Peter Asher

From Wikipedia:

Peter Asher, CBE (born 22 June 1944) is an English guitarist, singer, manager and record producer. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the pop music vocal duo Peter and Gordon before going on to a successful career as a manager and record producer, helping to foster the recording careers of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt among others. As of 2018, he tours alongside Jeremy Clyde of Chad and Jeremy in a new duo entitled Peter and Jeremy, where they perform hits from both of their respective catalogues. In 2019, Asher published a book The Beatles from A to Zed about his personal reminiscences about the band.

Early life

Asher was born at the Central Middlesex Hospital to Richard and Margaret Asher, née Eliot. His father was a consultant in blood and mental diseases at the Central Middlesex Hospital, as well as being a broadcaster and the author of notable medical articles. Asher’s mother was a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. One of her pupils there was George Martin. Asher is the brother of Clare Asher, a radio actress and school inspector, and Jane Asher.

When he was eight years old, he began working as a child actor, and appeared in the film The Planter’s Wife, and the stage play Isn’t Life Wonderful. At the age of nine, Asher played the central juvenile part in the 1953 film version of Isn’t Life Wonderful!, along stars Cecil Parker and Donald Wolfitt. In 1955 he played the youngest brother, “Johnny”, in Escapade, based on Roger MacDougall’s play. The film starred John Mills and Alastair Sim. He also appeared in the ITV series The Adventures of Robin Hood.

In 1956, Asher appeared as a 12-year-old in The Talking Head, one of the short films in the series of Colonel March of Scotland Yard, starring Boris Karloff.

While attending the independent Westminster School as a day boy, he first met fellow pupil Gordon Waller (1945–2009), and they began playing and singing together as a duo in cafes. In 1962, they began working formally as Peter and Gordon. Their first (and biggest) hit was the 1964 Lennon/McCartney song “A World Without Love“. Asher’s sister Jane was, in the mid-1960s, the girlfriend of Paul McCartney. Through this connection, Asher and Waller were often given unrecorded Lennon/McCartney songs to perform.

Asher later read philosophy at King’s College London.

In 1965, he was best man when singer Marianne Faithfull married John Dunbar in Cambridge.

After Peter and Gordon disbanded in 1968, Asher took charge of the A&R department at the Beatles’ Apple Records label, where he signed a then-unknown James Taylor and agreed to produce the singer-songwriter’s debut solo album. The album was not a success, but Asher was so convinced that Taylor held great potential that he resigned his post at Apple to move to the United States and work as Taylor’s manager. Asher produced Paul Jones’ rendition of the Bee Gees’ “And the Sun Will Shine” which was released as a single (only in the UK). He also produced a number of Taylor’s recordings from 1970 to 1985, including Sweet Baby James, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, JT and Flag.

1970s and beyond

In the early 1970s, Asher also managed the country rock band, Country, which recorded for Atlantic Records through its subsidiary Clean Records, featuring Michael Fondiler and Tom Snow, who has since become a songwriter. For a time, Asher also managed James Taylor’s sister Kate Taylor. When she decided to leave the business, she recommended him to Linda Ronstadt at which point Asher became Ronstadt’s manager. Asher achieved his greatest success producing a long string of multi-platinum albums for James Taylor, including Sweet Baby James, JT and Flag, and for Linda Ronstadt, including Heart Like a Wheel; Simple Dreams; Living in the USA; What’s New; Canciones De Mi Padre; and Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind.

The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood was opened on 23 September 1973 by Elmer Valentine and Lou Adler along with original partners David Geffen, Elliot Roberts and Peter Asher.

Asher also played a role in shaping the Californian rock sound prominent during the 1970s, producing records for Ronstadt, J. D. Souther, Andrew Gold and Bonnie Raitt. In 1976, Asher and Waller reformed for the annual New York “Beatlefest” and played a few other dates. In the 1980s, Asher also worked on hit albums for artists as diverse as Cher and 10,000 Maniacs.

In February 1995, Asher was named Senior Vice-President, Sony Music Entertainment. At the beginning of 2002, Asher left Sony and returned full-time to the management of artists’ careers as co-President of Sanctuary Artist Management. In January 2005 he was named President, the position he held until September 2006, when he resigned. In 2007 Asher joined forces with his friend Simon Renshaw (who manages the Dixie Chicks) at the company Simon founded, Strategic Artist Management. Strategic has grown into a dominant force in the entertainment industry, now managing artists in many fields of endeavour beyond just music – one of Asher’s clients is Pamela Anderson. Asher also reunited with James Taylor as the producer of the Live at the Troubadour reunion album recorded in 2007, with Carole King and Taylor’s original band.

During 2005 and 2006, Peter and Gordon reformed for occasional concerts. However, Waller died in 2009 and in its obituary, The Times observed that “Waller was thought more handsome than the slightly nerdish looking Asher”.

Asher had been quoted as saying that actor Mike Myers has said he had patterned his Austin Powers character after Asher’s appearance, although Elizabeth Hurley, who co-starred in Austin Powers, said the original model was broadcaster Simon Dee.

In 2011, Asher was the executive producer of the Listen to Me: Buddy Holly compilation album and also music supervisor, producer, and co-host of the Buddy Holly: Listen to Me; The Ultimate Buddy Party PBS Pledge Special. Performed and filmed in front of a live audience the Buddy Holly tribute concert aired as PBS Pledge Special in December 2011 and May and June 2012. The Special received the highest 2012 Silver Telly Award in the Category of TV Programs, Segments, or Promotional Pieces.

Asher was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to the British music industry.

In May 2017, Asher debuted a weekly, hour-long series on the brand-new Sirius XM Radio station for The Beatles called “From Me To You”. He also announced with commentary the Top 100 Beatles countdown “All Together Now” on The Beatles Channel that first aired on Sirius XM Radio on the Labor Day Weekend in 2017, and is frequently replayed. […]

When my parents offered Paul McCartney the spare bedroom on the top floor of our family home (next to my bedroom), it became his London residence for the next couple of years. So that allowed me the pleasure of getting to know him, becoming friends with him, and occasionally hearing songs in progress. My mother had a music room in the basement, where there was a small upright piano, a little sofa, and a music stand. When we first moved in, she used to give private oboe lessons there quite often. But as her job at the Royal Academy of Music grew more demanding and she spent more time teaching there, she used the room less frequently. She told Paul that if he ever wanted a piano to write on or to practise on, he was welcome to use the piano in the basement music room. And he often did.

Quite soon after Paul moved in, I remember one particular day when John Lennon came over; they were intending to write together that day. And the two of them went down to the basement music room, interestingly with no guitars—the guitars were upstairs, in Paul’s bedroom and mine. John and Paul were just playing the piano down there, and they wrote a song. And when it was written, Paul stuck his head out of the door, called up the stairs, and asked me whether I would like to come down and hear the song they had just finished. I said yes. I went downstairs. I sat on the sofa. The two of them sat side by side on the piano bench and played their new song for the very first time anywhere. It was “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Just John and Paul, just one piano, and it sounded great.

I remember very distinctly the feeling of hearing that song for the first time. I remember how much I loved it and how astonishing it was. Hearing them sing together at full voice while both hammered away on the piano was impressive in itself—and of course they were singing this amazing song neither I nor anyone else had ever heard before. I told them how brilliant I thought it was, and I begged them to play it again, which they gladly did. And, of course, it turned out to be the song that would launch the Beatles’ astonishing American career.

Peter Asher – From “The Beatles from A to Zed: An Alphabetical Mystery Tour“, 2019

In 1966 Miles and I decided to team up with another friend, John Dunbar, and start a bookshop and an art gallery to try to create a focal point for this new and exciting counterculture. We loosely based it on places like the City Lights bookshop in San Francisco, which we admired very much. In addition to being exceptionally well read, Barry Miles had been a bookseller and knew all about the book business. As I recall, I first met John Dunbar because he was the brother of Gordon Waller’s beautiful girlfriend Jenny Dunbar—strange how it all ties together. John had studied art at Cambridge University and knew a lot about the art scene—and the three of us decided to open both a bookshop and an art gallery. We named the enterprise Indica. We chose that name based on the plant Cannabis indica. You may be aware of this plant—it’s been in the news a lot lately.

Peter Asher – From “The Beatles from A to Zed: An Alphabetical Mystery Tour“, 2019

[Paul] was exposed to different kinds of music and different kinds of conversations and events staying with us. Paul was intellectually curious of anything. Meeting some of my friends and family may have provided some raw material for that – opportunities to meet other people, read other books – but he jumped right into it all.

Peter Asher – From “Revolver (2022)” book

Recording sessions Peter Asher participated in

Albums, EPs & singles which Peter Asher contributed to

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