ROCK’N’ROLL CONFIDENTIAL
Herb Alpert
The A&M/Tijuana Brass guvnor talks the Carpenters, ‘artists first’ and being an introvert.
’Round the horn: Herb serenades a friend, 1965.
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IIT’S
T’S9AM IN California, and Herb Alpert’s
taking a break from playing trumpet to take
MOJO’s call. Born in 1935 in Los Angeles, he began his professional life in 1957, writing songs for Sam Cooke, Jan & Dean and others. In 1962 he co-founded the storied A&M label, and the same year began a dizzying run of chart success with his Tijuana Brass, hitting US Number 1 as a vocalist with This Guy’s In Love With You in ’68. Accompanied by Lani Hall, his wife of 50 years, he’s still gigging and recording, his embouchure as unmistakable as ever on next month’s
Wish
Upon
A
Star,
his forty-ninth LP. “I was at the right place at the right time,” reflects Alpert, artist, philanthropist and true hipster, on his musical life. “Which is not to be overlooked.”