After Planet's sale to RCA Records, Perry continued his work in the music industry as an independent producer.

With hit records stretching from the 1960s through the 2000s, his successful modern releases included albums by Rod Stewart and Carly Simon.

[3] Perry was classically trained on piano and oboe from a young age, and added guitar, bass and drums to his repertoire with the arrival of rock 'n' roll.

He was inspired by seeing Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly perform and met them backstage.

[6] Perry attended Brooklyn's Poly Prep Country Day School, where he sang bass in a doo-wop group called The Legends with three other students.

[7] He took a degree course in music at the University of Michigan (BMus '64),[8] then shifted briefly into songwriting and acting while working at Kama Sutra Records in its marketing division, collaborating with Kenny Vance.

[citation needed] He formed a production company in New York called Cloud Nine before moving to Los Angeles in 1967.

[14] His credits during the subsequent decade included albums byHarry Nilsson (Nilsson Schmilsson, Son of Schmilsson),Live Concert at the Forum), Carly Simon (No Secrets, Hotcakes, Playing Possum), Art Garfunkel (Breakaway), Diana Ross (Baby It's Me), Martha Reeves (Martha Reeves), Manhattan Transfer (Coming Out), Leo Sayer (Leo Sayer), and Andy Williams (Solitaire).

[21] After leaving Planet Records Perry continued to produce some of its acts, including the Pointer Sisters, and worked with artists such as Streisand, Donna Summer, Julio Iglesias, Neil Diamond, and Randy Travis.

Streisand found working with Perry "fun and musically liberating" and said he "had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist".

[23] Nilsson had wanted a simple piano backing for the song, but Perry convinced him that a "theatrical monster balled, complete with orchestra", would work better.

[29] In 2006 he worked with another previous collaborator, Art Garfunkel,[30] receiving both producer and singing credits on 2007's Some Enchanted Evening.