Biography
Forming a male-female partnership, Richard Berry joined forces with his acquaintance Jennell Hawkins to record as the duo Rickey & Jennell. Their lone release appeared on Flair in 1954 as the single "Each Step"/"This Time It's Real." The two tracks represented standard doo wop pairings, with the A-side unfolding as a ballad and the flip side adopting a brisker R&B approach; both later surfaced on the Richard Berry anthology Yama Yama! The Modern Recordings 1954-1956. At that point Berry stood at the outset of a solo trajectory that would generate numerous R&B and rock & roll discs, most notably the original 1957 rendition of "Louie, Louie."