Post by philly on Aug 3, 2012 22:40:09 GMT -5
www.telegram.com/article/20120803/NEWS/108039798/-1/NEWS04
Peter Asher started as one half of the 1960s duo Peter and Gordon and went on to become a record producer and manager for several singers.
By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
rduckett@telegram.com
‘Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir of the ’60s and Beyond’
When: 8 p.m. Aug. 8 Where: Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant & Music Club, 17 Holland St., Davis Square, Somerville How much: $30; seating/dinner package $57. (617) 776-2004
Back circa 1963-64, the young British pop duo Peter and Gordon — Peter Asher and Gordon Waller — got an assist from the man who was dating Asher’s sister, Jane Asher, at the time.
The man was in a band that was doing pretty well. He and another member of the band wrote lots of songs together, but he also had several numbers he had written on his own that he wasn’t quite sure what to do with. They were “orphan songs,” Asher said.
One was “World Without Love.” “He played it for me at one point,” Asher said of Paul McCartney.
Peter and Gordon decided to adopt it.
“A World Without Love” would be top of the pops both in Great Britain and the United States in the early part of 1964. “We owe Paul a huge debt of gratitude,” Asher said.
Peter and Gordon are part of 1960s pop culture legend and were part of the famous “British Invasion.” Other hits included “Nobody I Know” (also written by McCartney), “True Love Ways,” and “Lady Godiva.” Then Asher moved on to a very successful second act as record producer and manager to singers such as James Taylor (who he basically discovered) and Linda Ronstadt. Most recently, he co-wrote, produced and sang the only original song in the movie “Madagascar 3” — “Love Always Comes as a Surprise.”
Rather than write a conventional autobiography, Asher has now come up with something of a surprise as far as memoirs go. He has put together a multimedia show, “Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir of the ’60s and Beyond,” which he sometimes takes out from his southern California home to small venues, where he likes to interact with the audience.
“That’s half the fun. I make sure to talk to people,” he said. The show comes to Massachusetts for a rare appearance at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant & Music Club in Somerville.
Asher’s musical memoir includes telling stories about such icons he’s known firsthand as McCartney, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithful, Carole King, and Taylor and Ronstadt. He also sings some of the Peter and Gordon hits with a four-piece band. There is no Gordon Waller, though. Waller died in 2009.
In 2005 the duo had reunited on stage after an absence of 35 years, Asher said. He found that people at the performances were interested in the story of the duo and its times. This later formed the basis of a lecture Asher would occasionally give at engagements such as a Cunard cruise ship trip (“that sounded like a good idea to my wife,” he said of the free first-class berth he got in return).
After Waller died, Asher said, he had wondered “Does that mean I’ll never sing these songs again?” So “Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir” combines the stories and the music. The show also features film footage and photographs from Asher’s personal archive.
Asher and Waller had met while high school students at Westminster School in London. Asher had gone on to be a philosophy student at London University by day while the duo performed at nightclubs. Around 1964 he had to go before the school’s somewhat perplexed powers-that-be to explain why he needed to take a leave of absence from his studies. Asher was suddenly experiencing the distractions and touring obligations that come with having a hit, “World Without Love,” at No. 1 in the pop charts. The London University dons weren’t necessarily sympathetic, Asher recalled. However, “I did get a leave of absence to get that ‘pop nonsense’ out of my system. I’m still on that leave of absence, to my shame.”
Asked if — by some magical process — he could choose between starting out as a singer now or back when he actually did, Asher chose the latter.
“I’d rather be starting out when I did, but I’d prefer to be immortal,” he said. “It was an exciting time to be getting into pop music. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss all that. We had a vast amount of fun in the ’60s, and I wouldn’t have wanted to miss that.”
Asher, 68, has a young sounding voice on the telephone, and after years of living stateside, still retains an English accent.
McCartney and Jane Asher (now a distinguished English actress) broke up in the mid-’60s (see “You Won’t See Me” from the Beatles album “Rubber Soul” for one side of the story). But Peter Asher and McCartney retained their friendship, and Asher became head of the A&R department at the Beatles’ Apple Records label
“I was very interested in record production. Paul got me a job,” Asher said. Around this time he saw a talented, if troubled, American singer-songwriter named James Taylor who had made a trip to London. “I found him and signed him to Apple.”
Apple released Taylor’s self-titled debut album, which had moments of genius but sold poorly. Still, Asher offered to manage Taylor’s career. “I believed strongly in him,” Asher said. He even moved to the United States to take care of business. “I kind of gambled my career on it.”
With the subsequent Taylor megahit albums “Sweet Baby James” and “Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon,” the gamble paid off.
As a producer Asher has also worked with such diverse artists as Diana Ross, 10,000 Maniacs, Neil Diamond, Ringo Starr, Cher and Elvis Costello.
Asher doesn’t sound like he has a huge ego. Such is not always the case, however, among big-name stars in the field of pop music. Is he a good diplomat?
“I think so,” he acknowledged. By the same token, he said, “some people you are told to look out” about prove to be perfectly fine to deal with.
“Even Linda Ronstadt had a reputation for being difficult. She wasn’t at all. She knew what she wanted, and she was right.”
Similarly, Diana Ross. “She wasn’t (difficult) at all. As long as you had your … together.”
Peter and Gordon were basically done as a duo with the end of the ’60s. Asher said there had been no animosity or ego clashes. “Gordon and I gradually stopped singing together,” he explained.
Prodded and nudged to get back together after decades, the Peter and Gordon reunion proved enjoyable, and they played several concerts during the four years before Waller’s sudden death from a heart attack at the age of 64.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” Asher said of performing as Peter and Gordon again. “We still sounded the same, and we still had fun doing it.”
Peter Asher started as one half of the 1960s duo Peter and Gordon and went on to become a record producer and manager for several singers.
By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
rduckett@telegram.com
‘Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir of the ’60s and Beyond’
When: 8 p.m. Aug. 8 Where: Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant & Music Club, 17 Holland St., Davis Square, Somerville How much: $30; seating/dinner package $57. (617) 776-2004
Back circa 1963-64, the young British pop duo Peter and Gordon — Peter Asher and Gordon Waller — got an assist from the man who was dating Asher’s sister, Jane Asher, at the time.
The man was in a band that was doing pretty well. He and another member of the band wrote lots of songs together, but he also had several numbers he had written on his own that he wasn’t quite sure what to do with. They were “orphan songs,” Asher said.
One was “World Without Love.” “He played it for me at one point,” Asher said of Paul McCartney.
Peter and Gordon decided to adopt it.
“A World Without Love” would be top of the pops both in Great Britain and the United States in the early part of 1964. “We owe Paul a huge debt of gratitude,” Asher said.
Peter and Gordon are part of 1960s pop culture legend and were part of the famous “British Invasion.” Other hits included “Nobody I Know” (also written by McCartney), “True Love Ways,” and “Lady Godiva.” Then Asher moved on to a very successful second act as record producer and manager to singers such as James Taylor (who he basically discovered) and Linda Ronstadt. Most recently, he co-wrote, produced and sang the only original song in the movie “Madagascar 3” — “Love Always Comes as a Surprise.”
Rather than write a conventional autobiography, Asher has now come up with something of a surprise as far as memoirs go. He has put together a multimedia show, “Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir of the ’60s and Beyond,” which he sometimes takes out from his southern California home to small venues, where he likes to interact with the audience.
“That’s half the fun. I make sure to talk to people,” he said. The show comes to Massachusetts for a rare appearance at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant & Music Club in Somerville.
Asher’s musical memoir includes telling stories about such icons he’s known firsthand as McCartney, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithful, Carole King, and Taylor and Ronstadt. He also sings some of the Peter and Gordon hits with a four-piece band. There is no Gordon Waller, though. Waller died in 2009.
In 2005 the duo had reunited on stage after an absence of 35 years, Asher said. He found that people at the performances were interested in the story of the duo and its times. This later formed the basis of a lecture Asher would occasionally give at engagements such as a Cunard cruise ship trip (“that sounded like a good idea to my wife,” he said of the free first-class berth he got in return).
After Waller died, Asher said, he had wondered “Does that mean I’ll never sing these songs again?” So “Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir” combines the stories and the music. The show also features film footage and photographs from Asher’s personal archive.
Asher and Waller had met while high school students at Westminster School in London. Asher had gone on to be a philosophy student at London University by day while the duo performed at nightclubs. Around 1964 he had to go before the school’s somewhat perplexed powers-that-be to explain why he needed to take a leave of absence from his studies. Asher was suddenly experiencing the distractions and touring obligations that come with having a hit, “World Without Love,” at No. 1 in the pop charts. The London University dons weren’t necessarily sympathetic, Asher recalled. However, “I did get a leave of absence to get that ‘pop nonsense’ out of my system. I’m still on that leave of absence, to my shame.”
Asked if — by some magical process — he could choose between starting out as a singer now or back when he actually did, Asher chose the latter.
“I’d rather be starting out when I did, but I’d prefer to be immortal,” he said. “It was an exciting time to be getting into pop music. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss all that. We had a vast amount of fun in the ’60s, and I wouldn’t have wanted to miss that.”
Asher, 68, has a young sounding voice on the telephone, and after years of living stateside, still retains an English accent.
McCartney and Jane Asher (now a distinguished English actress) broke up in the mid-’60s (see “You Won’t See Me” from the Beatles album “Rubber Soul” for one side of the story). But Peter Asher and McCartney retained their friendship, and Asher became head of the A&R department at the Beatles’ Apple Records label
“I was very interested in record production. Paul got me a job,” Asher said. Around this time he saw a talented, if troubled, American singer-songwriter named James Taylor who had made a trip to London. “I found him and signed him to Apple.”
Apple released Taylor’s self-titled debut album, which had moments of genius but sold poorly. Still, Asher offered to manage Taylor’s career. “I believed strongly in him,” Asher said. He even moved to the United States to take care of business. “I kind of gambled my career on it.”
With the subsequent Taylor megahit albums “Sweet Baby James” and “Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon,” the gamble paid off.
As a producer Asher has also worked with such diverse artists as Diana Ross, 10,000 Maniacs, Neil Diamond, Ringo Starr, Cher and Elvis Costello.
Asher doesn’t sound like he has a huge ego. Such is not always the case, however, among big-name stars in the field of pop music. Is he a good diplomat?
“I think so,” he acknowledged. By the same token, he said, “some people you are told to look out” about prove to be perfectly fine to deal with.
“Even Linda Ronstadt had a reputation for being difficult. She wasn’t at all. She knew what she wanted, and she was right.”
Similarly, Diana Ross. “She wasn’t (difficult) at all. As long as you had your … together.”
Peter and Gordon were basically done as a duo with the end of the ’60s. Asher said there had been no animosity or ego clashes. “Gordon and I gradually stopped singing together,” he explained.
Prodded and nudged to get back together after decades, the Peter and Gordon reunion proved enjoyable, and they played several concerts during the four years before Waller’s sudden death from a heart attack at the age of 64.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” Asher said of performing as Peter and Gordon again. “We still sounded the same, and we still had fun doing it.”
