Music <\/p>\n
Perry worked behind the scenes with some of the industry’s brightest stars including Barbra Streisand, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, and more<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\tMusic producer Richard Perry, known for his iconic collaborations with numerous artists from Carly Simon<\/a> to Barbra Streisand, has died at the age of 82.<\/p>\n \n\tDaphna Kastner, Perry\u2019s friend, confirmed his death to news outlets. \u201cHe maximized his time here,\u201d Kastner said in a statement to ABC News<\/a>. \u201cHe was generous, fun, sweet and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweeter without him here. But it\u2019s a little bit sweeter in heaven.\u201d Kastner said that Perry died at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n \n\tPerry cemented his legendary status by producing a number of popular albums in the Seventies, including Simon\u2019s No Secrets<\/em>, Streisand\u2019s Stoney End<\/em>, and Ringo Starr\u2019s self-titled LP Ringo<\/em>, as well as his following LP Goodnight Vienna<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tOn top of his professional successes, Perry detailed his robust personal life in his 2021 memoir Cloud Nine: Memoirs of a Record Producer<\/em>. His marriages to Linda Goldner, his first wife, and Rebecca Broussard ended in divorce. More recently, Perry was in a relationship with Jane Fonda<\/a> from 2009 until 2017.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a 1973 interview with Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a>, Simon said that working with Perry is like working with \u201ca movie director.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe sees himself as holding the camera, as directing the players, as calling the final shots, as doing a theme, rather than as an interpreter,\u201d she said. \u201cRichard has much more endurance than I have and much more perseverance, so where I would leave off, he would continue. Whenever he tried to direct my singing in a certain way and I would try to go along with direction, it ended up unnatural. He would realize that and say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry. Go back and sing it the way you feel it,\u2019 and that would invariably end up to be the right way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe producer built a reputation over his storied career working with accomplished artists. According to Variety<\/em><\/a>, Simon said she recorded over 100 takes of \u201cYou\u2019re So Vain\u201d at Perry\u2019s direction. Streisand also wrote about Perry in her 2023 memoir, saying, \u201cRichard had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist.\u201d The list of artists Perry worked with during his time in the music industry is extensive, including Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, Donna Summer, Harry Nilsson, and the Pointer Sisters.<\/p>\n \n\tOver the course of his career, Perry was nominated for seven Grammys and in 2015 he was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Grammys. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPerry is a commercial genius,\u201d Stephen Holden declared in Rolling Stone<\/a><\/em> in 1973. \u201cThe quality of sound Perry can produce is frightening. It is cold and glamorous in its corporate calculation, flexible enough to embrace the entire pop mainstream. Voices \u2014 Nilsson\u2019s, Streisand\u2019s, Simon\u2019s \u2014 through electronic manipulation, become perfect technological artifacts, and every song a potential hit single.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n