Herb Alpert | |
---|---|
Alpert in 1966
|
|
Background information | |
Birth name | Herb Alpert |
Also known as | Dore Alpert, Tito Alpert |
Born |
Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
March 31, 1935
Origin | Los Angeles |
Genres | Jazz, Latin, funk, pop, R&B |
Occupation(s) | Trumpeter, composer, arranger, songwriter, singer, record producer, record executive, painter, sculptor |
Instruments | Trumpet, piano, vocals |
Years active | 1957–present |
Labels | A&M, Verve, Almo Sounds, Shout! Factory |
Associated acts | The Tijuana Brass, The Baja Marimba Band, Los Norte Americanos, The Mexicali Brass, Al Tijuana & His Jewish Brass, Black Sombrero Brass, George Garabedian, Sotelúm & The Minarete Brass Orchestra, Nashville Marimba Band, Richard Davis & The Tequila Brass |
Website | herbalpert |
Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. Alpert is also a recording industry executive, the "A" of A&M Records, a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold to PolyGram. Alpert also has created abstract expressionist paintings and sculpture over two decades, which are publicly displayed on occasion. Alpert and wife, Lani Hall, are substantial philanthropists through the operation of the Herb Alpert Foundation.
Alpert's musical accomplishments include five No. 1 albums and 28 albums total on the Billboard Album chart, nine Grammy Awards, fourteen platinum albums, and fifteen gold albums. Alpert has sold 72 million records worldwide. Alpert is the only recording artist to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both a vocalist ("This Guy's in Love with You", 1968), and an instrumentalist ("Rise", 1979).
Herb Alpert was born and raised in the Boyle Heights section of Eastside Los Angeles, California, the son of Tillie (née Goldberg) and Louis Alpert. His family was Jewish, and had come to the U.S. from Radomyshl (in present-day Ukraine) and Romania. His father, although a tailor by trade, was also a talented mandolin player. His mother taught violin at a young age. His older brother David was a talented young drummer. Alpert himself began trumpet lessons at the age of eight and played at dances as a teenager. Acquiring an early wire recorder in high school, he experimented on this crude equipment. After graduating from Fairfax High School in 1952, he joined the United States Army and frequently performed at military ceremonies. After his service in the Army, Alpert tried his hand at acting, but eventually settled on pursuing a career in music. While attending the University of Southern California in the 1950s, he was a member of the USC Trojan Marching Band for two years. In 1956, he appeared in the uncredited role "Drummer on Mt. Sinai" in the film The Ten Commandments. In 1962, he had an uncredited part in a scene in the film Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation where he played (and performed a solo) in a dance band.