Richard Berry secured an enduring position in rock history simply by writing and first recording “Louie Louie,” a number itself derived from Rene Touzet’s “El Loca Cha Cha.” He also played a notable supporting role on the Los Angeles R&B circuit throughout the first half of the 1950s. While still a teenager he sang with the Flairs and later stepped out on his own, cutting a string of singles that moved easily among ballads, novelty tunes, and tracks styled after Little Richard. His skill with gravel-voiced comic delivery anticipated the Coasters; indeed, he supplied the uncredited lead on Leiber & Stoller’s “Riot in Cell Block #9,” originally waxed by the Robins, who would later become the Coasters. He likewise appeared without credit as Etta James’s rumbling counterpart on the mid-’50s R&B smash “Roll With Me, Henry.”
Berry cut the original “Louie Louie” in 1956, and although it scored regional success in several West Coast markets, it went no farther at the time. His own recording career faded by the close of the decade, yet he continued to perform live. In the early 1960s a handful of Northwest groups began featuring the song, generating strong local airplay until the Kingsmen finally propelled it to national prominence, peaking at number two in 1963. Since that breakthrough “Louie Louie” has become one of rock’s most frequently covered standards, with well over a thousand versions now in existence. The track even drew FBI scrutiny and prompted public campaigns and parades aimed at making it Washington’s official state song. Berry’s own 1956 master remains elusive, surfacing only on scattered anthologies; the take included on Rhino’s Louie Louie collection is itself a later re-recording. Decades afterward he finally reclaimed ownership of the composition he had signed away years earlier.
