Richard Berry

 Richard Berry, Jr. (April 11, 1935 – January 23, 1997)

Berry was a singer, songwriter and musician, who performed with many Los Angeles doo-wop and close harmony groups in the 1950s, including The Flairs and The Robins. He is best remembered as the composer and original performer of the rock standard "Louie Louie". The song became a hit for The Kingsmen and others, and it is one of the most recorded songs of all time; however, Berry received little financial benefit for writing it until the 1980s, having signed away his rights to the song in 1959. He also wrote and released "Have Love, Will Travel" which has been recorded by many other artists. Other songs included "Crazy Lover", recorded by the Rollins Band and "Oh! Oh! Get Out of the Car", covered by The Treniers. In the mid-1980s, Drinks company California Cooler wanted to use "Louie Louie" in a commercial, but discovered it needed Berry's signature to use the song. The company asked the Artists Rights Society to locate him, and a lawyer visited Berry. The lawyer mentioned the possibility of Berry's taking action to gain the rights to his song. The publishers settled out of court, making Berry a millionaire. In February 1996, Berry performed for the final time, reuniting with the Pharaohs and the Dreamers for a benefit concert in Long Beach, California.

Berry married Dorothy Adams in 1957, and they had two children, Pam and Marcel. They divorced in 1968. Dorothy pursued a music career, recording for Garpax Records, Challenge Records, Little Star Records and Tangerine. She was a Raelette for Ray Charles until the early 1980s. Berry had six children in total, Pamela, Richard Marcel, Stephani, Karen, Linda and Christy. He died from heart failure on January 23, 1997, age 61. Berry is interred at Inglewood Memorial park in Inglewood, California.