A&M Records co-founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss to be honored at GRAMMY Salute To Industry Icons

GRAMMY.com

Co-founders of A&M Records and GRAMMY Award winners Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss will be honored by The Recording Academy at its annual GRAMMY Salute To Industry Icons event on Feb. 11. The invitation-only reception, held immediately following the 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards, will feature a presentation of The Recording Academy President's Merit Award to Alpert and Moss in honor of their contributions to the landscape of popular music. The event will be attended by prominent artists and music industry leaders.

"Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss are true visionaries whose commitment has had a profound impact on the artists they have helped develop and the fans around the world who have benefited from their inspired creativity," said Recording Academy President Neil Portnow. "We are proud to pay homage to this amazing duo and celebrate their incredible accomplishments as one of the most respected and revered executive teams in music history."

For nearly four decades Alpert and Moss guided A&M Records from a humble garage operation into the largest independently owned record company in the world. Melding savvy entrepreneur skills and creative passion, the duo served not only as executives signing new artists but as producers, songwriters, and in Alpert's case as a musician and artist as well. Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, A&M Records' first signed artist, sold more than 700,000 copies of The Lonely Bull, putting the label on the global map.

Under the leadership of Alpert and Moss, A&M Records and its affiliate labels were able to launch and further the careers of such artists as Bryan Adams, Burt Bacharach, the Carpenters, Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, Amy Grant, Janet Jackson, Joe Jackson, Quincy Jones, Carole King, Sergio Mendes, the Police, Iggy Pop, Billy Preston, Soundgarden, Cat Stevens, Sting, Styx, Supertramp and Barry White.

In 1989, Alpert and Moss sold A&M Records to PolyGram and continued to run the label until mid-1993.

The national trustees of The Recording Academy awarded the duo the Trustees Award in 1997 for their significant contributions to the field of recording, and the pair were recently the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award in the non-performing category by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

The 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on "GRAMMY Sunday," Feb. 11, at Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live in high-definition TV and 5.1 surround sound on CBS from 8 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).