Herb Alpert

Trivia

• Was a guest musician with Krist Novoselic's 1997 project "Sweet 75".
• Only artist in history to hit #1 on the Billboard charts with both a vocal hit ("This Guy's in Love With You" in 1968) and an instrumental hit ("Rise" in 1979).
• He & Jerry Moss sold A&M Records to Universal.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 13, 2006.
• He was awarded the Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6929 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
• Trumpeter/band leader who had numerous top-40 hits with his band, The Tijuana Brass.
• His song "1980" from his album "Rise" was slated to be the theme song for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games until President Jimmy Carter declared an American boycott of those Olympics in protest of the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan.
• Co-wrote "Wonderful World" and "Only Sixteen" for the late Sam Cooke.
• Co-founder, with Jerry Moss, of A&M Records, which grew to become the world's largest independent record label. Among the artists that recorded on A&M included the Carpenters, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Carole King and Sergio Mendes.
• While attending the University of Southern California in the 1950s, he was a member of the USC Trojan Marching Band for 2 years.

Quotes

• "I never thought of myself as a trumpet player in the traditional sense: I never played in a big band . . . I didn't struggle the normal way."
• "Although there was a point with the Tijuana Brass where we were playing for such huge crowds that I kind of lost contact. At one point, the only connection I had with the audience was with people out there lighting cigarettes."