Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, composer and producer best known for his instrumental albums - especially with The Tijuana Brass - and for being the cofounder of A&M Records alongside businessman Jerry Moss, thus A&M after their respective initials. Born to a family of musicians, he was initially trained to play the violin before becoming a trumpeter at the age of eight, and during the fifties was part of the USC Trojan Marching Band.
Shortly after the foundation of A&M Records in 1962, he released his first single "The Lonely Bull" after overdubbing a trumpet over an existing trumpet track as written by Sol Lake and added a cheering crowd and additional ambient sounds to emulate the scene of a bullfight. The single went on to reach Number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and within the year he completed his first album under Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, The Lonely Bull. Starting simply as Alpert overdubbing an additional trumpet line to emulate the mariachi sound, demands for live appearances led to additional musicians being auditioned. Over the next seven years The Tijuana Brass would release twelve albums, also releasing hit singles like "A Taste of Honey", "Whipped Cream", and "Spanish Flea", as well as "This Guy's in Love With You", a Billboard number-one hit credited solely to Alpert. The release of their fifth album Going Places was accompanied by an early animated music video called A Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass Double Feature, featuring "Spanish Flea" and "Tijuana Taxi".
After initially disbanding the Tijuana Brass in 1969, Alpert had himself a lucrative solo career for the next three decades, during which he became the first (and to this day only) act ever to hit #1 on the Hot 100 with vocal and instrumental pieces.note He also started a second incarnation of the Tijuana Brass to release two albums in the mid-seventies, and had a third perform for athletes in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. He won a Grammy Award in 1966 for "A Taste of Honey", was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2013 and was given a lifetime achievement award alongside Jerry Moss in the 2006 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions for their record label work. He also provided arts endowments for the California Institute of the Arts and University of California, Los Angeles.
Discography:
- With The Tijuana Brass
- The Lonely Bull (1962)
- Volume 2 (1963)
- South of the Border (1964)
- Whipped Cream & Other Delights (1965)
- Going Places (1965)
- What Now My Love (1966)
- S.R.O. (1966)
- Sounds Like... (1967)
- Herb Alpert's Ninth (1967)
- The Beat of the Brass (1968)
- Christmas Album (1968)
- Warm (1969)
- The Brass Are Comin' (1969)
- Greatest Hits (1970; compilation)
- Summertime (1971)
- Solo
- You Smile – The Song Begins (1974)
- Coney Island (1975)
- Just You and Me (1976)
- Herb Alpert / Hugh Masekela (1978 collaboration)
- Rise (1979)
- Beyond (1980)
- Magic Man (1981)
- Fandango (1982)
- Blow Your Own Horn (1983)
- Bullish (1984) — credited to Alpert and the TJB, though the Brass was not involved in the recording
- Wild Romance (1985)
- Keep Your Eye on Me (1987)
- Under a Spanish Moon (1988)
- My Abstract Heart (1989)
- North on South St. (1991)
- Midnight Sun (1992)
- Second Wind (1996)
- Passion Dance (1997)
- Colors (1999)
- Whipped Cream & Other Delights ReWhipped (2006)
- I Feel You (2011) – with Lani Hall
- Steppin' Out (2013) – with Lani Hall
- In the Mood (2014)
- Come Fly with Me (2015)
- Human Nature (2016)
- Music Volume 1 (2017)
- The Christmas Wish (2017)
- Music Volume 3: Herb Alpert Reimagines the Tijuana Brass (2018)
- Over the Rainbow (2019)
- Catch the Wind (2021)
- Sunny Side of the Street (2022)
- Wish Upon a Star (2023)
- 50 (2024)
Whipped Cream & Other Tropes:
- Artist and the Band: Earlier albums have been billed under Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.
- The Cameo: Herb shows up late at auditions in the video for Jeff Beck's "Ambitious".
- Christmas Songs: "The Bell That Wouldn't Jingle".
- Chronological Album Title: Volume 2 and Alpert's Ninth were the second and ninth albums he released respectively. 50 was his 50th studio album.
- Concept Album: Whipped Cream & Other Delights is a collection of songs with titles that refer to food or drink.
- Covered in Gunge: The woman on the cover
◊ of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' Whipped Cream & Other Delights was clad in a whipped cream "dress" and what appeared to be absolutely nothing else. For the "ReWhipped" version of the album, the girl on the cover is wearing a whipped cream "bikini". - Cover Version:
- Plenty of hits under The Tijuana Brass were covers, including "South Of The Border", "America" and "Zorba the Greek" (for Mikis Theodorakis' "Zorba's Dance").
- The second vinyl side of the album Rise consisted entirely of covers.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: Herb Alpert was the king of Tijuana instrumental brass music, and had many hits that had no vocals on them whatsoever. In 1968, he put down his trumpet, grabbed a microphone and belted out the Burt Bacharach–Hal David standard "This Guy's in Love With You" (and also contributed the song's trumpet fade-out). "This Guy's ... " went No. 1 in 1968 ... and in 1979, Alpert (who by that time returned to instrumental-only music) went to No. 1 with "Rise". In doing something completely different, Alpert had his biggest hit to that time, and would become the only artist to date (as of 2026) to have a No. 1 song as both a singer ("This Guy's ...") and as an instrumentalist ("Rise").
- Instrumentals: Most of his albums, both with the Tijuana Brass and as a solo act, consist entirely of instrumentals. That said, his biggest hit of the TJB era, "This Guy's in Love With You", was a Black Sheep Hit in that it was not only a vocal piece, but also was credited solely to Alpert despite appearing on a TJB album.
- Meaningful Name: 50 was not only his 50th studio album, but its year of release also marked his 50th wedding anniversary.
- The Minneapolis Sound: Specifically for the album Keep Your Eye on Me.
- Oblivious to Love: "This Guy's in Love With You" (for when he gets tired or hinting and finally comes out and says it... but it's obvious that he's been hinting for a VERY long time!)
- One-Man Band: His debut album was such, given that he overdubbed trumpet lines. Demands for live appearances necessitated for an actual brass band for the Tijuana Brass.
- Step Up to the Microphone: Herb Alpert, who had become famous as the leader of the Tijuana Brass (and also the co-founder of the band's record label), scored his first number one single with "This Guy's in Love With You", which despite being recorded during the heyday of the Brass was credited solely to Alpert. The song featured him uncharacteristically singing lead vocals.
