5 little-known facts about some of the biggest hits of the '60s

Bert Berns is often described as one of the most prolific songwriters and producers of the 1960s. He had a hand in crafting genres like uptown soul music, launching the careers of Van Morrison and Neil Diamond, and his catalogue is often referred to as the soundtrack of the '60s.

In 1967, at the peak of his career, Berns died of a heart attack at the age of 38. His songs lived on, but the man behind the music was forgotten. His son Brett Berns has produced a documentary called BANG! The Bert Berns Story, in hopes of fostering the legacy his father never had.

Below, five little-known facts about some of Berns' biggest hits.

1. 'Twist and Shout' caused a frenzy in Philadelphia

After Berns recorded "Twist and Shout" with the Isley Brothers, he gave an acid tape of the song to Jerry Blavat, a famous disk jockey who was known for his influence on the Philadelphia music scene. Blavat played the song on his radio station that night and listeners went into a frenzy and rushed to the stores to buy the record. Because the tape was only a demo produced earlier that day, the label was forced to rush production on the record so eager fans could get their hands on the song.

2. 'Brown Eyed Girl' wasn't the song's original title

Berns discovered Morrison when he went to produce music for DECCA records in 1965. Morrison was the frontman of the band THEM at the time. When the band broke up, Berns reached out to Morrison with a one-way ticket to New York City so he could produce him under his label, BANG Records.

Morrison landed in the studio with a song called "Brown Skinned Girl" — which was changed to "Brown Eyed Girl" for fear that a song of that name wouldn't get any airtime on the radio. During the session, legendary guitarist Eric Gale decided he wanted to play the bass with a pick, something that was unconventional in pop songs at the time. After Gale laid down the bass line, everyone in the room agreed that it had to be part of the final master.

3. 'I Want Candy' isn't actually about candy

In 1965, The Strangeloves went to Atlantic Records with their rendition of the famous song "Hey! Bo Diddley" and were rejected by the label. Ahmet Ertegun, an executive at Atlantic, believed in the project and told the band to visit Berns at BANG Records. In their first session with Berns they decided to rewrite the arrangement as a pop song. They swapped out the lyrics "Hey! Bo Diddley" for "I Want Candy," inspired by an X-rated novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg titled Candy.

4. Ferris Bueller gave 'Twist and Shout' a 2nd boost

The iconic song "Twist and Shout" was originally written by Berns and performed by a band called the Top Notes in 1961. The song went on to be covered time and time again, but the most famous of the bunch is the Beatles' version that appeared on the B-side of their 1963 album Please Please Me. By 1964, the Beatles cover had turned into a hit, running for 16 consecutive weeks on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. When the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off was released in 1986, the song saw a resurgence and reappeared on the Billboard Hot 100 list for seven more weeks. Today the song is still the Beatles longest-running Billboard Top 40 hit.

5. 'Piece of my Heart' immediately preceded Berns' heart attack

Just before Berns died, he wrote and recorded the famous song "Piece of my Heart." It was sung by Erma Franklin on Berns' label, BANG. At the time of the recording, Aretha Franklin was signed to rival label Atlantic and was dominating the charts with hits like "Respect" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man." Berns turned to Aretha's sister, Erma Franklin, in hopes of replicating her success. The song was released in October 1967 and became a hit in the U.S. and the U.K. Berns died of a heart attack two months later on Dec. 30, 1967.

— Vanessa Nigro, q staff