Richard Berry

Richard Berry Jr. (April 11, 1935 – January 23, 1997) was an American 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 known 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. Although Berry had signed away his rights to the song in 1957, he was able to renegotiate substantial financial benefit for his authorship in the 1980s. He also wrote and released "Have Love, Will Travel" which has been recorded by many other artists.

Berry was born in Extension, south of Monroe, Louisiana, and moved with his family to Los Angeles as a baby. As a child, he suffered a hip injury and had to walk on crutches until he was six. His first instrument was the ukulele, which he learned when attending a summer camp for crippled children.

Berry attended Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, and with many other students practiced singing vocal harmonies in the corridors.

Berry began singing and playing in local doo-wop groups, recording with a number of them including the Penguins, the Cadets, the Chimes, the Crowns, the Five Hearts, the Hunters, the Rams, the Whips, and the Dreamers, an otherwise all-female quartet from Fremont High. He then joined the Flairs (who also recorded as the Debonaires and the Flamingoes) in 1953.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.