Hitmaker Bert Berns is posthumously included in Songwriters Hall of Fame
NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Songwriter and producer Bert Berns, who had a hand in some of the biggest hits of the 1960s, including co-writing 鈥淭wist and Shout鈥 for the Isley Brothers and the plaintive 鈥淧iece of My Heart鈥 sung by Janis Joplin, has been inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Songwriter and producer Bert Berns, who had a hand in some of the biggest hits of the 1960s, including co-writing 鈥淭wist and Shout鈥 for the Isley Brothers and the plaintive 鈥淧iece of My Heart鈥 sung by Janis Joplin, has been inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Berns, who died in 1967 at age 38, was welcomed into the Hall on Tuesday at a ceremony at the 54 Below cabaret club in New York City. It included video tributes by Paul McCartney and Van Morrison and rock royalty like Steve Miller and Steven Van Zandt. It was hosted by Paul Shaffer and Berns鈥 son, Brett, and daughter, Cassandra.
Berns joined the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
Berns signed a then-21-year-old Morrison for Bang Records and produced one of rock鈥檚 catchiest and most enduring songs, 鈥淏rown Eyed Girl.鈥
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Berns co-wrote and produced Solomon Burke’s 鈥淓verybody Needs Somebody to Love鈥 and 鈥淐ry to Me,鈥 co-wrote and produced 鈥淯nder the Boardwalk鈥 by The Drifters, which landed on Rolling Stone magazine鈥檚 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. His version of 鈥淭wist and Shout鈥 was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010.
He started Bang Records in 1965 in partnership with the three owners of Atlantic 鈥 the label name was an acronym drawn from their first names (Berns, Ahmet Ertegun, Nesuhi Ertegun and Gerald Wexler). Bang’s hits included the Strangeloves (鈥淚 Want Candy鈥) and Neil Diamond’s 鈥淪olitary Man鈥 and 鈥淜entucky Woman.鈥 He also established the R&B and soul music label Shout Records.
Berns was the subject of the 2017 documentary 鈥淏ANG! The Bert Berns Story,鈥 and a musical theater version of his life 鈥 鈥 opened off-Broadway in 2014 with a book by Daniel Goldfarb 鈥 and Van Zandt and Shaffer as producers.
鈥淏ert Berns died so young, so tragically young, that even within the industry, only the insiders know about him. He was a phenomenal talent. The list of songs was remarkable,鈥 Van Zandt told the AP at the time.
It was Berns who took a liking to guitarist Jimmy Page and introduced him to the Atlantic team, which signed his band Led Zeppelin just months after Berns鈥 death. Zeppelin recorded 鈥淏aby Come on Home (Tribute to Bert Berns),鈥 but the track was released only in 1993.
Berns was 鈥渙ne of the great originals of the golden age of rhythm and blues,鈥 according to Joel Selvin鈥檚 book 鈥淗ere Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm & Blues.鈥
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