A trumpeter, bandleader and occasional singer who has sold an estimated 72m albums, and a music mogul whose label, A&M, signed the Carpenters, Carole King, Sting and dozens more, Herb Alpert is a true musical legend – and at 88, he is still releasing new music: his new album Wish Upon a Star will be released on 15 September. He’ll answer your questions about that, or anything else from across his magnificent career – post them in the comments below.
Born to highly musical Jewish immigrant parents in Los Angeles, Alpert picked up the trumpet at eight years old, graduating to USC’s marching band and then a US army band during the Korean war. He segued to songwriting – an early success came with Sam Cooke’s Wonderful World – and began a remarkable dual career, setting up A&M in 1962 while writing and performing his own distinctive music.
Inspired by seeing bullfighting in Tijuana, Mexico, he created a massively popular take on mariachi music, playing mellifluous trumpet themes with his band Tijuana Brass. The 1965 record Whipped Cream and Other Delights (whose picture of a cream-covered model, Dolores Erickson, made it one of the most iconic record covers of all time) – was the first of seven US Top Five albums that the band had in three years, five of them reaching No 1. Alpert’s success was such that in April 1966 he had four albums in the Top 10 at once – a feat that was not matched until Taylor Swift also managed it earlier this year. Alpert also topped the singles chart in 1968 with the Bacharach and David song This Guy’s in Love With You.
After a creative crisis in the late 60s, he set out with a more adventurous jazz bent, collaborated with Hugh Masekela, then took a left turn into disco with the 1979 album Rise – whose title track (later sampled by the Notorious BIG for Hypnotize) took Alpert back to No 1, making him the only person to top the US chart with both an instrumental and a vocal song.
A&M meanwhile became one America’s most successful independent labels ever, signing British stars such as Cat Stevens and Joe Cocker alongside an astounding variety of US acts from Quincy Jones to the Flying Burrito Brothers, Liza Minelli to Wes Montgomery. In the 80s, before Alpert and co-founder Jerry Moss were bought out by Polygram in a deal eventually worth $700m, A&M also started the careers of Janet Jackson, Bryan Adams, Suzanne Vega and many more.
Alpert put his wealth into philanthropic ventures, particularly focusing on music education, and aside from a break in the 2000s he has continued to record and release his own music. The forthcoming album Wish Upon a Star features his takes on classic material by Elvis Presley, the Beatles and many more.
It’s an astonishing life and career that has crossed paths with so many other musical greats, so Alpert will have a wealth of stories and insights to share. Post your questions in the comments section by 5pm BST on Tuesday 5 September, and his answers will be published later that week.
