Jerry Moss, who along with trumpeter Herb Alpert founded A&M Records, which at its height from the 1960s to the ’80s was an independent powerhouse behind hits by the Carpenters, the Police, Janet Jackson, Peter Frampton and Mr. Alpert, the Tijuana Brass, among many others, died at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. He is 88.
His family announced the death in a statement on Wednesday.
During his more than 30 years at A&M, Mr. Moss and Mr. Alpert built an eclectic roster — Cat Stevens, Carole King, Supertramp and the grunge band Soundgarden released music there — and established the label’s reputation for supporting artists and treating them fairly.
Sting, who signed to A&M with the Police in 1978 and remained associated with the label throughout his career, said in an interview Thursday that those values came directly from Mr. Moss and Mr. Albert.
“They are gentlemen,” he said. “I think their breakthrough is really based on those human qualities — not being ruthless businessmen or kill-or-be-killed people. They’re artist friendly.”
Built from humble beginnings in Mr. Alpert’s garage, A&M — its name taken from the initials of its founders’ last names — became a major force in pop music and eventually earned its founders big salary In 1989, they sold A&M’s recorded music business to PolyGram for a reported $500 million (about $1.2 billion in today’s money), though Mr. Moss and Mr. Alpert owned the label until 1993. In 2000, they sold Rondor, their music publishing catalog, to Universal Music for an estimated $400 million.
Mr. Alpert set the tone for how the label dealt with musicians after what he said in an interview Thursday was his own unhappy experience, early in his career, with major labels who treated him “like a number.” That approach also gave A&M some negotiating leverage, which in its early days lacked the financial resources of its firm’s competitors to pursue new ventures.
Mr. Moss, who began his career promoting pop and doo-wop records at radio stations, ran the business side of A&M with its longtime president, Gil Friesen, who died in 2012. But he also insisted on fair treatment of artists.
“You can’t force people to make a certain kind of music,” said Mr. Moss in an interview with The New York Times in 2010. “They make their best music when they do what they want to do, not what we do. They want to do.”
Early on, A&M signed country singer Waylon Jennings, who cut several singles but disagreed about his career trajectory with Mr. Alpert, favoring pop material. When Mr. received Jennings received an offer from RCA Victor’s Nashville office, A&M agreed to release him from his deal.
“I looked at Jerry and said, ‘This guy’s going to be a big artist.’ He said, ‘I know,'” recalled Mr. Albert. “At that point I realized we could be a big success with that attitude. We got Waylon out of the contract. He went on to have a great career, and we stayed friends with him.”
Jerome Sheldon Moss was born in the Bronx on May 8, 1935, to Irving and Rose Moss. His father is a department store salesman, his mother is a housewife.
Mr. Moss graduated from Brooklyn College in 1957. While waiting tables at a resort, he met Marvin Cane, one of the founders of Coed Records, who offered him a job pitching records to stations. of radio for $75 per week. His first major success was the doo-wop ballad “16 Candles” by the Crests, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop singles chart in late 1958.
Mr. moved. Moss in Los Angeles intending to enter the television business, but instead he rebuilt himself as a radio promoter. There he met Mr. Alpert, who worked as a songwriter and was trying to establish himself as a vocalist under the name Dore Alpert.
In 1962, the two young men went into business together, investing $100 each. They released “Tell It to the Birds,” a single credited to Dore Alpert, on a label they called Carnival.
After learning that another record company was already using that name, they settled with A&M for their next release: “The Lonely Bull,” a trumpet-led instrumental with atmospheric sounds recorded in a bullfighting ring in Mexico. They borrowed $35,000 to press the single, which went to No. 6 and immediately put A&M on the map.
By 1966, A&M was as successful as any label in pop music. That year, Mr. Alpert and the Tijuana Brass surpassed the Beatles and had four albums in the top 10 simultaneously. The group dominated the easy listening market at the time with hits like “A Taste of Honey” and “Spanish Flea”; Mr. Alpert himself had a No. 1 vocal hit in 1968 with “This Guy’s in Love With You.” A&M also signed Brazilian pianist and bandleader Sérgio Mendes and his band Brasil ’66, who toured with Mr. Albert.
In 1966 the label moved to Charlie Chaplin’s former film studio in Hollywood. A&M later signed another big soft-pop act, the Carpenters, and, through deals with other labels, released records by Cat Stevens (now called Yusuf Islam) and Carole King, with his blockbuster 1971 LP, “Tapestry. ”
In 1976, A&M released the double live album of Mr. Frampton’s “Frampton Comes Alive!,” which became one of the defining rock hits of the decade, eventually went eight times platinum. In the 1980s, A&M signed Ms. Jackson, whose album “Control” (1986) went to No. 1 and established him as a major talent.
After selling A&M, Mr. Moss and Mr. Alpert of another label, Almo Sounds, whose artists include Gillian Welch and Garbage. The founders were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as nonperformers in 2006.
Among the survivors of Mr. Moss is survived by his wife, Tina Moss; two sons, Ron and Harrison; two daughters, Jennifer and Daniela; and five grandchildren.
In his later years, Mr. Moss has had notable success owning racehorses. One, Giacomo — named after one of Sting’s sons — won the Kentucky Derby in 2005, in an unusual turn. Another racehorse, Zenyatta, was named after one of the Police albums, “Zenyatta Mondatta” (1980).
Mr. Moss is active in local philanthropy. In 2020, she and her husband donated $25 million to the Music Center, a performing arts complex in downtown Los Angeles that includes the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theater, Walt Disney Concert Hall and other spaces.
But said Mr. Moss was at his happiest making records with Mr. Albert.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” he told The Times. “I turn to Herbie and say, man, what in the world did we do to deserve this?”