Biography for
Herb Alpert More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

31 March 1935, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name

Herbert Alpert

Mini Biography

Bandleader who had several big instrumental hits in 1960s with his band, the Tijuana Brass. First big hit was "The Lonely Bull" in 1963. He and the Brass followed that with other big hits like "Tijuana Taxi", "Spanish Flea" (familiar to some as "the Dating Game song"), "A Taste of Honey", and "Zorba the Greek". It wasn't until he decided to try a vocal that he finally hit #1 on the Billboard charts with "This Guy's in Love With You" in 1968. After the breakup of the Tijuana Brass, Alpert was out of the public eye until his comeback album, Rise, hit the charts in 1979. That album produced his first instrumental #1, "Rise". After several mediocre attempts after that, Alpert laid low and then resurfaced in 1987 with a more modern jazz/funk sound with "Keep Your Eye on Me".

IMDb Mini Biography By: Phil

Spouse

Lani Hall	(15 December 1974 - present) 1 child
Sharon Mae Lubin	(5 August 1956 - 30 March 1971) (divorced) 2 children

Trivia

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.

Father of Aria Alpert and Amanda Alpert.

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.

Co-founder, with Jerry Moss, of Carnival Records (1961-1962). After the label had been in existence for a year, they discovered that there was another record label named Carnival Records, so they changed their label's name to A&M Records.

Personal Quotes

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.

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.