“We are thrilled to be posthumously inducting Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. They were important pioneers in both writing and production, and among their many notable production credits is Sam Cooke’s seminal anthem for the Civil Rights movement, 'A Change Is Gonna Come.' "
- SHOF Chairman, Nile Rodgers
Luigi Creatore and Hugo Peretti were posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in early December, 2025.
Hugo Peretti – American songwriter, trumpeter, and record producer – and Luigi Creatore – American songwriter and record producer – were not only cousins, but songwriting partners and record producers whose songwriting office was in the Brill Building.
Peretti was born in New York City to an Italian American family and began his music career as a teenager, playing the trumpet in the Borscht Belt in upstate New York before graduating to playing with orchestras. Creatore was also born in New York City, the son of noted Italian-born bandleader and composer Giuseppe Creatore. After serving in World War II, in the 1950s he and Peretti teamed up to form the songwriting duo Hugo & Luigi.
In 1957, they bought into Roulette Records where they both wrote songs for various artists such as Valerie Carr and produced major hits for Jimmie Rodgers including "Honeycomb" (Billboard #1) and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" (Billboard #3), and "Oh-Oh, I'm Falling in Love Again" and "Secretly".
Two years later, Creatore and Peretti signed a deal with RCA Victor where they produced pop crooner and NBC television personality Perry Como. In addition, they produced several other RCA Victor recording artists, including many of Sam Cooke’s biggest hit singles and albums from 1960 -1964 including “Bring It On Home to Me,” “Having A Party,” “The Best of Sam Cooke” and “A Change Is Gonna Come” which became an anthem for the Civil Rights movement, and wrote English lyrics for the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)," producing the hit single for The Tokens. With George David Weiss they co-wrote "Can't Help Falling in Love" for Elvis Presley. Peretti and Creatore also wrote the Presley film theme Wild in the Country. The duo was among the first producers to have their names prominently displayed on album jackets.
Creatore and Peretti left RCA Victor in 1964 to join Weiss in writing a musical about the American Civil War. Titled Maggie Flynn it briefly ran on Broadway in 1968.
In the 1970s, Creatore and Peretti owned part of Avco Records and then established H&L Records, which they operated until retiring at the end of the decade.
Among their successes were recordings by The Stylistics and The Softones. They also won the 1977 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album as producers for Bubbling Brown Sugar.