Rod Stewart suffers festive heartbreak: ‘I’ve lost you, and I’m devastated’

Singer Rod Stewart paid a tearful tribute to his friend Richard Perry in an Instagram post writing he and his wife Penny Lancaster were “both in tears” over the news. 

The music producer, who was behind Rod’s The Great American Songbook, died of cardiac arrest aged 82. His death was confirmed by actress Daphna Kastner to the Associated Press.

On Wednesday, Rod wrote on his socials: “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.”

“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.”

He concluded: “You were there when Penny and I first started dating, encouraging our relationship. We are both in tears as I post this farewell.”

Richard’s long-term personal assistant, Ben McCarthy told TMZ that the producer had been battling Parkinson’s disease. The PA recalled visiting the producer about a month ago saying he could no longer verbally communicate but remained in good spirits. 

Daphna spoke highly of her friend to AP, who helped make pop history by producing Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain. She said: “He maximized his time here. 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.”

The talented producer who previously shared an eight-year relationship with Jane Fonda, was even mentioned in Rod’s autobiography. 

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In Rod: The Autobiography, he remembered his friend’s 1970s West Hollywood mansion as: “The scene of much late-night skulduggery through the 1970s and beyond, and a place you knew you could always fall into at the end of an evening for a full-blown knees-up with drink and music and dancing.”

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Throughout the 1970s Richard worked with mega stars including Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, Diana Ross, and Ringo Starr. Other big hits he helped work on included The Pointer Sisters on I’m So Excited.

One special part of his legacy included modernising the sound of Barbra Streisand, helping her transition into contemporary pop and rock.