Freddie Perren
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Frederick "Freddie" Perren (1943 – December 16, 2004) was an African-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; later songwriting and production works included hits for Gloria Gaynor (I Will Survive) and Peaches and Herb (Reunited).
Yvonne Elliman's praise for his role in her career is profuse, "Freddie 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 the 1990s, he suffered a massive stroke and died 11 years later in 2004 at the age of sixty-one in his home in Chatsworth, California. He is interred in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth.
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