Freddie Perren
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Frederick "Freddie" Perren (May 15, 1943 – December 16, 2004) was an American songwriter, record producer, arranger, and orchestra conductor.
He is notable for being a member of The Corporation, a hitmaking production team which included Fonce Mizell, Deke Richards and Berry Gordy that wrote and produced The Jackson 5's early hits, including "I Want You Back", "ABC", The Love You Save", "Mama's Pearl", and "Maybe Tomorrow". Perren also produced G.C. Cameron "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" from the film Cooley High. In the mid and late 70s, Perren found platinum success writing and producing such mega-hits as "Boogie Fever" by the Sylvers, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, and "Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches & Herb. He also produced Yvonne Elliman's recording of the Gibb Brothers' "If I Can't Have You" for the soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever."
Yvonne Elliman's praise for his role in her career is profuse, "[Perren] taught me one of my most valuable lessons — how to harmonize correctly. You'd be surprised how many people do it wrong — and how much better their song would be if they let Freddie arrange and guide them through it. He produced all of my biggest hits: 'Love Me', 'Hello Stranger', and 'If I Can't Have You'. He and his song-writing wife Chris were a strong team — getting their songs out there, motivating people, doing good deeds for the community and its people, and sharing their gifts."
He received two Grammy Awards for his work: the 1979 Grammy Award for Album of the Year as a producer on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, and the Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording in 1980 (the only time it was awarded) for Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive."
In 1993, Perren suffered a massive stroke. He died eleven years later at the age of sixty-one in his home in Chatsworth, California. He is interred in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth.
