Trumpet legend Herb Alpert once out-sold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the same year with Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass’ “Whipped Cream & Other Delights,” the No. 1-selling album of 1966.
And six decades later, he recently found himself in the same conversation with Taylor Swift when she tied his long-standing record for having four albums in the Billboard Top 10 at the same time.
“I did a little video to congratulate her,” Alpert told The Post. “You know, I don’t listen to her records all the time. But I like her a lot. I think she’s smart, she’s sensitive, she certainly knows her audience, and she has a point of view. I think she’s great.”
Certainly, Alpert knows a thing or a thing or two about recognizing a great artist when he sees one. As the “A” in A&M Records — which he co-founded in 1962 with Jerry Moss, who passed away in August — he was instrumental in launching the colossal careers of Cat Stevens, the Carpenters, Carole King, the Police, Janet Jackson and more. And he also hit No. 1 himself both as a singer-trumpeter (1968’s “This Guy’s in Love with You”) and as a straight-up instrumentalist (1979’s “Rise”).
Having just released his 49th studio album, “Wish Upon a Star,” the 88-year-old music giant — who will also have a Nov. 14-25 engagement at Manhattan’s Café Carlyle with singer Lani Hall, his wife of 50 years — tells the stories behind the acts who built A&M Records into an iconic label.
Waylon Jennings
Alpert — who covers Jerry Reed’s truck-driving “Smokey and the Bandit” theme “East Bound and Down” on “Wish Upon Star” and made his debut at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry in August — has country connections going all the way back to when O.G. outlaw Jennings signed with A&M in 1963.
“I produced a record with Waylon called ‘Four Strong Winds’ that Chet Atkins happened to hear, and he’d never heard of Waylon before, but I guess he loved this record,” said Alpert. “And he made some overtures to Waylon about when he gets out of his contract, he’d like to talk to him [about signing with RCA Victor], and I got wind of it.
“And Jerry and I discussed it, because I wanted to take Waylon a little more pop, and Waylon really wanted to be a country artist. So we let him out of his contract, and that was a big moment for me with A&M Records and our success … We let him out of the contract in Waylon’s best interests. And I thought at that point, if we were that honest and had that much integrity with our artists, we were going to be a big success.”
Cat Stevens
On “Wish Upon a Star,” Alpert covers the English singer-songwriter now known as Yusuf in a reimagining of “Father and Son.”
“It’s hard to describe the guy, you know? He was unique. He had his own little way of doing it,” said Alpert. “I was, like, knocked out by his ability to communicate a feeling through a song [with] just him and his guitar — no one else. It was just Cat alone, and he was one of those artists that we were always looking for, the artists that had something magical to say — and in their own special way.”
The Carpenters
The sibling duo of Richard Carpenter and his late sister Karen is another iconic A&M act shown love by Alpert on “Wish Upon a Star,” with a cover of their 1970 hit “We’ve Only Just Begun.”
“I loved Karen,” said Alpert of the singer who died from anorexia-related heart failure at 32 in 1983. “And I loved Richard, the combination of the two. I signed them in late 1969, and I wasn’t a fan of their type of music per se, but I recognized their authenticity. I mean, they were doing something that was just pouring out of them and was honest, and it felt good.
“And her voice was a knockout,” he continued. “I remember auditioning a tape that they sent. I was sitting on my couch at A&M, and she sounded like she was sitting next to me on the couch. So [I] met with them and realized they were the real thing. I gave them ‘[They Long to Be] Close to You,’ and that record just opened the door wide for them.”
Carole King
The blockbuster “Tapestry” album — showcasing King’s titanic tunes, such as “I Feel the Earth Move,” “It’s Too Late” and “You’ve Got a Friend” — was distributed by A&M Records thanks to Alpert’s friend Lou Adler, who produced the classic 1971 LP.
“When A&M started gaining ground, we had the reputation of treating the artists right,” said Alpert. “So we got together with Lou and his company Ode Records, and the concept for that album was fabulous. It was simple: What Lou wanted to do was records that would be like she was doing it at the Brill Building [recording studios] in New York — like, good songs done in a very, very simple, unpretentious way. And, of course, those songs were great.”
The Police
While it’s hard for any label boss to play favorites, Alpert has to admit that the Sting-led Police “would be my choice.”
“They were really uniquely special because it was just the three guys,” he said. “And when we saw them [at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles], Sting was jumping around the stage like he was on a pogo stick playing bass. And [when] the three of them made music, it sounded like seven or eight people were playing. They all had contributed to this great sound, but you can’t deny that Sting writes a great song.
In fact, Sting still records under the A&M banner as a solo artist today — although Alpert and Moss sold their interests in 1989. “I must tell you, man, I love the guy,” he said of the 72-year-old former Police frontman. “He’s a gentleman. He’s smart. He knows who he is. I think he’s very special.”
Janet Jackson
Anyone who thought A&M Records was only about pop, rock and folk got a funky bass slap in the face when Jackson announced her arrival with 1986’s “Control” takeover.
“I think it’s one of the great records of all time in that genre,” said Alpert, would go on to feature Jackson on his 1987 hit “Diamonds.” “That combination of [producers] Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, her voice, her honesty, her ability to dance and sing … she had the goods. She’s a talented lady — and a very nice lady on top of it.”
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