Producer Richard Perry, Beatles' friend and Jane Fonda's ex, dies

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Richard Perry, the prolific music producer who was behind hits such as "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon has died.

What To Know

Perry, 82, died Tuesday in a Los Angeles hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest, reported The Associated Press (AP).

Who Was Richard Perry?

Born in New York, Perry was a keen musician and a member of a doo-wop group in high school. But after college he turned his attention to record producing and went on to be one of the most successful producers of all time.

He worked with major artists from Barbra Streisand to Rod Stewart and Fats Domino to Leo Sayer.

Perry was also on hand to record the first time The Beatles worked together after their split for a song on drummer Ringo Starr's first solo album, Sentimental Journey.

The producer worked with Stewart on his Great American Songbook series and in 2015 received a Grammys Trustee Award.

Well-connected with high profile celebrities and musicians, Perry dated Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda and briefly married the actress Rebecca Broussard.

What People Are Saying

Perry's friend Donna Kastner announced the news of his death to media and described him as a "father friend."

"He maximized his time here," she told AP. "He was generous, fun, sweet and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweeter without him here. But it's a little bit sweeter in heaven."

Streisand worked closely with Perry throughout her career, and praised him in her memoir, My Name Is Barbra.

"I liked Richard from the moment we met. He was tall and lanky, with a mop of dark, curly hair and a big smile," she wrote. "At our first meeting, he arrived laden with songs, and we listened to them together. Whatever hesitation I may have felt about our collaboration soon vanished and I thought, 'This could be fun, and musically liberating.'"

She also wrote of his musical abilities: "Richard had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist."

Perry used his memoir to confirm a closely guarded, decades-long secret by revealing exactly which ex-boyfriend Simon was singing about in "You're So Vain."

"I'll take this opportunity to give my insider's scoop," he wrote in his 2021 memoir, Cloud Nine. "The person that the song is based on is really a composite of several men that Carly dated in the '60s and early '70s, but primarily, it's about my good friend, Warren Beatty."