Hugo Peretti & Luigi Creatore Posthumously Inducted Into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore are the latest songwriters to be inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, following Cindy Walker in May 2024, Prince in July 2024 and Bert Berns in September 2025.

Often referred to by just their first names, Hugo & Luigi, the songwriters and producers (who were cousins) had long and hit-studded careers. They were among the first producers to have their names prominently displayed on album jackets.

They cowrote (with George David Weiss) the romantic ballad “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” which Elvis Presley took to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962 and UB40 took to No. 1 on that chart for seven weeks in 1993. The three writers also cowrote the subsequent Presley film title song “Wild in the Country.”

Hugo & Luigi wrote the English lyrics to The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” a No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1961 and a No. 3 on that chart in 1972 for Robert John.

Their No. 1 Hot 100 hits as producers include Little Peggy March’s “I Will Follow Him” (1963) and Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony’s shimmering disco classic “The Hustle” (1975).

They produced a long string of hits by Sam Cooke, including “Twistin’ the Night Away,” “Another Saturday Night” and “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

SHOF chairman Nile Rodgers referenced the latter hit in a statement about Hugo & Luigi’s induction that was issued Tuesday (Dec. 9). “We are thrilled to be posthumously inducting Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore into the Songwriters Hall of Fame,” he said. “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.’”

Early in their career, Hugo & Luigi had some success as artists. They cracked a pre-Hot 100 Billboard chart in 1955 with “Young Abe Lincoln,” and had two hits on the Hot 100 (which was introduced in 1958), including “Just Come Home,” which made the top 40. As artists, they cracked the top 20 on the Billboard 200 in 1963 with The Cascading Voices of the Hugo & Luigi Chorus.

In 1957, they bought into Roulette Records, where they produced major hits for Jimmie Rodgers (the pop-folk singer, not the country music legend of the same name), including “Honeycomb” and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine.”

Two years later, Creatore and Peretti signed a deal with RCA Victor where they produced pop crooner and NBC television star Perry Como, and worked with such other label stalwarts as Della Reese, Cooke, Presley, The Tokens and March. One of their most notable successes for RCA, The Isley Brothers’ classic “Shout,” was only a moderate Hot 100 success at the time (No. 47 in 1959). The song has since been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and has ranked high in numerous lists of all-time greatest singles.

Creatore and Peretti left RCA Victor in 1964 to join Weiss in writing a musical about the American Civil War. Titled Maggie Flynn, it ran for two months on Broadway in 1968-69. The musical starred Shirley Jones and her then-husband Jack Cassidy (who received a Tony nomination for his performance) and featured a pre-fame Irene Cara. The cast album cracked the Billboard 200 in early 1969.

Hugo & Luigi formed Avco Records in the 1970s, where they teamed with Weiss to write seven Hot 100 hits for The Stylistics, including “Let’s Put It All Together,” a top 20 hit in 1974.

They won a Grammy in 1977 as producers of the original cast album to the hit Broadway show Bubbling Brown Sugar, which won as best cast show album.

Hugo & Luigi then launched a new label, H&L Records, which they ran until they retired at the end of the 1970s.

Both cousins were born in New York City. They shared an office in New York’s legendary Brill Building. Peretti died in May 1986 at age 69. Creatore, who was the son of famed Italian bandmaster Giuseppe Creatore, died in December 2015 at age 93.

This is the fourth posthumous induction into the SHOF in less than two years, following Cindy Walker in May 2024, Prince in July 2024 and Bert Berns in September 2025. SHOF chairman Linda Moran likes to keep the mood at the main June induction ceremony celebratory, and these separate posthumous induction events help achieve that goal.