Richard Berry Jr. (April 11, 1935 – January 23, 1997) was an American singer, songwriter and musician, who performed with many Los Angeles doo-wop and close harmony groups in the 1950s, including the Flairs and the Robins.

Berry was born in Extension, south of Monroe, Louisiana, and moved with his family to Los Angeles as a baby.

[3] Berry attended Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, and with many other pupils practiced singing vocal harmonies in the corridors.

[4] He began singing and playing in local doo-wop groups, recording with a number of them including the Penguins, the Cadets, the Chimes, the Crowns, the Five Hearts, the Hunters, the Rams, the Whips, and the Dreamers, an otherwise all-female quartet from Fremont High.

A few months later, when the producers needed a bass voice for the Robins' "Riot In Cell Block #9" on Spark Records, they recruited Berry to provide the menacing lead vocal on the song – uncredited because he was contracted to Modern.

Berry's voice was used at Modern, again uncredited, as the counterpoint to Etta James on her first record and big hit "The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)" and several of its less successful follow-ups.

[6] Berry also recorded with several other groups on the Modern and Flair labels, including Arthur Lee Maye and the Crowns, and the Dreamers (who later became the Blossoms).

It was re-released as an A-side, and when the group toured the Pacific Northwest, several local R&B bands began to adopt the song and established its popularity.

He re-recorded it a few years later in a gospel version retitled "What We Need", with his six children providing backup harmony vocals.

[4] In February 1996, Berry performed for the final time, reuniting with the Pharaohs and the Dreamers for a benefit concert in Long Beach, California.

[18] Berry married Dorothy Adams, a girl with whom he attended high school, in 1957, and they had two children, Pam and Marcel.

[15] Berry had six children in total, Pamela, Richard Marcel, Stephani, Karen, Linda and Christy.