Herb Alpert is an American trumpeter and musician. He was the leader of the Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. Herb Alpert throughout his career journey has set several records and the name he has made for himself still stands to date. In this article, RNN details Herb Alpert net worth, biography, career, and achievements.

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Bio Data

Biography

Herb Alpert was born in the Boyle Heights section of Eastside Los Angeles, California on the 31st of March, 1935. His parents are Tillie and Louis Leib Alpert who were Jewish immigrants to the United States.

Simply, Herb Alpert’s family members were into music; his father was a mandolin player, his mother taught violin at a young age, and his older brother, David, was a drummer. At the age of 8, Herb Alpert began trumpet lessons and played at dance events/occasions/rehearsals as a teenager.

In 1953, after graduating from Fairfax High School, he joined the United States Army. There, he continued to perform at their military ceremonies. Upon the end of his service, Herb Alpert started pursuing his music career.

In 1957, Herb Alpert teamed up with Rob Weerts, a lyricist, as a songwriter for Keen Records. During the following two years of his joining the team, a number of the songs written or co-written by him became Top 20 hits.

Then in 1960, Herb Alpert kickstart his recording career as a vocalist at RCA Records under the name, Dore Alpert.

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Career

In 1962, Herb Alpert and his new business partner, Jerry Moss formed Carnival Records with Tell it to the Birds as its first release. And it was distributed outside Los Angeles after being done by Dot Records. Soon afterwards, they changed the name of their label to A&M Records.

Later on, Herb Alpert set up a small recording studio in his garage and got to overdubbing “Twinkle Star” written by Sol Lake. During a visit to Tijuana, Mexico, Herb Alpert heard a mariachi band while attending a bullfight. He admitted that the experience inspired him to find a way to express musically what he felt while watching the wild responses of the crowd.

Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass was originally for overdubbing his own trumpet, slightly out of sync. It was A&M’s first album although it was recorded for Conway Records. For this album and subsequent releases, Herb Alpert recorded with the Wrecking Crew.

In 1969, Herb Alpert disbanded the Tijuana Brass and then released another album by the group in 1971. Eventually, in 1973, he created another group, Herb Alpert and the T.J.B with some of the original Tijuana Brass members and some new members. Then in 1974 and 1975, they released two albums and went on different musical tours.

In 1984, Herb Alpert reconvened a third version of the Brass after being invited to the Olympic Games at the Los Angeles Summer Games. As a result of the invitation, the “Bullish album and tour” came into existence.

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Career Success

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Herb Alpert maintained his solo career successfully. But in 1983, he co-produced his wife’s rendition of the theme to Never Say Never Again with Sérgio Mendes.

On Sérgio Mendes’ 2008 album Encanto, Herb Alpert performed trumpet solos on the song Dreamer as backing lead vocals by Lani Hall (his wife) who was a singer for Sérgio Mendes in the 1960s. This was the first time Herb Alpert and his wife performed together on the same song.

In 2007, Herb Alpert and his wife started performing and recording with a new band name. Soon afterwards, they signed with Concord Records and released a live album in 2009.

Prior to that, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss agreed to sell A&M Records to PolyGram Records in 1987. Later on, they both sued PolyGram for breach of the integrity clause. Although the initial agreement was $500 million, they eventually settled for a $200 million payment.

Also in 2005, the Shout Factory began distributing digitally remastered versions of Herb Alpert’s A&M output. After the Alpert’s Shout Factory contract, his releases went out of print but were re-issued on the Herb Alpert Presents label in 2015 and 2016.

Intriguing to know that, Herb Alpert is also an abstract expressionist painter and sculptor with group and solo exhibitions around the United States and Europe. So, asides from being a successful musician and trumpeter, Herb Alpert has also done well in his career as a visual artist. The “Herb Alpert: Black Totems” sculpture exhibition on display at ACE Gallery, Beverly Hills brought a lot of attention to his visual works.

Herb Alpert Net Worth

As of 2022, Herb Alpert net worth is estimated at $870 million. He has successfully amassed his wealth from being a musician, a record producer, a music executive, and even, a visual artist. And Herb Alpert net worth is also influenced by the yielding from several other investments in his music recording companies. He is also the owner of the Vibrato Grill Jazz in the Beverly Glen area of Los Angeles.

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Personal Life

In 1956, Herb Alpert got married to Sharon Mar Lubin. Their union produced a son (Dore), and a daughter (Eden). The couple divorced in 1971.

In 1973, he re-married Lani Hall who is a successful Latin Pop artist and also a recording artist of the Sérgio Mendes in the 1980s. Together they have a daughter by the name Aria Alpert.

Philanthropy

In the 1980s, Herb Alpert founded the Herb Alpert Foundation and the Alpert Awards in the Arts with the California Institute of the Arts. The Foundation supports youth and arts educations, environmental issues, and also helps fund the PBS series Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason.

In 2007, Herb Alpert and his wife donated $30 million to the University of Carlifornia in Los Angeles to form and endow the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as part of the restructured UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. He gave $24 million to CalArts for its music curricula and fundings for the culture jamming activists, The Yes Men.

In 2012, the Foundation also gave a gramt of more than $5 million to the Harlem School of the Arts which allowed the school the opportunity to retire its debts. Then in 2013, the school’s building was renamed the Herb Alpert Center.

In 2016, his foundation also made a $10.1 million donation to Los Angeles City College. The donation was made to provide all music majors at the school with a tuition-free education. This donation was regarded the largest gift to n individual community college in the history of Southern California. And also, the second-largest gift in the history of the state.

In 2020, Herb Alpert made an additional donation of $9.7 million on the Harlem School of the Arts for facility upgrade. Alongside his siblings, he founded the Louis and Tillie Alpert Music Center in Jerualem with the aim of bringing together Arab and Jewish students.

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Notable Awards and Honours

Below is a list of Herb Alpert notable awards and honours:

• Grammy Awards (1997, 2007),
• Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music,
• National Medal of Arts (presented by President Obama in 2013),
• In 1977, Herb Alpert was a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at the 6929 Hollywood Blvd,
• Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Jerry Moss on the 13th of March, 2006,
• Billboard Latin Music Awards,
• Tony Awards,
• Society of Singers Awards in 2009,
• And, Grammy Award (for Best Pop Instrumental Album in 26 January 2014).

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