A&M

Trumpeter/producer Herb Alpert and producer/promoter Jerry Moss founded their famous record label in 1962 with a $200 investment, using the initials of their surnames to create A&M.

A&M Records originally operated out of Alpert’s garage, but in 1966, Alpert and Moss bought Charlie Chaplin’s old film studio in Hollywood and used it as A&M Records’ headquarters.

The label’s first success came with Alpert’s own Lonely Bull, followed by easygoing pop releases from The Sandpipers, Sergio Mendes, and Chris Montez.

Lou Adler had co-managed surf act Jan and Dean with Alpert until the latter decided the act’s days were numbered and he would focus on playing the trumpet.

Adler later invited Alpert to rejoin forces and link his Ode Records with A&M, which led to the release of Carole King‘s Tapestry.

A visit to the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 left Moss reflecting that no A&M act was on the bill, and he set about acquiring the US rights to hip British acts such as Cat Stevens, Free, Spooky Tooth and Humble Pie.

Leon Russell later took his Shelter Records to A&M, along with direct signings of Joe Cocker, Stealers Wheel, Rick Wakeman, and Supertramp, and the label grew into one of the world’s leading independent companies.

The Carpenters signed to the label in 1969 for an advance of $10,000 and a 7% royalty on records sold, and they went on to sell over 20 million records, while label founder Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass topped 30 million sales.

Throughout the 1980s, Alpert and Moss maintained their high level of involvement, and multi-million-selling acts such as Squeeze, The Police, Janet Jackson, Bryan Adams and Sting brought A&M to the attention of the major record corporations.

Alpert and Moss sold their company to PolyGram for a reported $500 million in 1989, but they remained involved with the label until 1994, when they severed their connections before re-emerging with Almo (named using the first two letters from each of their surnames).

PolyGram was eventually acquired by Seagram’s Universal Music Group, and A&M stopped operating as a separate company.

The label became an imprint for artists in Universal’s Interscope division, alongside Geffen, and in 1999 the parent company sold the Chaplin film lot that had been home to A&M for over 30 years.