Jerry Moss, A&M Records co-founder, dies aged 88

nme.com:

Associated Press. “They truly don’t make them like him anymore and we will miss conversations with him about everything under the sun,” the statement read, “the twinkle in his eyes as he approached every moment ready for the next adventure”.He died at his home in Bel Air, California from natural causes, his widow Tina told AP.Formed in 1962 alongside Herb Alpert, A&M Records – named after their initials – counted singles including Captain and Tennille’s ‘Love Will Keep Us Together’, ‘Every Breath You Take’ by The Police and ‘Show Me the Way’ by Peter Frampton among its releases.Other acts they represented included the Carpenters, Janet Jacket, the Go-Gos and Soundgarden.Alpert told Billboard in a statement: “I never met a nicer, honest, sensitive, smart and talented man then my partner Jerry Moss.”Moss was born in New York City and was an English major at Brooklyn College.

After six months in the army, he worked as a promoter for Coed Records before he moved to Los Angeles and befriended Alpert.They launched their label in Alpert’s garage, and found early success during the 1960s with the pop releases of Alpert’s, who was also a trumpeter, and his band the Tijuana Brass.Among those to pay tribute was Quincy Jones, who shared (via Billboard): “Jerry Moss was the consummate music man, [whose] love of all genres of the art-form was unabashed.

That was why when I decided to get off the soundstage and back into the recording studio in 1969, I knew there was only one record label for me to go to that would give me the creative freedom that I was seeking, and that record label was A&M with Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss.(2/2) He loved great music and went out of his way to make a place where artists could find themselves and create.