Herb Alpert

Herb Alpert rose to fame in the mid-'60s as the king of South of the Border MOR, or as it was called, "Ameriachi." He has since become a music industry force, both as a performer (he's sold more instrumental records than any artist in history) and as cofounder and vice chairman of A&M Records, which he and Jerry Moss sold to PolyGram in 1990 for a sum reported to be in excess of $500 million.

Alpert was raised in L.A. and began playing trumpet at age eight. After returning from the army he had briefly acted and then recorded as Dore Alpert for RCA. Under the pseudonym Barbara Campbell, Alpert, Lou Adler, and Sam Cooke cowrote a number of Cooke’s hits, among them “Only Sixteen” and “Wonderful World.” During the late ’50s he produced Jan and Dean, and with songwriting partner Lou Adler recorded a cover version of the Hollywood Argyles’ “Alley Oop” under the name Dante and the Evergreens.

In 1962 he and Jerry Moss (b. 1946) founded A&M Records. Initially a shoestring operation out of Alpert’s garage, A&M eventually became the nation’s biggest independent record company, largely on the strength of Alpert’s Tijuana Brass hits such as “The Lonely Bull” (#6, 1962), “A Taste of Honey” (#7, 1965), and “The Mexican Shuffle” (#85, 1964), later used in chewing gum commercials as the “Teaberry Shuffle.” In 1965 the group had five LPs in the Top 20 and in 1966 sold 13 million records.

Among Alpert’s signings for A&M were the Carpenters and Carole King. He returned to the charts in 1979 with the biggest record of his career, “Rise.” It was only Alpert’s second #1 hit, the other being a rare vocal outing, 1968’s “This Guy’s in Love With You.” His third-biggest hit, “Diamonds” (#5, 1987), was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and featured one of A&M’s biggest latter-day coups, Janet Jackson. Alpert launched his own fragrance, called Listen, in 1989. In 1994 Alpert and Moss resumed their record business activity and founded Almo Sounds, the company that would release the trumpet player’s post-A&M catalogue. The alternative-rock quartet Garbage was among the new label’s early successes; however, the company closed down in 2000. Alpert has also exhibited his paintings throughout Europe, produced for Broadway, and done philanthropic work through his Herb Alpert Foundation. Alpert’s wife is singer Lani Hall.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)