{"id":377584,"date":"2026-06-27T21:09:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T21:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/377584\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T21:09:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T21:09:47","slug":"peter-asher-on-the-key-to-success-in-the-music-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/377584\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Asher on the key to success in the music industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When David Jacks published a biography of Peter Asher in 2022, the veteran record producer and manager expressed surprise that anyone would have deemed his life worthy of the treatment. Four years later, he\u2019s no less baffled to have become the subject of a new documentary, \u201cPeter Asher: Everywhere Man,\u201d directed by the filmmakers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seemed to me,\u201d he says, \u201cthat I wouldn\u2019t be that fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie, in theaters now, argues otherwise: A child actor alongside his two younger sisters, the bespectacled Asher became an unlikely pop star during the British invasion as half of the duo Peter & Gordon, whose debut single, \u201cA World Without Love\u201d \u2014 written by Paul McCartney \u2014 hit No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 in 1964. (McCartney offered the song to Asher while the Beatle was dating Asher\u2019s sister Jane.) In 1968, the Beatles made Asher head of A&R at Apple Records, where he signed James Taylor; the two soon moved to Los Angeles and turned Taylor into music\u2019s biggest heartthrob folkie.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Asher went on to shepherd Linda Ronstadt to stardom and to produce records by Diana Ross, Cher,<\/a> Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman<\/a>, Neil Diamond and 10,000 Maniacs, among many others. And at 82 he\u2019s still at it: Last year he produced Barbra Streisand\u2019s latest duets album \u2014 they\u2019re due to start work on a new Streisand solo LP, he says \u2014 and he\u2019ll perform a show of his own July 19 at the Grammy Museum. Asher, who broke his leg in a recent fall, spoke about it all the other morning at his home in Malibu, where he walked into the kitchen using a cane before sitting down at a table set with pastries and several of the day\u2019s newspapers.<\/p>\n

What unites the jobs of musician, producer, executive, manager? What\u2019s the through line?
Love of music and admiration for the people who do it. They\u2019re very different jobs, and I came at them from very different perspectives. Record production was something I set out to do once I understood what a record producer did. Hire musicians much better than yourself and tell them what to do? That\u2019s a cool job \u2014 how do I get in on that racket? Whereas I never had any ambitions to be a manager. It\u2019s just that when James and I decided to go out on our own and try to put a career together, we didn\u2019t know who we trusted to do it, so I kind of went, I\u2019ll do it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019d you discover about the job of management?
The ingredients are common sense, not being a crook and having a great client.<\/p>\n

Which is the hardest of those three?
The last one. I got to induct the first managers inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham \u2014 the Beatles and the Stones. That\u2019s the hard part. The only thing that would tempt me back into management would be lightning striking for a third time \u2014 to see James, to see Linda, then to see somebody comparably brilliant, which I occasionally do. But usually they have a manager already.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the last new act that knocked you out?
Ed Sheeran.<\/p>\n

Was that just because he looks like he could be your grandson?
That certainly crossed my mind.<\/p>\n

As a producer, your records helped define the sound of rock in the \u201970s.
The so-called California sound.<\/p>\n

Then the zeitgeist shifted.
One became aware of that. Pop music got very electronic, which I loved.<\/p>\n

Was there a place for you in that style?
I didn\u2019t consciously try to make records in that style because I don\u2019t think I could have \u2014 not as well as they were being made anyway.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a record from the early \u201980s that made you think that?
\u201cSweet Dreams (Are Made of This).\u201d I couldn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

Back to the \u201970s: The doc is filled with pictures of James looking \u2014
Like a movie star. With the cover of \u201cJT,\u201d I finally went all the way and said, \u201cWe\u2019re doing the the glamour shot.\u201d Then we did \u201cFlag,\u201d which everyone hated.<\/p>\n

With the maritime flag. A truly perverse album cover.
I loved it. James loved it. Everyone thought we were crazy.<\/p>\n

How crucial do you think James\u2019 good looks were to his whole proposition?
I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Oh, come on.
I really don\u2019t. I mean, how would you gauge that? There\u2019s probably girls who fell in love with him without listening to the record.<\/p>\n

I think you just gauged it.
If he was ugly, would he be as big a star? Probably not.<\/p>\n

\"Veteran <\/p>\n

(Evan Mulling \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Same applies to Linda, right?
When I first saw Linda, it was stages of realization. Someone said to me, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to go down and see this girl at the Bitter End.\u201d I walk in and she\u2019s singing so well \u2014 unspeakably good. Then she looks incredibly great \u2014 barefoot, short-shorts. Oh, my God, my heart. Then you meet her, and it turns out she\u2019s a remarkably brilliant woman \u2014 extremely well read. You just kind of go, \u201cAll these things together \u2014 how can it be?\u201d It\u2019s the same thing talking about the Beatles: If you cast it like the Spice Girls, you still couldn\u2019t have gotten four to fit together so perfectly.<\/p>\n

Did you like the Spice Girls?
Terrific. \u201cTell me what you want \/ What you really, really want\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s a smash. And yet none of them are particularly good singers, which is kind of the point.<\/p>\n

I went to an event not long ago where Paul McCartney played his new album for a small group of fans. It was fascinating to see the spell McCartney casts over people.
He\u2019s had to get used to it \u2014 to admit to himself that he can\u2019t meet people who aren\u2019t amazed that they\u2019re meeting him. Even as someone who\u2019s known him off and on for a long time, you still get the wave of: Holy s\u2014.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re still amazed to be around him?
Of course. I get it less \u2014 I\u2019m ready for it. But you can\u2019t pretend he\u2019s not Paul McCartney<\/a>. And he\u2019s gotta live with that his whole life.<\/p>\n

You grew up a member of the upper crust, I think it\u2019s fair to say.
I don\u2019t think we were that crusty. But upper, probably, yes.<\/p>\n

I wondered how that situated you to live and work among artistic types.
If anything, the upper crust have more time to be artistic \u2014 less preoccupied with getting a job and making a living. But my parents worked incredibly hard \u2014 we weren\u2019t upper crust in the sense of inherited wealth. My father was a doctor, my mother was a professor of music. But I never struggled, to be honest. I had a comfortable allowance, and then I went to school and worked hard. Everyone talks about sharing a flat with a million people, living on borrowed sandwiches \u2014 I skipped that phase.<\/p>\n

Did that shape you in any meaningful way?
I don\u2019t know. But I think when people do struggle, it becomes a meaningful part of their lives to get away from it. With someone like James, the struggle was a struggle with drugs. Now he says the worst thing about drugs is they\u2019re a complete waste of time \u2014 you waste time doing nothing except looking for drugs. And I think that made him anxious to succeed and to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure you saw the New York Times\u2019 list<\/a> of the 30 greatest living American songwriters.
You knew it was gonna be silly. Randy Newman, for God\u2019s sake \u2014 you just cannot not include him.<\/p>\n

No Neil Diamond either.
Insane.<\/p>\n

And no Billy Joel.
[Shrugs].<\/p>\n

How\u2019s your health?
High blood pressure, high cholesterol, need to work out more \u2014 old man stuff. Other than that and a broken leg, great.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re OK with the cane?
It\u2019s a considerable upgrade from the wheelchair. I like the cane \u2014 it\u2019s kind of elegant.<\/p>\n

What seems scarier: the body going or the mind going?
The mind going. And it is, slightly. I had a stroke, and bits of my brain aren\u2019t quite working right. But compared to other people I know, I\u2019m fine.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re at a moment when a lot of foundational rock \u2019n\u2019 roll figures \u2014
Are dying. It\u2019s all the rage.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s it feel like to see your friends and colleagues go?
Better them than me.<\/p>\n

Couple more for you: You managed Courtney Love for a spell.
I met her here in Malibu. I also managed Pamela Anderson for a while because she was a neighbor and asked me to help.<\/p>\n

What, you put a shingle out?
\u201cManager for hire.\u201d I\u2019m trying to remember how I first met Courtney \u2014 I think Merck Mercuriadis was talking to her about publishing and Kurt stuff. I liked her. Very smart. I like smart women.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s easy to work with? Hard to work with?
Impossible to work with.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s James Taylor\u2019s best album?
\u201cJT,\u201d maybe.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Linda Ronstadt\u2019s best album?
\u201cHeart Like a Wheel.\u201d With Linda, it\u2019s unfair because they\u2019re so radically different. How do you compare that to a mariachi record and then to Nelson Riddle?<\/p>\n

Working with Riddle on those albums must have been a thrill.
He told us all these incredible stories about Frank Sinatra, who he didn\u2019t like although he admired him enormously. It was John David Souther<\/a> who originally suggested Nelson. Linda had tried doing the album a different way \u2014 did some versions with Jerry Wexler and it didn\u2019t work out. So we had a meeting with Nelson: Would he consider doing a couple of arrangements for us? He went, \u201cNo.\u201d We said, \u201cWhat?\u201d He said, \u201cI\u2019ll do an album, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA World Without Love\u201d was one of eight songs to top the chart in 1964 with \u201clove\u201d in the title. What\u2019s that say about pop music in the mid-\u201960s?
Same thing it says about pop music of all time: It\u2019s either \u201cI love you\u201d or \u201cShe loves you\u201d or \u201cWhy don\u2019t you love me?\u201d Weird Al<\/a> pointed out to me that when you\u2019re looking for a parody of a song, any song that has \u201clove\u201d in the title, substitute \u201clunch\u201d and it\u2019s funny. \u201cA World Without Lunch\u201d \u2014 I mean, who would want to live in such a place?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When David Jacks published a biography of Peter Asher in 2022, the veteran record producer and manager expressed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[152863,57277,127168,4194,48,52,51,23652,47,50,49,4284,2747,19619,152865,102119,592,152864,5681,660,10390],"class_list":["post-377584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-asher","tag-good-album","tag-james-taylor","tag-job","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-linda","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-love","tag-manager","tag-music-industry","tag-nelson-riddle","tag-paul-mccartney","tag-people","tag-peter-asher","tag-record","tag-rock","tag-song"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}