Photo: Bert Berns | Chances are that you’ve never heard of a man named Bert Berns. But most likely you know the songs “Twist and Shout,” “Piece of My Heart,” “I Want Candy,” “Here Comes the Night,” and “Hang On Sloopy.”
Those timeless tunes were written or co-written by Bert Berns, the many-hit wonder who thrived as a songwriter, record producer, and label chief with his own label, Bang Records. Not only did he write a string of hits, Berns also produced the iconic songs “Under the Boardwalk,” “Brown Eyed Girl,” and “Baby I’m Yours.” What’s more, he launched the careers of Neil Diamond and Van Morrison.
In the most tragic turn, Berns didn’t start having hits until he was 30, and died of a heart attack at 38. But from 1960 to 1967, he had 51 chart toppers.
“He did the trifecta, which no one else did,” explains his eldest child, Brett Berns. “He was the songwriter of standards, the consummate record producer. He could maneuver in the business world and have a successful record label. And he was a great talent scout who discovered so many icons and legends of rock and roll, rhythm and blues and soul music.”
Born in the Bronx, New York City, to Russian Jewish immigrants, Berns contracted rheumatic fever as a child, an illness that damaged his heart and would mark the rest of his life, resulting in his early death. Turning to music, he found enjoyment in the sounds of his African American and Latino neighbors. As a young man, Berns danced in mambo nightclubs, and made his way to Havana before the Cuban Revolution.
Shortly after his return from Cuba, Berns began a seven-year run from an obscure Brill Building songwriter to owner of his own record labels. He signed as a $50/week songwriter with Robert Mellin Music at 1650 Broadway in 1960. His first hit record was “A Little Bit of Soap”, performed by the Jarmels on Laurie Records in 1961. Berns himself had a short-lived career as a recording artist, and in 1961, under the name “Russell Byrd”, Berns scored his only Billboard Hot 100 appearance with his own composition, “You’d Better Come Home”, which peaked at Number 50. That song would later be recorded by the Isley Brothers, and featured as the B-side of their 1962 single “Twistin’ With Linda”. Also in 1962, the Isley Brothers recorded “Twist and Shout” on Wand Records, written by Berns and Phil Medley. Berns also hit the charts in late 1962 with the Exciters’ “Tell Him” on United Artists, and with Solomon Burke’s “Cry to Me” on Atlantic Records. As an independent producer working with myriad record labels, Berns also made important records with Garnet Mimms (“Cry Baby”) and Gene Pitney.
Berns’s early work with Solomon Burke brought him to the attention of Atlantic label chiefs Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler. In 1963, Berns replaced Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller as staff producer at Atlantic, where he wrote and produced hits for Solomon Burke (“Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”), the Drifters (“Under the Boardwalk” and “Saturday Night at the Movies”), Barbara Lewis (“Baby I’m Yours” and “Make Me Your Baby”), Little Esther Phillips (“Hello Walls,” written by Willie Nelson), Ben E. King, Wilson Pickett and LaVern Baker.
With many of Berns’s songs being recorded by British Invasion bands such as the Beatles (“Twist and Shout”), the Rolling Stones (“Cry to Me”) and the Animals (“Baby Let Me Take You Home”), Berns became the first American record producer to travel across the Atlantic to work in London. He went to England three times between 1964 and 1965, where he produced a number of British Decca songs such as “Baby Please Don’t Go,” a traditional blues song recorded by Them, and “Here Comes the Night,” recorded by Lulu and Them.
Berns formed his own record label, BANG Records, in 1965. With BANG Records releasing predominantly rock and roll, Berns formed Shout Records in 1966 as an outlet for his greatest passions of R&B and soul music.
“Piece of My Heart”, one of his last songs, was covered shortly thereafter by Big Brother and the Holding Company, which the then unknown Janis Joplin fronted, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Berns, who had a history of cardiac trouble as a result of his heart being damaged from rheumatic fever contracted during childhood, died in his New York apartment of heart failure on December 30, 1967 at age 38. He was buried two days later, following a funeral service at Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York.
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Photo: Bert Berns
Here’s a Little Music History: Who Was Bert Berns
