitzgerald during his time at the label.
As an aside to his production work, Perry appeared in the film American Hot Wax (1978), playing a record producer. The film was based on the life of the celebrity disc jockey Alan Freed.
In 1974 Perry married Linda Goldner, who worked in the music industry. They divorced in 1976. Perry also had a widely publicised relationship with Elizabeth Taylor. He married Rebecca Broussard, an actor, in 1987 (they divorced a year later). Perry’s romantic relationship with Jane Fonda (from 2009 to 2017) propelled him from a behind-the-scenes figure to a tabloid newspaper staple. The couple announced an amicable split after eight years together.
Perry said he saw himself as a coach rather than a director of music, believing that his job was to make the artist feel safe and create an atmosphere where they can give their best. Simon, in her memoir Boys in the Trees (2015), described Perry as a close collaborator who helped her to express her vulnerability through the songs on No Secrets (1972).
In his own memoir, Cloud Nine: Memoirs of a Record Producer (2020), Perry wrote: “There is no greater turn-on than to hear a stellar track played back in the control room after you’ve been working on it for hours and to have it sound just the way you heard it in your dreams.”
He is survived by his younger brothers Roger, Fred and Andrew.
• Richard Van Perry, record producer, born 18 June 1942; died 24 December 2024
