Richard Berry was born on 11 April 1935 in Extension, Louisiana and as a child moved with his family to Los Angeles in search of a better life. His first musical adventure was learning to play ukulele at summer camp, but Richard was a natural musician and by his mid-teens, and still at high school, he was singing and recording with numerous vocal groups in South Los Angeles.

If Richard Berry’s only contribution was to write and record ‘Louie Louie’, one of the most popular and most performed songs in pop, then that would put him head and shoulders above most of his contemporaries. However some of Richard’s other career highlights include: lead vocal on the classic ‘Riot In Cell Block #9’ by the Robins; singing the male counterpart to Etta James on her hit ‘Wallflower’, which he also produced and recording and writing the classic ‘Have Love Will Travel’, which became a huge hit for the Sonics. He was a prolific writer and producer and sang with countless Los Angeles groups, notably the Flairs and the Chimes, as well as his own groups, the Pharaohs and the Dreamers. Before his peaceful death on 23 January 1997 at home in Los Angeles, Richard was able to enjoy the fame and financial benefits from his best known songwriting copyrights.

He travelled to England in 1994 to perform at the Hemsby Rock’n’Roll Festival and to do some radio shows. We had the pleasure of spending some time with Richard on that visit and can vouch for the fact that he was one of the nicest and most caring people that we have met over the years. (TC)