“He had a dream,” Solomon Burke said of producer Bert Berns,  “And I think he made that dream come true.”  Thus sums up the storied career of Bert Berns, whose dream of making it big in the music business took root during his first Atlantic Records session with the King of Rock & Soul.  Brought into the studio by Atlantic chief Jerry Wexler, Berns seized the opportunity, writing and producing “Cry To Me.”  That seminal session gave birth not only to the legend of Bert Berns, but to the emergence of Solomon Burke and the very beginnings of soul music.
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Bert Berns’ first session with the Isley Brothers in March of 1962 was a major milestone for both Berns and the Isley Brothers, as “Twist and Shout” put him on the map as a writer/producer and reignited the Isley Brothers’ career.  Brought into Bell Sound studios by Scepter Records’ Luther Dixon, Berns was able to demonstrate his vision for “Twist and Shout” after Phil Spector and Jerry Wexler massacred the song months earlier with The Top Notes.  Bert would go on to record over two dozen tracks with the Isley Brothers, blending Latin and Soul to give the legendary vocal group one of the most distinctive sounds of the genre.
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“That’s not the way I feel it,” Betty Harris said as she stormed into Bert Berns’ office at 1650 Broadway in the summer of 1963 to tell him that he could have done better with his production of Solomon Burke’s “Cry To Me.” Stunned and amused, Bert sat back in his chair and asked the brash young singer just how she would have done it.  Betty slowed down the tempo and turned up the soul.  Midway through her gut-wrenching gospel-inspired audition, Berns stopped Harris and called to book time at Bell Sound Studios.  The resulting dozen tracks Bert Berns made on Betty Harris for Jubilee are among the best-kept secrets from the golden era.
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“You don’t just sing Bert Berns’ songs,” Ben E. King once said.  “You have to feel them.”  And the extraordinary feeling vested in the records King made with Berns is deeply embedded in the grooves of the Atco tracks these two giants made for Atlantic Records between 1963 and 1965.  Though none of the dozen plus sides proved to hit commercially like Ben E. King’s earlier recordings with Leiber and Stoller, King expressed great affection for Berns and their work together.  “Bert’s music had more guts,” he said.  “The writing Bert Berns made back then was perfect.”
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Before Bert Berns established his Bang and Shout record labels, he presided briefly over an independent label called Keetch.  Named after his pet Siamese cat, the Keetch imprint was home to some of Berns' best yet most obscure work in 1964.  All songs written and produced by Bert Berns, these Keetch tracks represent the man's full intention to control his own destiny as songwriter, producer and label chief.

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Few independent labels in rock and roll history emerged with such a bang as Bert Berns’ Bang Records.  Established in 1965 as an outlet for Berns’ unbridled output and ambition, Bert and Bang literally hit the ground running with hit after hit after hit.  In just three short years, Bert Berns established the careers of The Strangeloves, The McCoys, Neil Diamond and Van Morrison – topping the charts with some of the most enduring classics in recorded history.

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According to soul aficionados, Bert Berns' Freddie Scott LP "Are You Lonely For Me" is one of the greatest albums released during the golden age of soul. Brought to Berns' Shout Records label by close friend and artist manager Carmine "Wassel" DeNoia, Berns took Freddie Scott into the studio and made some of the best work of their lives. The title track "Are You Lonely For Me Baby" went straight to number one on the R&B charts for four weeks, and Freddie Scott was voted Number One Newcomer in Cashbox Magazine. Only the death of Bert Berns prevented the world from truly knowing and appreciating the "distinctive, powerful and extremely soulful tenor" of the great Freddie Scott.
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Bert Berns once said, “I’ll only record a song if I think it’s a hit.”  He then followed by admitting that “some of my favorite songs only sold 30,000 copies or so.”  For whatever reason, usually nothing more than lousy label promotion, a great many of Bert’s best work never made the hit parade.  Several hundred demo 45s would be pressed, shipped and unceremoniously forgotten.  But to fully appreciate the body of work created by Bert Berns, one must dig deeper than the classics.  Therein lies the true essence of the man and his music.
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Bert Berns once said, “I’ll only record a song if I think it’s a hit.”  He then followed by admitting that “some of my favorite songs only sold 30,000 copies or so.”  For whatever reason, usually nothing more than lousy label promotion, a great many of Bert’s best work never made the hit parade.  Several hundred demo 45s would be pressed, shipped and unceremoniously forgotten.  But to fully appreciate the body of work created by Bert Berns, one must dig deeper than the classics.  Therein lies the true essence of the man and his music.
[read more]