Bert Berns Biography (Page 2 of 2)
It was in London that Bert Berns met George Ivan Morrison when producing Van’s first band, Them. With Bert’s “Here Comes The Night” and his productions of “Baby Please Don’t Go” and “Gloria,” a star was born in Van Morrison. Bert also wrote and produced songs for Lulu and a number of other acts on the label. (He had the opportunity to work with a young Welsh singer by the name of Tom Jones, but turned him down. Upon meeting several months later, with the release of “It’s Not Unusual,” Berns kibitzed with Jones – “you can’t pick ‘em all!”)
Shortly thereafter, Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler seized the moment – partnering with Bert in a new publishing company, WEB IV Music, whose name would be an acronym: W (Wexler) E (Ertegun) B (Berns) IV (the second Ertegun brother Neshui). Months later, Bert declared his desire to make his own records on his own label. And rather than risk losing their shooting star, Wexler grudgingly agreed to the creation of BANG Records. Bang, with its smoking gun logo, was also named for its four founding partners – B (Bert) A (Ahmet) N (Neshui) and G (Gerald). But they never could have expected Bert and Bang to outperform their own label and interfere with their future plans for Atlantic Records.
What Bert Berns did in the first year of Bang is nothing less than astounding. He signed The Strangeloves and The McCoys, writing and releasing back-to-back standards with “I Want Candy” and “Hang On Sloopy.” He took a chance on Neil Diamond and fostered, with the team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, all of his early classics – songs like “Cherry Cherry,”
“Solitary Man,” and “Kentucky Woman.” He was having so much fun that he even made an album on his hero, Arsenio Rodriguez, bringing the blind old Cuban icon to New York City for the sessions. And if that wasn’t enough, he brought Van Morrison across the Atlantic on a one-way ticket and championed the beginnings of his solo career, producing “Brown Eyed Girl” and “TB Sheets.”
Bert appeared unstoppable. And with Bang Records home to an ever increasing roster of pop and rock artists, he formed a new subsidiary label, Shout Records, to exclusively release recordings of his greatest passion – soul music. Bert’s best buddy Carmine “Wassel” DeNoia, who had now well and truly learned the music business from Bert, proceeded to “pull” the two acts he was managing – Freddie Scott and The Exciters –
from their major labels and brought them over to Shout. The album Bert Berns
proceeded to make with Freddie Scott, “Are You Lonely For Me,” is hailed as one of the greatest LPs of the genre. And Bert’s Shout recordings with The Exciters and Aretha’s sister Erma Franklin represent a songwriter and producer and label chief at the peak of his powers.
In
the midst of all this success, Bert never once forgot that his heart was a
time bomb, ticking closer and closer to a predetermined inevitability.
He was talking to world-renowned heart surgeon Michael DeBakey about
a new form of bypass surgery, and was seeing the noted psychiatrist Dr.
Max Needleman. Writing autobiographical songs, he subtly betrayed that
inner knowingness hidden in darkest fears. But he refused to live with
one foot in the grave and charged forward with life. The year that he started
his labels, Bert fell in love with a beautiful, young twister from the Peppermint
Lounge, married and started a family. In three short years he would father
three children. He had the penthouse apartment, the champion Great Dane,
the convertible Jag, the Harley Davidson, the yacht.
One of Bert’s great passions was his 50 ft. steel-hulled Chris-Craft motor yacht, the “Little Bit Of Soap.” He would take it out of the marina on the Hudson River and cruise around the Statue of Liberty and back. By chance, the yacht moored next to him was owned by Tommy Eboli (a/k/a Tommy Ryan), who happened to be the boss of bosses of the Genovese family. Tommy and Bert would become the closest of friends – it was said that Tommy loved him like his own son. When Bert bought a new boat, Tommy went and bought the same exact boat. And the two men would take turns cruising the waterways of New York to the sound of an ever-present FBI helicopter hovering overhead. An inexplicable and unique relationship, the two shared a mysterious and inseparable bond.
As the twilight of Bert's life approached, a fierce struggle ensued over control of Bang. First Wexler and Ertegun tried for more control of the label. Then they gave Berns a buyout ultimatum. With their relationship in tatters and events threatening to spin completely out of control, they forever went their separate ways. And Bert walked away sole owner of WEB IV and Bang.
In the wake of this respite, Bert began to face new challenges. Conflict erupted with Van Morrison over creative decisions and the like. Then things broke down with Neil Diamond, culminating in a dramatic showdown between the two men over Neil's intention to leave Bert's label.
Days later, Bert Berns was dead. He left a wife and three babies, the youngest only two weeks old. The scars on his wounded heart buckled under the stress of making music the world would never forget. On that New Years Eve of 1967, Bert was feeling the fatigue and laid down for an afternoon nap. Moments later, there was a knock at the door – it was Tommy Eboli. He had a dream that Bert was calling him – “I need you” – and came rushing over to the apartment, only to discover a distraught new widow. Tommy became inconsolable, crying profusely. The entire music scene in New York City was shocked with disbelief. And in a twist of fate, the golden era had come to an end.
Andrew Loog Oldham in NME
In the last days of his life, Bert Berns made two of his greatest and most introspective records – “Piece of My Heart” and “Heart Be Still” – songs that provided not only clearest evidence of what legendary arranger Garry Sherman called “the consummate producer,” but also autobiographical insights into deepest loves and fears.
Baby, my heart is breaking
And there’s no hope – no hope in sight.
The sky is an ocean of darkness.
No one, no one to hold me in the lonely night.
Tell me, how can I forget you
How Can I Go To Sleep
When I Know That
I Love You
I Love You
And Always Will
Heart Be Still
Heart Be Still