Hugo & Luigi were an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
record producing team, made up of
songwriters and producers
Hugo Peretti and
Luigi Creatore, who shared an office in New York's
Brill Building. Besides their working relationship, they were cousins.
Background
First coming to attention with singles released on
Mercury Records in the mid-1950s, they went on to produce
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...
,
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...
and several other
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
artists, including the
hit records "
Twistin' the Night Away", "
Another Saturday Night", "
The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by
the Tokens, "
Shout", a classic by the
Isley Brothers, and "
I Will Follow Him" by
Little Peggy March. They co-wrote
Elvis Presley's hit "
Can't Help Falling in Love", with
George David Weiss. They also produced albums by
Della Reese including ''
The Classic Della'', a collection of pop songs based on classical themes and ''Waltz With Me, Della'', a collection of popular songs in 3/4 time. Their track, "La Plume de Ma Tante" (written by
Al Hoffman
Al Hoffman (September 25, 1902 – July 21, 1960) was an American song composer. He was a hit songwriter active in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, usually co-writing with others and responsible for number-one hits through each decade, many of wh ...
and
Dick Manning), reached #29 in the
UK Singles Chart in July 1959.
Hugo & Luigi were also onetime co-owners of
Roulette Records. Songs composed by the duo were often credited to "Mark Markwell", and records they produced carried their distinct logo. While at Roulette Hugo and Luigi did a series of
Beautiful Music recordings of "Cascading Voices" and later "Cascading Strings."
After founding
Avco Records and producing artists such as
the Stylistics in the 1970s, Hugo & Luigi launched a new label,
H&L Records, which they ran until they retired, at the end of the decade. Peretti (born December 6, 1916) died on May 1, 1986.
Creatore (born December 21, 1921) died on December 13, 2015.
References
External links
The Hugo & Luigi Sessions
Record production duos
Grammy Award winners
RCA Victor artists
Apex Records artists
American songwriting teams
American musical duos
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