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Bert Berns

 


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Bert Berns (top) and Wes Farrell (co-writer of “Hang on Sloopy”) | BMI





Song writer and record producer Bertrand Russell Berns was born in New York City on 8 November 1929. His recording of “Hitch Hike” under the name Russell Byrd was an early Sue UK Single release.

Berns is associated with famous songs including “Hang on Sloopy”, “Twist and Shout”, “Cry to me”, “Piece of my heart”, “Under The Boardwalk” and many others. He started as a song writer in the Brill Building in 1960. He is also associated with Atlantic Records, who hired him as a staff record producer in 1963. Atlantic’s product was then released in the UK by Decca and in 1964-5 he travelled to London three times to undertake some production work for Decca, including releases by Them and Lulu, with great success.  With his Atlantic friends he launched the rock label Bang (Bert, Ahmet, Nesui and Gerald) with production help from Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. In 1966 the Shout label was formed to release R&B.

The book “Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues” by Joel Selvin was published in 2014. Two years later a documentary film, “Bang, The Bert Berns Story” was released.

Bert Berns died in New York City from heart failure resulting from his long term health conditions on 30 December 1967.

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