Still On Top

Submitted by ub on

Dore, Tito Alpert aka Herb Alpert is an 82-year-old American musician, singer, and composer, who is best known for his Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He was also a recording industry executive, the "A" of A&M Records, the company he and business partner Jerry Moss eventually sold to PolyGram.

Alpert's musical accomplishments include five No. 1 albums and a total of 28 albums on the Billboard charts, nine Grammy Awards, 14 platinum albums, and 15 gold albums. Alpert has sold 72 million records worldwide. Alpert is the only recording artist to hit No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both a vocalist "This Guy's in Love with You", 1968, https://youtu.be/o8ByJ1C0iR4 and then a decade later an instrumentalist "Rise", 1979 https://youtu.be/vltC-O7PDYQ

60 years ago, back in 1957, Alpert teamed up with Rob Weerts, and a number of songs were co-written by Alpert, including "Baby Talk" by Jan and Dean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNTD_3IqWrk and Sam Cooke's What A Wonderful World https://youtu.be/R4GLAKEjU4w?list=RDR4GLAKEjU4w

During a trip south of the border to Tijuana, Mexico, Alpert hears a mariachi band at a bullfight and was inspired to find a way to express musically what he felt while watching the wild responses of the crowd, and hearing the brass musicians introducing each new event with rousing fanfare. Alpert adapted the trumpet style to the tune, mixed in crowd cheers and other noises for ambiance, and renamed the song "The Lonely Bull" https://youtu.be/rsTDXByH3Mc and let's not forget this other hit. https://youtu.be/5Z0pP8FqYvk

Alpert is on a national tour with his Grammy-winning vocalist wife Lani Hall. https://youtu.be/VuDmE3sEyEI
They're major philanthropists through the Herb Alpert Foundation and support CalArts. https://calarts.edu/
Alpert’s latest recording tops Billboard. https://soundcloud.com/herbalpert/11-you-stepped-out-of-a-dream

CalArts also works with the foundation to administer the five annual Herb Alpert Awards in the Arts, which give recognition and support to mid-career artists.