Bert Berns and Jerry Wexler on the Long Island Sound in the 60s Cassandra and Brett Berns with Keith Richards at Germano Studios in New York City, after interviewing him for the film BANG! 38 m a l i b u T i m e s m a g a z i n e # m a l i b u t i m e s m a g
Bang! The Untold Story of a Rock n Roll Legend The late Bert Berns lyrics are legendary. By Laurie Hartt Photography by Roxanne Mc Cann He s the man who penned and produced some of the most well-known hits of the 60s: Twist and Shout, Solomon Burke s Cry to Me, The McCoys Hang On Sloopy, and Them s Here Comes the Night. By all accounts, Bert Berns was one of the greatest songwriters and music producers of all time and also one of the most forgotten. He also co-wrote Piece of My Heart and The Strangeloves I Want Candy, and produced The Drifters Under the Boardwalk. His music label Bang Records was responsible for launching Van Morrison s and Neil Diamond s careers with early songs like Cherry, Cherry and Brown Eyed Girl. His children, Brett and Cassandra (Cassie) Berns, who currently live in Malibu, have spent the last 15 years resurrecting the legacy of a man and father who had until recently been lost to time and industry drama. Their father, born to Jewish immigrants in 1929 in the Bronx, contracted rheumatic fever as a child, irreparably scarring his heart. Doctors gave him a life expectancy of only 21, but Bert defied all odds, making history with every minute possible until his heart gave out in 1967 at the age of 38. His son, Brett, was not quite three, and his daughter, Cassandra, was 10 months old. Their brother Mark was only two weeks old when their father died. It wasn t until their mid-to-late 20s when the copyrights to their father s songs started reverting back to the original heirs that Brett and Cassandra began to realize their father s untold story. The first revelation for me, Brett said, was how forgotten he was... he had really fallen into complete and utter obscurity. Bert s widow, Ilene, a music business legend in her own right after taking over the Bang label upon Bert s death, eventually sold the record company, leaving the publishing business in the hands of her children. It didn t take long for Brett and Cassandra to realize the potential of their father s legacy. One day, Cassandra said, Brett and I realized we had to do something with this. Bert s work ethic certainly passed on to his children, because the two created a stage musical as well as a documentary to tell their father s story. Using their own painstaking research and Joel Selvin s 2014 biography Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues, Brett and Cassandra holed up in their office night after night, writing lines, crafting the story for the stage and bringing history back to life. We would put the song titles on the wall and turn the phones off at night and conceived the musical, Cassandra said. Piece of My Heart debuted Off-Broadway in 2014 in a limited run to great success. We took the greatest gamble of our lives, Brett said. [But] we brought him back to life on the living stage. The musical is the crown jewel of our efforts. When it came time to put together the documentary, many stepped up to take part. The story is told primarily through interviews of many of the people he worked with throughout the years. Brett directed the film and conducted the interviews, an experience he said was an extraordinary heart-pull. With the likes of wiseguy Carmine Wassel DeNoia (Bert s story is also infamous for its mob ties) and music industry icons Fall 2018 39
Brett and Cassandra reviewed work in their office on the beach in Malibu, where they continue to bring the gloriously tuneful Piece of My Heart, their father s story, to stage and screen. Brett suitd up with his children Max, 18, Marcus, 16, and Olivia, 11, before they took their well-worn boards out surfing in Malibu. 40 m a l i b u T i m e s m a g a z i n e # m a l i b u t i m e s m a g
Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Phil Spector and Bert at the BMI Awards in New York City Artwork from the film BANG! and the Broadwaybound musical, Piece of My Heart Bert died of of heart failure at the age of 38, before his son Brett (shown here with the family cat, Keetch) was 3 years old. T he Berns siblings are just getting started, with plans for future broadcasts of the documentary, a biopic or televised series and a tribute concert, they are also Images courtesy of the Berns family Ronald Isley, Solomon Burke, Ben E. King, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Betty Harris, Cissy Houston, Brenda Reid, Ilene Berns, and many others, the cast of the film is legendary in itself. Even notoriously interview-shy Van Morrison makes an appearance. It was really a testament to my dad that they even agreed to sit down with us. They really poured their hearts and souls out to us, Brett said. E Street Band guitarist and cast member of The Sopranos Steven Van Zandt narrated the story, bringing humor and a pace that emulates the breakneck speed of Bert s own life and work. The documentary debuted at the 2016 South by Southwest Film Festival and was released both theatrically and on Apple Music in 2017, just a year after Bert was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Interesting note: Bert is the only songwriter who is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but not in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. F a l lf a2 0l l1 8 2 0 1418 41
LOVING MALIBU Bert, pictured here in his New York studio, penned many classic songs including Twist and Shout and Piece of My Heart. Cassandra Berns: Favorite spot? The Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains, starting at the top of Kanan. Photos courtesy of the Berns family Favorite memory? Stand-up paddling with a group of neighbors to the Malibu Pier. I live among some of the most amazing people. I ve never lived in a place where people are happy to see each other, it s kind of extraordinary. Bert heads to his yacht at the 79th Street Boat Basin on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Brett Berns: Favorite spot? The Bluffs [where I coached baseball]. It s just one of my favorite places in all of Malibu. I also loved surfing at Little Dume with my kids and all those hardcore locals. Now I surf a secret spot. Favorite memory? Watching my three children go through Malibu baseball. I used to ride a bicycle up to the Bluffs when I was young and would think what a dream it would be to watch my kids play ball there. I was an assistant coach for a couple of years. They were some of the greatest years of my life. 42 m a l i b u T i m e s m a g a z i n e # m a l i b u t i m e s m a g planning a full Broadway reboot of Piece of My Heart in the 2019-20 season. Although Bert s story is straight out of New York, the siblings now call Malibu home. As children, they spent a summer in the Colony on vacation with their mother and it just filled us with a love for Malibu, Brett said. He s now lived in the area for nearly a decade with his family, while Cassie has recently returned to Malibu after temporarily moving back to New York for work on the musical and documentary. All three of Brett s children Max, 18; Marcus, 16; and Olivia, 11 attended Point Dume Marine Science School, and are accomplished musicians like their grandfather. [When I was young], Brett said of Malibu, it felt like a place that only other people could live. Malibu was an enchanted place. The fact that we became part of the community really was a dream come true. Alive with the promise of their father s legacy, Brett and Cassandra feel that despite losing him at a very young age, they do in fact know the legend who is Bert Berns. And they feel he would have loved the story they are rebirthing. He would have been so tickled, Cassandra said. I just think I could hear him laugh. n