Richard Berry

If for zero other cause than that he was the initial article writer and performer of “Louie Louie” (itself predicated on “Un Loca Cha Cha” by Rene Touzet), Richard Berry keeps a permanent host to honor in the annals of rock and roll & move. Beyond that, though, Berry was a significant, if secondary, body from the early- and middle-’50s LA R&B picture. As an adolescent using the Flairs so when a solo action, Berry recorded a number of singles that confirmed his flexibility with ballads, novelty music, and even Small Richard-styled quantities. His service with deep-voiced comic materials was a apparent forerunner from the Coasters, and actually he was the uncredited business lead vocalist on Leiber & Stoller’s “Riot in Cell Stop #9,” documented with the Robins (afterwards to mutate in to the Coasters). He had taken another uncredited vocal as Ella Adam’ deep-voiced sparring partner on “Move BESIDE ME, Henry,” one of the primary R&B hits from the middle-’50s. Berry originally documented “Louie Louie” in 1956; the record was a local hit in a number of West Coast metropolitan areas, but only that. Berry’s documenting profession petered out in the past due ’50s, though he continued to be a dynamic performer. In the first ’60s, many Northwest rings seized upon “Louie Louie” as cover materials, scoring sizable local strikes; finally, in 1963 the Kingsmen broke the music nationally, reaching number 2. In the years since that time, “Louie Louie” became probably one of the most oft-covered rock and roll standards ever; there probably is present more than 1,000 variations. The music was investigated from the FBI and influenced parades and promotions to look at it because the established song from the condition of Washington. The initial version ironically continues to be extremely difficult to acquire, appearing just on obscure compilations (the Berry edition on Rhino’s Louie Louie anthology is really a re-recording). For Berry there is a happy closing — in the past due ’80s he regained the privileges to his music that he previously lost a long time ago.