Richard Barrett, also known as Richie Barrett, was an American singer, record producer, and songwriter.
Biography
Barrett was born in Philadelphia in 1933. He was an early fifties successful independent black record producer, influential in shaping the New Yorkrhythm and blues sound. Barrett discovered and promoted Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, the Chantels, Little Anthony & the Imperials, the Valentines, and the Three Degrees. He managed the Chantels in the 1950s, and later managed the Three Degrees from the early 1960s until the early 1980s, producing many of their albums, and conducting the orchestra at their live shows. As an artist, he is most famous for co-writing and recording, as Richie Barrett, the song "Some Other Guy". Barrett sang lead for the Valentines from 1954 to 1957. Ronnie Bright, who later joined the Cadillacs and the Coasters, sang bass. Barrett co-wrote two songs with Carl Hogan. One was "Be Sure My Love," which was recorded by the Dubs on Gone Records in 1958; and another, "So Much," was recorded by Little Anthony & the Imperials on End Records in 1958, and also recorded by the Attributes. On the Chantels' single "Maybe", Barrett played piano, bass, and drums. Barrett produced several of the Chantels' records. Barrett's first single was a cover of the Fleetwoods' "Come Softly to Me", with the Chantels as backing vocalists. He recorded "Some Other Guy" in 1962, a tune modeled on Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" and was assured immortality, if not a hit single, following cover versions performed by the Beatles and other Liverpool groups of the time, including the Searchers and the Big Three. A clip of the Beatles performing the song at the Cavern was shown on a regional television program screened by Granada TV in the north-west of England in August or September 1962 shortly after the band fired their previous drummer Pete Best and replaced him with Ringo Starr, and this low-quality footage has been included on many videos and DVDs since that time. There was a recording by Richard T. Barrett called "Try To Be Happy" b/w "Your Gentle Heart", released on Maarc Records #1542, in 1962. This may be a different singer. In 1998, Ben Vereen portrayed Barrett in the film bio about Frankie Lymon called Why Do Fools Fall in Love. Barrett died of pancreatic cancer in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania on August 3, 2006.
