Sir Rod Stewart, 79, admits ‘I’m devastated’ as he pays heartbreaking tribute following death of ‘true friend’
Sir Rod Stewart, 79, has posted a touching tribute to his “true friend” Richard Perry after the producer passed away on Christmas Eve.
Perry died aged 82 during a hospital stay amid a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
The legendary music producer worked with several legendary acts, including producing The Great American Songbook album series with Stewart.
Floored by the loss, Stewart posted a touching farewell to Perry on Instagram.
“Dearest Richard, farewell, my dear buddy. They say in life a man is lucky if he can count his true friends on one hand, and you were certainly one of them,” he began.
The 79-year-old revealed: “Now I’ve lost you, and I’m devastated.”
“We played and worked so closely together for so many years, creating some of the most memorable music together,” the Maggie May hitmaker reflected.
Stewart also gave an insight into his personal relationship with Perry, revealing how important the producer was to him and his wife Penny Lancaster.
The 79-year-old remembered happily: “You were there when Penny and I first started dating, encouraging our relationship.”
“We are both in tears as I post this farewell,” he concluded bittersweetly.
Perry, who received a Grammy Trustee Award in 2015, passed away on December 24 as confirmed by his friend Daphna Kastner Keitel.
“He maximized his time here,” Kastner said. “He was generous, fun, sweet and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweeter without him here. But it’s a little bit sweeter in heaven.”
Stewart was far from the only star to pay tribute to Perry, with singer and actress Barbra Streisand also sharing her heartbreak.
“Richard had an uncanny ability to pick the hits, and most important to me, a wonderful sense of humor,” she wrote. “We had such fun in the studio…and we became really good life-long friends.”
Streisand and Perry collaborated on two pivotal albums in 1971: Stoney End and Barbra Joan Streisand.
Film score composer James Newton Howard commented on the post: “I played on a bunch of records that Richard produced. He knew a hit song when he heard it. I loved working with him.”
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Perry also produced The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr’s solo album, Ringo, which featured contributions from the iconic band’s other members.
Starr sold over one million copies and reached number two in the charts.