A&M RECORDS HISTORY 1962-1969
1962
By mid-year Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss each invested $100 to form a partnership they called Carnival Records. They released two singles, "Tell It to the Birds" by Dore Alpert (a Herb Alpert vocal released in July) and "Love Is Back in Style" by Charlie Robinson. "Tell It to the Birds" sold between 12-15,000 copies. It earned the partners about $3,500. They sold that single to Dot Records. "Love Is Back in Style" did not sell well.
In August, Carnival became A&M Records when Alpert and Moss learned another record company used the Carnival name first. Moss also brought to the deal his music publishing company Irving Music. Both Carnival and A&M Records began as divisions of Irving Music. The business address was Herb Alpert's garage. Said Jerry Moss, "We had a desk, piano, piano stool, a couch, coffee table and two phone lines. And that for the two of us worked out very well, because we could go over the songs on the piano and make phone calls to the distributors. We also had an answering service at the time. I'd do all my own billing."
In August, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss released their third single "The Lonely Bull" by The Tijuana Brass with Herb Alpert. September 1962 is the date attributed to the first commercial use of the A&M Records logo with the orange A&M typeface and black trumpet.
On October 27, "The Lonely Bull" entered the Billboard Pop Singles Chart. It peaked on December 8, 1962 at the #6 position. The single sold about 700,000 copies and netted about $180,000. The Lonely Bull album was released in December and on December 29, it entered the Billboard charts.
The original record manufacturer of A&M products was Monarch Records. Monarch would remain one of A&M's manufacturers until 1979. A&M's interest in quality pressings started with "The Lonely Bull." At the time, monoaural albums were pressed on styrene and stereo on vinyl. Alpert insisted on vinyl for his mono album.
As 1962 ended, Alpert and Moss had scored three successes: they had their first Top 10 single; their first album was on the Billboard Album Charts, and they had hired their first employee, Jolene Burton to keep the books. Her job was an operations manager ensuring that records were pressed, jackets were printed, accounts received and bills paid.
1963
On January 12, The Lonely Bull peaked at #10 on the Billboard Album chart.
On February 1, A&M Records opened its first office at 8255 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, CA. By July, Alpert and Moss had signed George McCurn, Julius Wechter, and Waylon Jennings. They also signed and recorded Bob Regan and Lucille Starr as The Canadian Sweethearts.
Wechter's recordings were released as The Baja Marimba Band. Like the first Tijuana Brass recordings, the early Baja Marimba Band was studio musicians. The Baja Marimba Band's singles first appeared on the Almo International label, a division of A&M Records. Their first single. "Comin' in the Back Door" sold about 150,000 copies. The Baja Marimba Band album sold about 60,000 copies.
This year, A&M released three albums and placed two singles on the Billboard chart. George McCurn joined Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass on the singles chart.
1964
In April, A&M signed Waylon Jennings to a new contract. In November, Alpert and Moss hired their second employee, Gil Friesen as their General Manager followed by engineer Larry Levine who was often called "the eighth member of the Tijuana Brass."
In 1964, A&M released five albums. Two of the Tijuana Brass singles and one Baja Marimba Band album appeared on the Billboard charts. The third Tijuana Brass album South of the Border was released in October. Moss estimated that the first three TJB albums sold 60,000 copies.
A&M struck its first international licensing agreement with Festival Records in Australia. Until then, they had licensed their music on a per record basis. The Lonely Bull album was licensed to EMI and The Baja Marimba Band was licensed to Decca internationally.
Gil Friesen's first big contribution to A&M was to talk Herb Alpert into performing. He and Alpert hired the musicians and played two performances as the opening act for Dave Brubeck in Santa Monica.In 1964, A&M released five albums and grossed abour $500,000. Two of the Tijuana Brass singles and one Baja Marimba Band album appeared on the Billboard charts.
1965
The notable signings this year were We Five and Sergio Mendes & Brasil '65. (Mendes changed the group's name to Brasil '66 with the release of his first album Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66.) With the signing of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, Alpert and Moss met Mendes' attorney, Abe Somer. Somer would go on to become A&M's general counsel and a member of its board of directors.
In August, A&M Records established a second music publishing company, Almo Music.
The Alpert and Brass single "Whipped Cream" sold about 150,000 copies. In September, the Brass played its last concert as an opening act, this time for Johnny Mathis. In October, George Carlin and Astrud Gilberto opened for the TJB at Basin Street East in New York City. They played three shows a night for three weeks to sell-out crowds.
In October, Tommy LiPuma was hired as the first Artists and Repertoire (A&R) manager.
For the first time the label had two hit singles–"A Taste of Honey" and We Five's "You Were on My Mind," #1 and #2 respectively in Cash Box. Their albums, Whipped Cream and Other Delights and You Were on My Mind sold one million copies in one month. The TJB records were selling at a rate of 50,000 copies per day in late 1965. The company grossed about $6 million in 1965.
On December 15, A&M Records received its first gold records, RIAA certifications for the albums Whipped Cream and Other Delights and Going Places!, both by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. A&M won its first four Grammy Awards for the single "A Taste of Honey" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
By year's end, A&M had placed five singles and one album on the Billboard Pop charts. Herb Alpert put two albums and three singles on the charts.
1966
Bob Fead was hired as the National Sales Director. He established A&M's independent distributor network. Don Graham was named A&M's first National Promotion Director. Dave Hubert joined A&M Records in International Publishing, and Chuck Kaye joined A&M Records as the head of Almo/Irving Music.
In 1966, Almo Music/Irving Music held about 200 copyrights. It began searching for writers and songs to add to its catalog. The first hit song that was not on A&M was Ruthann Friedman's "Windy" by The Association.
The Checkmates, Ltd. were signed to A&M in 1966.
November 6, 1966 was the day A&M Records opened its offices in the Charlie Chaplin Studios at 1416 N. La Brea Avenue, Hollywood with 32 employees. On buying the Charlie Chaplin Studios, Jolene Burton remembers, ""With absolutely no idea that we would possibly, conceivably buy it, Jerry and I went over with the real estate people and the attorney. Herb was out of town. When we drove through the gates, I took one look at Jerry and said, ‘We just bought ourselves a piece of property!' Immediate enthrallment. When Herb came back he took one look at the place and had exactly the same feeling that Jerry did. There was something about going through those gates that felt like home." And, A&M opened an office in the Iroquois Building in Philadelphia to handle its East Coast work.
During the year, 15 singles and 8 albums made the Billboard charts. The Tijuana Brass again led the way with three albums and four singles. Chris Montez tied Alpert's record of four singles on the chart in one year. Two more Tijuana Brass recordings brought home Grammys and four were awarded RIAA gold records. Bob Fead said that on his first day of work, A&M sold 278,000 records. By the end of the year, Herb Alpert sold 13.7 million albums.
1967
This year's artist signings included Burt Bacharach, Phil Ochs, The Move, Lee Michaels, Procol Harum, and Joe Cocker. On the business side of the house, Harold Childs was named the Vice President of Promotion and Derek Taylor hired as the Artist/Public Relations writer.
A&M entered into its first distribution deal with Creed Taylor to distribute his CTI Records. The first album, Wes Montgomery's A Day in the Life was a hit.It was a year for construction and new offices. In April, A&M began building its studios at 1416 N. La Brea. Larry Levine and Herb Alpert hired Howard Holzer who engineered the original recording equipment in the studio. In June, the first New York office opened in the Steinway Building on 57th Street and the Philadelphia office closed. In October, construction on the financial center for Jolene Burton's Accounting Department began. When they moved into the first new building completed at 1416 N. LaBrea, it was state-of-the-art computers. Jerry Moss promoted Ms. Burton to Controller. She was A&M's first woman executive.
In August, Rondor Music was established.
On November 14, 1967, the Patent and Trademark Office registered the A&M Records logo.
On December 12, the Hollywood Palace television variety showed aired its all A&M Records artists evening hosted by Herb Alpert. The Tijuana Brass, Baja Marimba Band, Burt Bacharach, Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Liza Minnelli and Wes Montgomery all performed.
A&M enjoyed 21 singles and 13 albums on the Billboard charts. The Tijuana Brass and Claudine Longet each had two albums on the charts. As usual, the Tijuana Brass was the singles leader, with four singles entering the charts. Burt Bacharach won the only Grammy awarded to an A&M artist. There were four RIAA gold records, two going to the Tijuana Brass.
1968
In just two years, A&M's employee roster doubled to 68. The Flying Burrito Brothers were among the artists signed. Chuck Wardman was named A&M's first full-time Production Director.
In April, the New York office moved to 1655 Broadway.
June 22, 1968 was the day A&M Records had its first #1 single, "This Guy's in Love with You" by Herb Alpert.A&M Studios opened in August.
On the Billboard charts, 15 singles and 18 albums. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, the Baja Marimba Band, Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66, Wes Montgomery and the Sandpipers each had two albums on the chart. The Tijuana Brass singles machine was still going strong with five singles. Of the five RIAA gold records given to A&M, three were awarded to the Tijuana Brass.
1969
Artists signed this year included the Carpenters, Quincy Jones and Humble Pie. Through Island Records, A&M signed Fairport Convention (including Sandy Denny), Free, Spooky Tooth, Jimmy Cliff and Cat Stevens.
Phil Spector produced The Ronettes single "You Came, You Saw, You Conquered," the Checkmates album Love Is All We Have to Give and Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High released in August. He was with A&M about six months. The Checkmates "Black Pearl" was A&M's biggest single of the year.
Bob Fead was named Vice President of Sales and Distribution. Fead established a Regional Sales network with Marv Dorfman as the National Sales Manager. Bob Elliott became manager of the tape division making A&M the first record company with an executive over tapes. Dave Hubert established theInternational Department.
A&M Records, Ltd. opend in Great Britain.
In November, Almo/Irving Music bought the Beach Boys's Sea of Tunes song catalog for $700,000.
A&M Studios added mixing/cutting rooms and reverberation chambers.
Herb Alpert released the last album by the original Tijuana Brass, "The Brass Are Comin'," starred in the fourth TJB TV special and did a world tour. In March, he disbanded the Brass.
Alpert: "Could you sign these kids [Karen and Richard Carpenter]? I really think they're great."
Moss: "Who's going to produce them?"
Alpert: "Jack Daugherty."
Moss: "What's he produced before?"
Alpert: "Nothing."
Moss: "Chuck (Kaye) knows him, he does his lead sheets, you want him to produce?"
Alpert: "Yeah, he's the right guy."
The year ended with a record 18 singles and 39 albums entering the Billboard charts. This was A&M's best year for the number of albums to make the charts. Album chart topping artists--two albums each--were the Tijuana Brass, the Baja Marimba Band, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66 and Burt Bacharach. With three singles each, Joe Cocker and Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66 dominated the singles chart for the label. A&M picked up two more Grammys and 3 RIAA gold records, two of them for Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66.
