Bert Berns

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Bert Berns was an American songwriter and producer who worked in the 1960s. He was born on 8 November 1929 in the Bronx in New York, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. As a child he contracted rheumatic fever, an illness that damaged his heart and led to his early death in 1967. He loved the music of his African American and Latin American neighbours, danced in mambo clubs and travelled to Havana. In 1960 he became a songwriter at a music publisher on Broadway.

Music and breakthrough

His first hit was A Little Bit of Soap by The Jarmels in 1961. In 1962 The Isley Brothers recorded Twist and Shout, which he had written with Phil Medley, and he wrote Tell Him for The Exciters and Cry to Me for Solomon Burke. In 1963 he succeeded Leiber and Stoller as a producer at Atlantic Records, where he worked with Solomon Burke, The Drifters, Wilson Pickett and Ben E. King. He then became the first American producer to go to London to work, among others with Them. He wrote Here Comes the Night and produced Baby, Please Don't Go. In 1965 he founded the label BANG Records, with Hang on Sloopy by The McCoys, I Want Candy by The Strangeloves and Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. In 1966 Shout Records followed for R&B and soul, with Erma Franklin and her Piece of My Heart.

Influence

Berns brought the energy of American rhythm and blues and soul to British bands, who recorded his songs. The Beatles played Twist and Shout, The Rolling Stones Cry to Me. Piece of My Heart later became a big hit for Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin.

Listening