Music trade big Jerry Moss, co-founder of unbiased label A&M Data, has handed away. He was 88.
Jerry Moss, who, alongside Herb Alpert, based A&M Data and created one of many nation’s most profitable unbiased file labels, handed away in his Los Angeles residence on Wednesday at age 88. His household says he died of pure causes.
Inducted alongside Alpert into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame in 2006, Moss ran one of many trade’s main unbiased labels, releasing iconic albums like Alpert’s “Whipped Cream & Different Delights,” Carole King’s “Tapestry,” and Peter Frampton’s “Frampton Comes Alive!” The label counted amongst its roster such artists as Cat Stevens, the Carpenters, Janet Jackson, Joe Cocker, Soundgarden, Suzanne Vega, Sheryl Crow, and the Go-Go’s.
“They honestly don’t make them like him anymore, and we’ll miss conversations with him about all the pieces below the solar,” reads a press release from Moss’ widow Tina, “the twinkle in his eyes as he approached each second prepared for the following journey.”
A&M Data was residence to such hit singles because the Captain and Tennille’s “Love Will Hold Us Collectively,” Peter Frampton’s “Present Me the Manner,” and the Police’s “Each Breath You Take.”
“Each infrequently a file would come by us, and Herbie would take a look at me and say, ‘What did we do to deserve this, that this wonderful factor goes to come back out on our label?’” mentioned Jerry Moss in an interview with archive and useful resource middle Artist Home Music in 2007.
One in all Moss’ closing public appearances befell in January when he was honored with a tribute live performance on the Mark Taper Discussion board in Los Angeles. Performances included Frampton, Dionne Warwick (who was not an A&M artist however had been near Moss for the reason that early ’60s when he helped promote her music), and Amy Grant.
“Herb was the artist, and Jerry had the imaginative and prescient. It simply modified the face of the file trade,” mentioned singer Rita Coolidge on the occasion’s crimson carpet. “Definitely, A&M made such a distinction, and it’s the place all people needed to be.”
“Jerry Moss was one in every of music’s true pioneers and nice entrepreneurs with a novel imaginative and prescient for what a label ought to be and find out how to construct trusting long-term relationships with artists,” mentioned Sir Lucian Grainge, chairman and CEO of Common Music Group.
“The unbiased spirit he and Herb Alpert championed at A&M Data is foundational to the tradition that powers UMG at the moment. On behalf of everybody at UMG, we provide our deepest condolences to his household.”
Jerry Moss is survived by his second spouse, Tina, and three kids.