Biography
The songwriting and production team of Hugo and Luigi maintained a thriving partnership across three decades from the 1950s through the 1970s. These cousins also functioned as label executives, sharing ownership of Roulette Records with Morris Levy and operating the Avco/Embassy imprint while establishing royalty and credit arrangements that later became standard industry practice.
Hugo Peretti, born December 6, 1916, launched his music career as a teenage trumpeter on the Borscht Belt and subsequently performed in Broadway theater orchestras. Luigi Creatore entered the world on December 21, 1920, in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood; his father had directed a symphonic band in Italy, and his siblings all pursued music, although Luigi himself never became an instrumentalist. Following his discharge from military service in World War II, he turned to writing.
The cousins formed their creative alliance at the wedding reception of Luigi’s brother, where Hugo’s wife, a children’s book author, enlisted Luigi’s help with story development. Their initial joint project was a children’s recording for Mercury Records; label head Irving Green then invited them to produce pop material, beginning with the Gaylords in 1954. Among their successes with Sarah Vaughan were “Make Yourself Comfortable,” which reached number six on the pop chart in late 1954, followed by “How Important Can It Be,” “Whatever Lola Wants,” also a number-six pop single in spring 1955, and “Mr. Wonderful.”
For former big-band vocalist Georgia Gibbs they fashioned two consecutive million-selling sides: a version of LaVern Baker’s 1955 hit “Tweedle Dee” that peaked at number two pop, and the medley “Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower),” drawn from Hank Ballard’s “Work With Me Annie” and Etta James’s “Roll With Me Henry,” which held the number-one pop position for three weeks in spring 1955.
Around 1957 the pair acquired a stake in Roulette Records and oversaw million-selling releases for Jimmy Rodgers, including “Honeycomb,” a number-one pop and R&B single for two weeks, and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,” which reached number three pop and number eight R&B, along with their own compositions “Oh-Oh I’m Falling in Love Again” and the double-sided hit pairing “Secretly” with “Make Me a Miracle.” Two years later they negotiated an unprecedented production agreement with RCA Records that guaranteed them a salary, a penny-per-album royalty, and producer credit on every release; the label assigned them Elvis Presley sessions, thereby placing them at the center of the emerging youth market. Additional RCA successes encompassed Sam Cooke’s Top Ten singles “Chain Gang,” “Twistin’ the Night Away,” the paired “Bring It on Home to Me” and “Havin’ a Party,” and “Another Saturday Night”; The Isley Brothers’ “Shout”; The Tokens’ rendering of The Weavers’ 1952 song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” which topped the pop chart for three weeks and reached number seven R&B; and Little Peggy March’s “I Will Follow,” a number-one pop and R&B hit for three weeks. Hugo and Luigi themselves scored chart entries with the RCA albums The Cascading Voices of the Hugo and Luigi Chorus and Let’s Fall in Love, plus the 1959 single “Just Come Home.”
On the Amherst label they produced the Softones’ gentle interpretation of Elvis Presley’s 1961 platinum-certified “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
During the 1970s they purchased Avco/Embassy Records and enjoyed hits with the Stylistics—“You Are Everything,” “Betcha By Golly Wow,” “I’m Stone in Love With You,” “Break Up to Make Up,” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New,” all gold singles—and with Van McCoy on “The Hustle,” which ascended to number one on both the pop and R&B charts in spring 1975. Through their own H&L imprint they released Vivian Reed’s Brown Sugar album, spotlighting the star of the Broadway musical Bubbling Brown Sugar. By decade’s end the cousins withdrew from the record industry; Hugo Peretti passed away in 1986. Their catalog remains accessible through numerous CD reissues.
Hugo Peretti, born December 6, 1916, launched his music career as a teenage trumpeter on the Borscht Belt and subsequently performed in Broadway theater orchestras. Luigi Creatore entered the world on December 21, 1920, in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood; his father had directed a symphonic band in Italy, and his siblings all pursued music, although Luigi himself never became an instrumentalist. Following his discharge from military service in World War II, he turned to writing.
The cousins formed their creative alliance at the wedding reception of Luigi’s brother, where Hugo’s wife, a children’s book author, enlisted Luigi’s help with story development. Their initial joint project was a children’s recording for Mercury Records; label head Irving Green then invited them to produce pop material, beginning with the Gaylords in 1954. Among their successes with Sarah Vaughan were “Make Yourself Comfortable,” which reached number six on the pop chart in late 1954, followed by “How Important Can It Be,” “Whatever Lola Wants,” also a number-six pop single in spring 1955, and “Mr. Wonderful.”
For former big-band vocalist Georgia Gibbs they fashioned two consecutive million-selling sides: a version of LaVern Baker’s 1955 hit “Tweedle Dee” that peaked at number two pop, and the medley “Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower),” drawn from Hank Ballard’s “Work With Me Annie” and Etta James’s “Roll With Me Henry,” which held the number-one pop position for three weeks in spring 1955.
Around 1957 the pair acquired a stake in Roulette Records and oversaw million-selling releases for Jimmy Rodgers, including “Honeycomb,” a number-one pop and R&B single for two weeks, and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,” which reached number three pop and number eight R&B, along with their own compositions “Oh-Oh I’m Falling in Love Again” and the double-sided hit pairing “Secretly” with “Make Me a Miracle.” Two years later they negotiated an unprecedented production agreement with RCA Records that guaranteed them a salary, a penny-per-album royalty, and producer credit on every release; the label assigned them Elvis Presley sessions, thereby placing them at the center of the emerging youth market. Additional RCA successes encompassed Sam Cooke’s Top Ten singles “Chain Gang,” “Twistin’ the Night Away,” the paired “Bring It on Home to Me” and “Havin’ a Party,” and “Another Saturday Night”; The Isley Brothers’ “Shout”; The Tokens’ rendering of The Weavers’ 1952 song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” which topped the pop chart for three weeks and reached number seven R&B; and Little Peggy March’s “I Will Follow,” a number-one pop and R&B hit for three weeks. Hugo and Luigi themselves scored chart entries with the RCA albums The Cascading Voices of the Hugo and Luigi Chorus and Let’s Fall in Love, plus the 1959 single “Just Come Home.”
On the Amherst label they produced the Softones’ gentle interpretation of Elvis Presley’s 1961 platinum-certified “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
During the 1970s they purchased Avco/Embassy Records and enjoyed hits with the Stylistics—“You Are Everything,” “Betcha By Golly Wow,” “I’m Stone in Love With You,” “Break Up to Make Up,” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New,” all gold singles—and with Van McCoy on “The Hustle,” which ascended to number one on both the pop and R&B charts in spring 1975. Through their own H&L imprint they released Vivian Reed’s Brown Sugar album, spotlighting the star of the Broadway musical Bubbling Brown Sugar. By decade’s end the cousins withdrew from the record industry; Hugo Peretti passed away in 1986. Their catalog remains accessible through numerous CD reissues.