Rod Stewart mourns producer of his ‘Great American Songbook’ albums: ‘I’m devastated’

Rod Stewart is “devastated” by the death of Richard Perry, who produced most of his best-selling Great American Songbook albums. Perry died of cardiac arrest on Dec. 24 in LA, according to the New York Times. He was 82.

“Dearest Richard, farewell, my dear buddy,” Rod wrote on Instagram. “They say in life a man is lucky if he can count his true friends on one hand, and you were certainly one of them. Now I’ve lost you and I’m devastated.”

“We played and worked so closely together for so many years, creating some of the most memorable music together,” he continued. “You were there when [my wife] Penny and I first started dating, encouraging our relationship. We were both in tears as I post this farewell.”

In addition to Rod’s Songbook albums, which revived his career in the early 2000s, Perry also produced classic albums like Barbra Streisand‘s Stoney End, Carly Simon’s No Secrets, which included “You’re So Vain;” Harry Nilsson’s Nilsson Schmilsson, featuring “Without You” and “Jump Into the Fire” and Ringo Starr‘s Ringo, which featured the hits “Oh My My,” “Photograph” and “You’re Sixteen.”

Other hits Perry produced include Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better,” The Pointer Sisters‘ “I’m So Excited,” “Jump (For My Love)” and “Slow Hand,” DeBarge‘s “Rhythm of the Night” and “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” by Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias.

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