— Life —

MEET DON PERRY, HOLLYWOOD MUSIC PRODUCER

pin it

It’s no secret that I love music. My earliest musical memories are of my father, playing clarinet with a Dixieland Jazz band. When I was old enough he taught me how to set the needle down on a vinyl LP so I could listen to George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” on my parents’s record player. Then came six years of piano lessons—with music that didn’t interest me—until rock ’n’ roll and Motown rescued me and liberated my soul. Fast forward to the ’70’s, when my husband and I helped finance a string of rock concerts.

Recently I caught up with Don Perry, Hollywood concert promoter, recording engineer and record producer.

Don Perry’s had a front row seat to the birth of rock ’n’ roll and the evolution of some of our most successful musical artists and producers. My first husband and I met Don through our mutual friend, Phillip Hall. I’ve edited my conversation with Don.

BRENDA: I think the first concert we financed with you and our friend, Phillip Hall, was Stevie Wonder. His songs “Superstition” and “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” were number one in the U.S. and had just won two or three Grammy’s, so that was 1973.

DON: Yes it was. I had just met Philip Hall. He’d called the William Morris Agency and had secured the arena in Dallas and wanted to book Stevie Wonder, but he didn’t have a track record with those major artists. Stevie’s management didn’t know Phillip Hall, so they asked if he’d be willing to co-promote with a West Coast promoter. I’d just done three concerts with Stevie Wonder, but Phillip Hall balked a little bit. He didn’t want a West Coast hotshot telling him how to promote a concert. They told him, “Don’s a good guy. He’s done Stevie, the Jackson 5, and he’s the biggest black promoter on the West Coast,” so Phillip said okay. I flew to Dallas to meet Phillip Hall (who was black), and he’s looking for the biggest “black” promoter on the West Coast, and this white guy with grey hair gets off the plane… 

BRENDA: LOL!

DON: He was a little shocked, but we hit it off, and that concert was a major success… The arena was jammed. Earth, Wind & Fire was a new group… and we got them as the opening act with all 25 traveling people, and they just blew the roof off the place…. When I look back at all the concerts I did, that may have been the strongest one-two opening act and headliner I did in all the years I did concerts. 

BRENDA: I seem to remember we backed Chaka Kahn and Rufus and War with you.

DON: Yes, but I think the next big one Phillip Hall and I did was Gladys Knight & the Pips. She was just a gracious lady. It’s always great to produce concerts with people you think are nice people, and they are. Stevie Wonder was an incredible performer and human being… 

It always comes down to the rider in their contract. What they wanted in their dressing room or hotel. Some were very simple. Stevie wanted hot tea and honey in the dressing room. The O’Jays wanted a home cooked meal. Nothing from a restaurant. I think Phillip found some people he knew to put together a home cooked meal for them in their dressing room.

BRENDA: Who was the first concert you booked?

DON: I booked Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band at the California State Fair with Linda Ronstadt as the opening act. The ones I did ranged from big music acts to Cheech & Chong. I was the first white promoter the Jackson 5 allowed to do their concerts, so I carry that proudly… That I was an honest enough promoter that acts didn’t feel like they were going to be ripped off. I did the Temptations, Roberta Flack, Waylon Jennings and Charlie Rich, Lou Rawls, Blood Sweat & Tears.

I only did concerts for a couple of years. They saved my behind because I was trying to make it as a singer/songwriter. Then I got on the production side as a recording engineer and a record producer. I found my niche. 

I pioneered independent music supervision. I went to the producer and director or film company and proposed an entire package where I would help them set budgets, hire a composer, produce the sessions, produce the music from the beginning to the dubbing sessions at the end. I became a complete music department for independents (filmmakers) who didn’t know anything about music. I produced close to 100 films and 300 or 400 hours of network TV and series. Ironically I wanted to become a singer/songwriter and produce hit records, but the hit records I had came out of film scores, so it went full circle until I was able to put a gold record up on my wall.

BRENDA: Wasn’t that from the TV show, “The Life & Times of Grizzly Adams?” I read where it sold almost three million singles worldwide.

DON: …That song made my career.

BRENDA: Then came the Girls Just Want to Have Fun film and the music.

DON: …and the film, Night of the Comet, which became a cult film and still has a lot of followers and a Facebook page. 

After moving to Carmel, California, I used to do career day at Carmel High School, and I would tell the kids I worked for 30 years in a business where I would have done the job for nothing. I tell them that’s the difference between a career and a job. You can always get a job. A job you look forward to vacations and paydays, but with a career, you look forward to getting up and doing the creative work…. 

…The kids were playing the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s on Pandora, and they were dancing to it and discovering it, and they would ask me about some of the artists, so I started writing a blog called, The Birth of Rock & Roll, an Eyewitness Account. A friend of mine—who’d been in the business for a while—read some and said, “You’ve got a book there,” so that was the start of my book. Don Perry Produced the Music: My Journey Through the Golden Years of Rock and Roll.

BRENDA: Talk to me about the downside of the business. The sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. We lost Phillip Hall to that. He’d been to San Antonio to see us the week before he died, and after he left, I found a plate on the top shelf of the library with cocaine on it. It was the first time I’d seen cocaine.

DON: That’s the saddest story in my business. He was wide-eyed when he came out to LA, and he fell into the lifestyle. I wish I’d seen it coming quicker… He started coming in late. I think that was the first sign… Phillip Hall was the closest person to me that went. Had I known it was that bad, I don’t know if I could have stepped in because you can’t tell somebody, who’s now addicted, to stop it. It doesn’t work that way.

BRENDA: Somebody from LA called me and told me he was dead, and of course we were shocked and saddened. He hadn’t been himself when he’d been to see us.

DON: It was a tragic time. So many of the people I worked with… I met Nilsson, Harry Nilsson, at the beginning of his career… He passed away in his 40’s, not from an OD, but because his body was so wracked with all the abuse it had in those days. I always thought one of my major accomplishments was that I lasted 30 years in the business. Maybe it’s a blessing I didn’t become that multimillionaire who had time to play around with those things.

BRENDA: I read somewhere that you sold your car and with enough money to last you six months, you came to Hollywood to become a rock star… You recorded yourself singing and on the playbacks you fully expected to hear the voices in your head that you’d sung along to for so long like Stevie Wonder and Bill Medley, but what you heard was a bad Andy Williams or a Pat Boone. LOL! Was that disappointing?

DON: LOL! Well it was, and it wasn’t… I wasn’t a bad singer, but I wasn’t going to compete unless I could write an incredible hit song for myself, and I wasn’t that strong a songwriter either. But that was one of the things that led me to producing other people, appreciating other people’s talents, so it was a positive… 

I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to meet and work with such talented people in my lifetime. It was an incredible way to follow a dream and make a living doing what I wanted to do. Not making it as a singer still provided me with the opportunity to pioneer independent music supervision that a lot of people are following now. I wish everybody had an opportunity to dream something, to visualize it and be motivated by it and make it a career.

I’ve never retired from something. I’ve retired to something, so I’m still looking for that something else. I’m not done yet, and it sounds like you’re not either.

If you’re interested in purchasing Don’s book, you can order it directly through the publisher.

Love, Brenda

21 Comments

  • Deborah July 27, 2019 at 8:23 am

    Brenda, how interesting! I too grew up with Motown and it is still my favorite musical genre but I remember Ricky Nelson so well. Loved the tv show Ozzie and Harriet and always waited for the end where Ricky would sing. I know he eventually got messed up with the drug scene but I was sad to learn of his premature death in the plane crash I think it was. He was so handsome and seemed so likable. I always thought it was such a waste. I felt bad for his wife and children. Oh well, thanks for the video, I always look forward to your posts. P.S. I have always heard that Gladys Knight was a gracious lady and when she performed the National Anthem with reverence and class at the Super Bowl this year, she proved once again what a lady she truly is!

    • 1010ParkPlace July 30, 2019 at 10:13 am

      Deborah, How could we not love Rick Nelson with those chiseled features, blue eyes and that slow, sexy way he had about him. Like he never rushed ANYTHING! It was nice to have an insider confirm that Gladys Knight is the real deal. Thanks for kicking off the conversation! I appreciate you! xoxox, Brenda

  • Kathy July 27, 2019 at 8:50 am

    Reading your blog was a great way to start my weekend! Thank you!!

    • 1010ParkPlace July 30, 2019 at 10:14 am

      Hi Kathy, Seeing your comment was a great way to start my weekend as well. I read it as I was running out the door, heading to Houston to see the Rolling Stones for the umpteenth time! Thank you! xoxox, Brenda

  • Barb July 27, 2019 at 9:58 am

    What a great time to have been in the record business. Thanks for all of your blogs. Barb

    • 1010ParkPlace July 30, 2019 at 10:30 am

      Hi Barb, I’m happy you enjoy my blogs! Glad you liked reading about Don Perry! Thanks so much, Brenda

  • Donna O'Klock July 27, 2019 at 10:29 am

    As Lou Reed said, “My life was saved by rock n’ roll!” So grateful for people like Don who made it all possible for me to enjoy!
    XO

    • 1010ParkPlace July 30, 2019 at 10:18 am

      Great quote, Donna! I’d never heard that. Rock n’ roll made me love music in a way I hadn’t until then. It’s hard when you’re seven-years-old and have to practice classical music three hours a day… No fun! xoxox, Brenda

  • Colleen Fuller July 27, 2019 at 4:42 pm

    Don Perry sounds so interesting. I enjoyed what he said about Ricky Nelson. I adored Ricky even when he was a small boy on Ozzie and Harriet. When he was older and started singing I was “in love” with him and in heaven watching him perform. His death was so tragic. I still listen to his music all these years later. Thank you, thank you for this post!

  • Beckye July 27, 2019 at 7:50 pm

    What a fun post! I loved Motown and still love singing and dancing to those songs, and enjoyed so many of those bands and performers. My goodness, Brenda! What else have you done? Or rather, what have you not done?!! LOL You constantly amaze! So great to hear about all of that. Thanks for sharing!

    • 1010ParkPlace July 30, 2019 at 10:26 am

      Beckye, LOL! Yes, I’ve lived a lot of lives, some I can’t write about, even in my memoir, but the ones I do share are huge. Motown always makes my foot start tapping and I start singing! xoxox, Brenda

  • Sandra Sallin - Apart From My Art July 28, 2019 at 11:35 am

    Is there anything you haven’t done? Absolutely fascinating post. Fun because I remember all of these artists. Love your memories.

    • 1010ParkPlace July 30, 2019 at 10:27 am

      Thank you, Sandy! Your memories are interesting as well. Look at all you’ve done and the people you’ve met! xoxox, Brenda

  • Doreen McGettigan July 28, 2019 at 12:38 pm

    What an interesting, great post Brenda. I was always a country girl, (Waylon omg)
    which upset my father terribly. He was always trying to convert me. He’d be proud now I love it all.
    I’m really looking forward to reading Don’s book.

    • 1010ParkPlace July 30, 2019 at 10:29 am

      Hi Doreen, Don will be please to hear you’re interested in his book. I’m a Texas girl but was slow coming to country music. Just yesterday, at the gym, I was defending Willie Nelson to some numb nuts young guy who said, “Why is he even famous? He’s only had one hit song!” No nothing kid! Grrrr… xoxox, Brenda

    • Don Perry July 30, 2019 at 1:22 pm

      I do hope you enjoy my book Doreen…You mentioned Waylon…I did two concerts with Waylon and Charlie Rich back in the day. Waylon gave incredible performances both nights!

  • LA CONTESSA July 30, 2019 at 11:29 am

    GOOD LORD!
    KEEP THE STORIES COMING!!!!!!!!!
    XOXO

    • Brenda Coffee July 30, 2019 at 2:18 pm

      LOL! I’m not short on stories, Elizabeth! Thanks for reading and leaving me and Don a note. xoxox, Brenda

  • Don Perry July 30, 2019 at 1:27 pm

    Thank you all for your kind comments and thanks to Brenda for the blog. Those of you who follow her know she has lived an amazing life. During her interview with me, I probably asked her more questions about her than she did of me….I’ll be looking forward to her blogs…

    • Brenda Coffee July 30, 2019 at 2:21 pm

      Thanks, Don! I loved catching up with you. I think life had bigger things in store for both of us than succumbing to drugs or the jungles of Central America. xoxox, Brenda

    You Might Also Like

    MAKE LIFE COUNT.

    Sign up to our list and we’ll send you our sought-after guide “45 Ways To Change Your Life”
    I'm happy you've joined us! If you like what you read, I'd love for you to stay and subscribe to our updates by email. We have a great community of like-minded women, and your presence can only make it stronger.