Richard Berry: Who That Is?

A Cherry from BerryWhat defines ‘pop music’ is its popularity. And while no one reading this probably has any idea who Richard Berry is – and no, he’s not related to Chuck – one of his songs counts as the very top of rock and roll tracks in its ability to define, distill and inspire. That one song might be his legacy, but that doesn’t man that Berry was a one shot wonder. Well, he actually didn’t really have any hits. His one song only gained its acclaim in the hands of some Northwest bands a few years after its initial release.

Berry was born in the south and made his way west with his family as a child during his infancy. Growing up in a bastion of entertainment types, L.A., afforded Berry the audience of up and coming doo wop acts and the like. He took a shine to the style and decided to attempt to perform with a group of his own. Within the ranks of The Penguins, The Cadets and The Chimes and eventually The Flairs, Berry honed his mid range tenor adapting it to bouncy early rock songs as time progressed. It was with The Flairs, though, that Berry recorded early sides with none other than Leiber and Stoller. As a result of those sessions, Berry picked up some subsequent work as a hired gun on “Riot In Cell Block #9," which would even be covered by the Beach Boys during the following decade.

After this taste of moderate success, Berry left The Flairs to set out on his own. With his new group , The Pharaohs, Berry reworked the reworked "El Loco Cha Cha," by The Rhythm Rockers which was take on the original set to tape by René Touzet. The resulting track, “Louie, Louie,” has become the most versioned song in the annals of rock and or roll music, bar none. With the release of that single, Berry and his group only appreciated a bit or regional success on the west coast. The track would be redone by not just The Wailers, but most famously again by The Kingsmen, who were the first group to break it nation wide.

It seems, though, that Berry didn’t hold the rights to the track during the period of the song’s greatest success. He did, however, later in his life regain “Louie, Louie.” And while that’s what should have happened, the money that he lost in the intervening time is incalculable.

Regardless of that and the fact that Berry never really hit the charts, a good deal of his music is as sweet as any of the more popular combos of the time – on occasion, it even moves to touch upon some more raucous music ala Little Richard. Of course, no one can holler like that gentleman, but Berry’s take on “Watusi” gets close and even sounds similar to some work from Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.

In Berry’s music, the evolution that rock underwent during the ‘50s can pretty easily be heard. And while his one track is still probably the most well known song on the planet, the rest of his catalog deserves a good looking over.