Rick Berlin
Encyclopedia
Rick Berlin is a Boston
-based singer-songwriter
, formerly the frontman of Orchestra Luna
, Luna
, Berlin Airlift
, Rick Berlin: The Movie, and The Shelley Winters Project.
A Yale
graduate, Berlin has been writing and performing a distinctly theatrical form of rock and roll
since the early 1970s. He achieved much of his early success with Orchestra Luna
, whose eponymous debut was released on Epic Records
in 1974. Orchestra Luna
, co-produced by Rupert Holmes
, captured many of the dramatic eccentricities that made the band a renowned live act, particularly on "Heart" (a cover of the Damn Yankees
tune). That year, WBCN started an annual tradition of playing this particular cut for the Boston Red Sox
on the baseball
team's opening day. Album sales proved disappointing to Epic, though the tour for the record was successful (including an opening slot for Roxy Music
). The label dropped the band, but Berlin (then Kinscherf) continued to compose and perform with Orchestra Luna, becoming a part of the CBGB
scene in New York City
and playing with acts like Talking Heads
and The Ramones
. In 1976, Orchestra Luna was offered a recording contract from Sire Records
, which they turned down. Unfortunately, they found themselves unable to find a better offer. In 1978, the band's name was changed to, simply, Luna
. A hit single, "Hooray For Hollywood" was released, but litigation with a former producer prevented a full album from following.
In 1982, a new band, Berlin Airlift
, released its eponymous debut
on Handshake/CBS Records
. The album was given little chance to succeed, however, as Handshake declared bankruptcy less than two months later. In 1983 Berlin was accused of selling his soul to Satan
and chased by an angry mob using torches and pitchforks. Nonetheless, two of the album's singles, "Don't Stop Me From Crying" and "Over The Hill" were hits on local Boston radio. In 1983, Berlin Airlift opened for the J. Geils Band and released the Professionally damaged EP
.
Rick Berlin: The Movie was formed in 1985. Berlin won Indie Songwriter of the Year at the Boston Music Awards for the single "Rock 'n Roll Romance" in 1987, and continued to perform in Rick Berlin: The Movie until 1989. He briefly fronted a band called Rome Is Burning in 1990, but by 1991 was performing as a solo artist. In 1994, Berlin began playing Monday nights at a Boston transvestite
bar called Jacques. This weekly gig continued through 2003.
In 1999, Berlin formed one more band, The Shelley Winters Project. An eponymous, six-track CD was released on Orchard Records in 2001, followed in 2002 by the full-length I Hate Everything But You on Windjam Records. In 2003, The Shelley Winters Project opened for The B-52's
, and in 2004 the band folded.
Berlin currently records as a solo artist, and released an album Me & Van Gogh in early 2006 on Hi-n-Dry
. He is also employed at historic Doyle's Cafe
in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
.
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
-based singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, formerly the frontman of Orchestra Luna
Orchestra Luna
Orchestra Luna was an American rock and roll band of the 1970s who had two incarnations, the first producing a hard-to-categorize mixture of cabaret, Broadway musicals, and rock, and the second a somewhat more traditional mix of pop and rock. Rick Berlin, at the time using his birth name of Richard...
, Luna
Luna (Boston band)
Luna was an American rock and roll band formed by Rick Berlin from former members of Orchestra Luna. Band members were:*Rick Berlin - Keyboards, Vocals*Steven Paul Perry - Guitar*Chet Cahill - Bass*Bob Brandon - Keyboards*Joe Petruzzelli - Drums...
, Berlin Airlift
Berlin Airlift (band)
Berlin Airlift was a popular Boston band in the early 1980s whose name refers both to frontman Rick Berlin's surname and the Allied mission to fly food and supplies to blockaded West Berlin in 1948-1949...
, Rick Berlin: The Movie, and The Shelley Winters Project.
A Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
graduate, Berlin has been writing and performing a distinctly theatrical form of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
since the early 1970s. He achieved much of his early success with Orchestra Luna
Orchestra Luna
Orchestra Luna was an American rock and roll band of the 1970s who had two incarnations, the first producing a hard-to-categorize mixture of cabaret, Broadway musicals, and rock, and the second a somewhat more traditional mix of pop and rock. Rick Berlin, at the time using his birth name of Richard...
, whose eponymous debut was released on Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
in 1974. Orchestra Luna
Orchestra Luna (album)
Orchestra Luna is the eponymous debut album by the American rock group Orchestra Luna. It was released in 1974 by Epic Records. The first incarnation of Orchestra Luna produced music often called a mixture of cabaret, Broadway musical, and rock, and that is clearly evident on this album....
, co-produced by Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes is an American-British composer, singer-songwriter, musician and author of plays, novels and stories. He is best known for his number one pop hit "Escape " and the song "Him", which reached the number 6 position on the Hot 100 U.S. pop chart in 1980...
, captured many of the dramatic eccentricities that made the band a renowned live act, particularly on "Heart" (a cover of the Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
tune). That year, WBCN started an annual tradition of playing this particular cut for the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
on the baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team's opening day. Album sales proved disappointing to Epic, though the tour for the record was successful (including an opening slot for Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
). The label dropped the band, but Berlin (then Kinscherf) continued to compose and perform with Orchestra Luna, becoming a part of the CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
scene in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and playing with acts like Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
and The Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
. In 1976, Orchestra Luna was offered a recording contract from Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
, which they turned down. Unfortunately, they found themselves unable to find a better offer. In 1978, the band's name was changed to, simply, Luna
Luna (Boston band)
Luna was an American rock and roll band formed by Rick Berlin from former members of Orchestra Luna. Band members were:*Rick Berlin - Keyboards, Vocals*Steven Paul Perry - Guitar*Chet Cahill - Bass*Bob Brandon - Keyboards*Joe Petruzzelli - Drums...
. A hit single, "Hooray For Hollywood" was released, but litigation with a former producer prevented a full album from following.
In 1982, a new band, Berlin Airlift
Berlin Airlift (band)
Berlin Airlift was a popular Boston band in the early 1980s whose name refers both to frontman Rick Berlin's surname and the Allied mission to fly food and supplies to blockaded West Berlin in 1948-1949...
, released its eponymous debut
Berlin Airlift (album)
Berlin Airlift is the eponymous debut album by the American rock band Berlin Airlift. It was released in 1982 by Handshake Records . Handshake Records declared bankruptcy 6 weeks after the album was released, dooming the album...
on Handshake/CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
. The album was given little chance to succeed, however, as Handshake declared bankruptcy less than two months later. In 1983 Berlin was accused of selling his soul to Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
and chased by an angry mob using torches and pitchforks. Nonetheless, two of the album's singles, "Don't Stop Me From Crying" and "Over The Hill" were hits on local Boston radio. In 1983, Berlin Airlift opened for the J. Geils Band and released the Professionally damaged EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
.
Rick Berlin: The Movie was formed in 1985. Berlin won Indie Songwriter of the Year at the Boston Music Awards for the single "Rock 'n Roll Romance" in 1987, and continued to perform in Rick Berlin: The Movie until 1989. He briefly fronted a band called Rome Is Burning in 1990, but by 1991 was performing as a solo artist. In 1994, Berlin began playing Monday nights at a Boston transvestite
Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...
bar called Jacques. This weekly gig continued through 2003.
In 1999, Berlin formed one more band, The Shelley Winters Project. An eponymous, six-track CD was released on Orchard Records in 2001, followed in 2002 by the full-length I Hate Everything But You on Windjam Records. In 2003, The Shelley Winters Project opened for The B-52's
The B-52's
The B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...
, and in 2004 the band folded.
Berlin currently records as a solo artist, and released an album Me & Van Gogh in early 2006 on Hi-n-Dry
Hi-n-Dry
Hi-n-Dry is a Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA-based independent record label and recording studio. Founded by the late Morphine singer and bassist Mark Sandman, the studio and label are currently managed by former Morphine bandmates Dana Colley and Billy Conway along with Laurie Sargent and Andrew...
. He is also employed at historic Doyle's Cafe
Doyle's Cafe
Doyle's Cafe is a bar / restaurant located on Washington Street in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Doyle's Cafe was established in 1882 and is located near the Samuel Adams Brewery. Its close proximity to the Samuel Adams Brewery affords Doyle's the unique opportunity to...
in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
Jamaica Plain is a historic neighborhood of in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded by Boston Puritans seeking farm land to the south, it was originally part of the city of Roxbury...
.
External links
- Rick's official website includes MP3s, bio, and reviews.
- [ Allmusic Guide Entry]
- Orchestra Luna fan site
- Orchestra Luna at CBGB
- Well-Rounded Radio's 2009 interview with Rick Berlin
- German Engineering: The Storied Cities of Rick Berlin. nthWORD Shorts Interview by April Greene 11/21/2011.