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Post by the Scribe on Dec 22, 2020 10:04:53 GMT
Peter Asher has been everywhere, done everything: Beatles, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, the British InvasionBy CHRISSIE DICKINSON
CHICAGO TRIBUNE |
JAN 02, 2020 AT 3:00 PM You began working with Linda Ronstadt in the mid-1970s. What was your first impression of her?www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-ott-peter-asher-city-winery-0103-20200102-cxja7gqxefhchfsdhozhsvh7ie-story.html
A. I was in New York and someone said, ‘You have to go see this girl singing at the Bitter End. She’s amazing.’ They also mentioned she was incredibly attractive and sang in very short shorts and bare feet. So I went down there and every word was completely true. She was astounding. Then I got to know her and discovered she’s incredibly smart, well-read and extraordinary in every way. We became friends. Initially I started working with her as a producer. Eventually she asked me to be her manager. We worked together 30 years.
Chrissie Dickinson is a freelance writer.
ct-arts@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @chitribent
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 10, 2021 0:09:29 GMT
Producer Peter Asher On James Taylor, Cher, Linda Ronstadt & More | Behind The Board
4,738 views•Mar 15, 2019
Recording Academy / GRAMMYs
1.54M subscribers
Behind The Board: Producer Peter Asher On James Taylor, Cher, Linda Ronstadt & More. The legendary record maker talks about the importance of songwriting, the evolution of his studio tools and his work with some of the world's biggest artists
About the Recording Academy / GRAMMYs:
Recording Academy is the world's leading society of musical professionals, and is dedicated to celebrating, honoring, and sustaining music's past, present and future.
Connect with the Recording Academy / GRAMMYs:
WEBSITE: www.grammy.com
FACEBOOK: grm.my/2gcTcMk
TWITTER: grm.my/2gDUHUD
INSTAGRAM: grm.my/2gZGIvJ |
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 10, 2021 8:26:08 GMT
MALIBU MUSIC ROOM Episodes 14&15 PETER ASHER (Full interview)
JOHN ZAMBETTI
151 subscribers
Host John Zambetti welcomes musician/producer, the legendary PETER ASHER to the Malibu Music Room. Part of the British Invasion duo Peter & Gordon, Peter was also the first A&R Man for Apple Records and signed and produced James Taylor. He later went on to become a multiple Grammy winning producer with albums for James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and many others. Peter's career is so rich that it required 2 episodes. Here it is in its entirety. The Life and Music of Linda RonstadtRolling Stone Music Now
Longtime manager Peter Asher joins host Brian Hiatt explains how Ronstadt became a '70s superstar; David Browne and Angie Martoccio tell the rest of her story poddtoppen.se/
poddtoppen.se/podcast/1078431985/rolling-stone-music-now/the-life-and-music-of-linda-ronstadt
Peter Asher Interview!
Real Music With Gary Stuckey
33 views Nov 25, 2022
Peter Asher:
Singer,actor, guitarist, manager...producer...
One half of the British group Peter and Gordon
His sister once dated Paul McCartney...and Paul and John Lennon wrote Peter and Gordon's first hit,
"World Without Love"
He managed or produced albums by
Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Cher, JD Souther, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Ross, Robin Zander,Neil Diamond, Olivia Newton-John, Steve Martin, Robin Williams,....just to name a few...
Here are his awards...
Grammy awards
1977 – Producer of The Year, Non-Classical (Simple Dreams, JT)
1989 – Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind)
2002 – Best Spoken Comedy Album (Live 2002 (Robin Williams)
CBE
2015 - appointed Commander of the British Empire
His upcoming dates are:
November 29 and 30th at Dakota Jazz Club Minneapolis, MN
December 1st Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL
These are with Jeremy Clyde of Chad and Jeremy
www.peterashermusic.com
How Peter Asher, a Jack-of-all-Trades in Music, Mastered Them All
www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/arts/music/peter-asher.html
By Bob Mehr
Published Nov. 9, 2022
Updated Nov. 10, 2022
The British musician, manager, producer, executive and author known for his work with Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, is the subject of a new book exploring his unique run in the industry.
From left: Gordon Waller and Peter Asher, of the duo Peter & Gordon. Asher’s long career in music is the subject of a new biography.Credit...Keystone/Hulton Archive, via Getty Images
MALIBU, Calif. — In December 1977, in an exceptionally rare move, Rolling Stone put a producer and a manager on its cover: Peter Asher, a bespectacled, copper-haired Brit, photographed sandwiched between his artists James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt.
peterasherbook.com/
Asher was at his zenith then, having guided the careers of two of the decade’s defining stars, and about to pick up his first producer of the year Grammy. “People always ask, ‘What does it take to become a great manager or a great producer?’” Asher said recently. “And the answer is tragically simple: great clients.”
Of course there’s more to the story, which Asher detailed over breakfast on a breezy fall morning at a beachside club in the Los Angeles enclave he has called home for the last 40 years. His journey is the subject of a new biography by David Jacks, “Peter Asher: A Life in Music,” out on Tuesday.
Asher — peering through tortoiseshell glasses, framed by tufts of faded red hair — was initially dubious at the prospect of a book. “I told David, ‘I wouldn’t count on selling it,’” he noted, in a musically lilting accent. “Because I don’t think I’m all that interesting.”
At 78, Asher remains a fascinating music business anomaly. In an industry filled with specialists, he has moved between roles with a remarkable ease. A pop star during the British Invasion, he became the head of A&R for the Beatles’ Apple Records label in the late ’60s, before segueing to a career as a top artist manager and record producer in the ’70s and ’80s. He spent a decade as a label executive before returning to management, producing, and even performing, as well as finding new avenues as the author of a Beatles book and radio broadcaster.
Paul McCartney and Asher in 1969. The Beatle played a big role in Asher’s career, giving him his first hit song.Credit...Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix, via Alamy
“Anybody can get a bunch of different jobs,” Ronstadt said in a phone interview. “The question is whether they can do them well. And Peter has done every single one of them to the utmost.”
Steve Martin, the comedian and musician, said he first heard Asher’s name floating around the Troubadour nightclub in the 1970s, “and he was already legendary then.”
“Peter’s just one of those people who knows the exact right thing to say, whether you’re at dinner together or working in the studio,” he added in a phone interview.
That thoughtfulness has helped ensure Asher’s enduring success, including 60 gold and platinum albums for clients and collaborators including Randy Newman, Carole King, Neil Diamond and 10,000 Maniacs. “I’ve never been someone who reacts with his gut; I tend to think about things in great detail,” Asher said. “That’s what’s always helped me to spot the opportunities and move forward.”
Born in London in 1944, Asher came from an accomplished family. His mother, Margaret Eliot, was a teacher at the Royal Academy of Music whose private pupils included the future Beatles producer George Martin. His father, Dr. Richard Asher, was a pioneering medical theorist, who first identified and named Munchausen’s Syndrome.
www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/arts/music/george-martin-producer-of-the-beatles-dies-at-90.html
Asher and his younger sisters, Jane and Clare, were scouted by an agent, leading to childhood acting careers. His first film role came opposite Claudette Colbert in “The Planter’s Wife” (1952), but he focused on his studies at the prestigious Westminster School, where he would meet his future musical partner Gordon Waller. The lanky, sonorous Waller and the diminutive choirboy Asher were a stark visual and vocal contrast, but they clicked instantly. The fledgling folk-pop duo Peter & Gordon landed a deal with EMI Records in 1963.
By then, Jane Asher was dating Paul McCartney, who moved into the Asher family residence and offered “A World Without Love,” rejected by John Lennon, to Peter & Gordon. It became their debut single and a worldwide hit.
Asher’s first unofficial producing experience came as he helped shape the song at EMI Studios. “I wanted to be a producer straightaway,” he recalled. “To be able to try things out in this beautiful studio and get to tell brilliant musicians, much better than yourself, what do to — that struck me as a fabulous job.”
When the Beatles tapped him to head A&R operations for their newly established Apple Records in 1968, Asher quickly discovered an American singer-songwriter visiting London named James Taylor, produced his self-titled debut, then moved to America with him, seeking a fresh start.
“When people talk about what a producer does, there are numerous answers,” Asher said of the early lessons he learned behind the board. “But one of them is knowing when to stop recording,” noting that the title track to Taylor’s third album, “Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon,” was the result of more than 100 takes.
In 1973, Asher took on managerial duties for Ronstadt, kicking off one of the longest and most successful artist-producer partnerships in history.
“It was that song ‘Heart Like a Wheel’ that started it,” Ronstadt said, referring to the Kate & Anna McGarrigle track that she covered on her 1974 LP. “I shopped that to 10 different producers and they all said, ‘That’s corny.’ The record company hated it. But I wanted to record it so badly. When I sang it for Peter he liked it and saw the value of the song.”
Asher’s work with Ronstadt — starting with pristinely produced, multiplatinum pop smashes like “Simple Dreams” and “Living in the USA” — evolved in the 1980s as she began exploring the Great American Songbook on “What’s New,” the first of three Nelson Riddle-arranged albums of standards. “I did not believe it would be a big hit, let alone sell four million copies,” Asher said. “It was purely a belief in Linda.”
Linda Ronstadt and Asher in 1976. “Anybody can get a bunch of different jobs,” she said. “The question is whether they can do them well. And Peter has done every single one of them to the utmost.”Credit...Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
The faith ran both ways. Ronstadt tapped Asher to produce her 1987 album “Canciones de Mi Padre,” a deeply personal exploration of her Mexican heritage, and their success helped make him a go-to producer for top women artists, including Bonnie Raitt, Diana Ross, Cher and Natalie Merchant. “I didn’t seek it out,” Asher said, “but have no objection to the fact that I ended up working with so many brilliant women.”
In the mid-2000s, after spending time as an executive at Sony Music, then taking on more high-profile management clients including Courtney Love and Pamela Anderson, Asher returned to the stage for the first time in 30 years, reuniting with Waller. The two performed until Waller’s death, in 2009, then he linked up with a fellow British Invasion vet, Jeremy Clyde, of Chad & Jeremy.
www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/arts/music/21waller.html
Mostly, though, he’s continued to produce — a series of soundtracks for the composer Hans Zimmer; tribute projects for Buddy Holly and Elton John; and albums for friends like Martin and Edie Brickell.
Asher’s current assignment, an as-yet-untitled solo record for the Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs, is a sophisticated song collection in the mold of his ’70 albums for Ronstadt. Nearly 60 years after he first set foot in the studio, Asher’s enthusiasm remains palpable. “On a day like today, when I know I’m going into the studio,” he said, “I wake up excited.”
Just two weeks after our conversation in Malibu, however, Asher woke up in the intensive care unit of Ronald Reagan U.C.L.A. Medical Center, following an emergency brain surgery. Over the summer, while in London, he had fallen and suffered a concussion. Doctors in Britain initially cleared him, but weeks later, he began experience disquieting symptoms, including difficulty walking and playing guitar. Asher had just completed a second brain scan in early October, and was on his way home when the doctors called in a panic.
“They said, ‘Turn right back around, you are in surgery as soon as you get here,’” said Asher, who was suffering a massive brain bleed and in critical danger. “They had to drill a few holes in my head.”
Surviving a near-death experience left Asher unfazed. “I’m not one of those people whose own mortality suddenly dawned on them — it’s never been any question,” he said. “As the son of a doctor, I suppose I took some refuge in being fascinated by the science of it all. Though I wish I had not been the subject of this particular experiment.”
The extended recovery time did force Asher to take a rare break, during which he finally began reading David Jacks’s biography of him in full. “I did,” he said, chuckling. “And, you know, I realize that perhaps my life has been a bit more interesting than I thought.”
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A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 10, 2022, Section C, Page 1 of the New York edition of The New York Times with the headline: Peter Asher’s Long Run At the Top in Music.
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 27, 2022 1:48:22 GMT
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