One of the music business's great all-around talents, Peter Asher has returned to the roots of his career and is bringing his new multimedia show A Musical Memoir Of The '60s And Beyond to Feinstein's at Loews Regency, May 3 through May 7.
The show centers on his classic 1960s hits with partner Gordon Waller as Peter and Gordon, the London-based "British Invasion" duo that topped the U.S. charts in 1964 with the Lennon-McCartney composition "A World Without Love." They reached the Top 10, too, with "I Go To Pieces" and "Lady Godiva," and had a noteworthy No. 14 hit in 1965 with a cover of Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways."
Asher's Musical Memoir also includes film footage and photos from his personal archive, along with corresponding stories, not only from his performing period but from all that followed: After Peter and Gordon's breakup in 1968, Asher became head of A&R for The Beatles’ newly-formed Apple Records, where besides working with The Beatles he signed and produced James Taylor.
In 1971, he founded Peter Asher Management, which eventually represented Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and Carole King. He continued to produce as well, working with the varied likes of 10,000 Maniacs, Diana Ross, Neil Diamond, Ringo Starr, Cher, Morrissey, Robin Williams, Elvis Costello, Jane Monheit, Dan Fogelberg, Heart, The Dixie Chicks and Billy Joel. His work has earned him 37 gold album awards and 22 platinum albums in the U.S. alone; he received the Producer of the Year Grammy Award in 1977 and 1989.
Then in 2005 he reteamed with Waller for a benefit concert for Mike Smith, the late singer/keyboardist for the Dave Clark Five.
"We had some doubts whether people would like seeing two old guys as much as they liked the songs," Asher recalls. "But it turned out they really did like hearing us, that it wasn't a dishonorable way to make a dollar!"
Peter and Gordon continued to perform for the next four years, up until Waller's death in 2009.
"At that time I was doing lectures and keynote speeches about where the music industry was going--that sort of stuff," he says. "I discovered that people liked the stories as much as the songs, and that while I'd never perform with Gordon again, I didn't want to never sing the songs again. So I decided on something to combine the lectures and music with the multimedia stuff you have to have to do lectures these days. I realized when I put it all together--with a great band to do the songs--that it was something that people might find interesting and enjoyable."
After successful tryouts in Canada and at Iridium in New York, Asher loved the idea of doing A Musical Memoir at Feinsteins for a week.
"This will give people the chance to tell their friends that they might like it," he says. "I mean, this is not Lady Gaga selling out overnight! But with any luck people might think it's cool and interesting--and I've got a terrific band and the music is good."
The L.A.-based Asher's trip to New York coincides with his appearance tomorrow at an invitation-only tribute to Buddy Holly at PJ Clarke's, and in particular his whirlwind courtship of Maria Elena Holly at the restaurant--where Holly proposed during the couple's first date on June 5, 1958. Asher is set to perform "True Love Ways" using the True Love Ways guitar, one of 18 replicas of Holly's 1943 J-45 guitar, each including a fret from the original.
Asher will get to keep the guitar for two years, after which it will be used for charitable purposes, "but they'll have to find me first!" he says. Having produced Linda Ronstadt's 1977 hit cover of Holly's "It's So Easy," Asher is now producing Listen To Me: Buddy Holly, a Holly Tribute album starring the likes of Stevie Nicks, Natalie Merchant, Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr and Brian Wilson--to raise funds for entertainment business organization Songmasters' efforts in support of the next generation of music makers and entrepreneurs.
A Musical Memoir will debut in London on June 18 as part of Ray Davies’ Meltdown Festival. Meanwhile, a live Peter and Gordon performance of "True Love Ways" was released April 17, to benefit the David Lynch Foundation (the Lynch Foundation is also involved in presenting the Feinstein's Musical Memoir shows).
Additionally, Asher appears in Troubadours, the documentary about James Taylor, Carole King and the rise of of the singer/songwriter scene in Southern California in the early 1970s, which is currently being show nationwide on PBS. He has contributed to the score and soundtrack to the forthcoming Pirates Of The Carribean: On Stranger Tides, and is also producing British folk-pop duo the Webb Sisters and managing L.A.-based Swiss singer-actress Nadine Loren.
Subscribe to my examiner.com pages and follow me on Twitter!
Comments