Jerry Moss, who co-founded A&M Records with Herb Alpert and released top-selling albums by The Carpenters, The Police, Alpert and others, has died. He was 88.
Moss’ family said he died peacefully from natural causes Tuesday night at his home in Bel Air. “Jerry was a force of nature,” his wife, Tina Moss, said. “He lived life to the fullest.”
“I never met a nicer, more honest, sensitive, smart and talented man than my partner Jerry Moss,” Alpert said in a statement.
Moss and Alpert were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. At the 1966 Grammys, he won record of the year for co-producing “A Taste of Honey,” sharing the win with Alpert, too. He received four other Grammy nominations and he earned the Grammy Trustees Award — awarded to those who “made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording” — in 1997.
Born Jerome Sheldon Moss, he grew up in the Bronx and graduated from Brooklyn College. He moved to the West Coast and launched A&M Records, which became one of the most successful independent record labels. The company released a number of best-selling albums and songs by Peter Frampton, Sting, Squeeze, Simple Minds, Supertramp, Rick Wakeman, Joe Cocker, Bryan Adams, Soundgarden, Styx and Janet Jackson.
Moss also dedicated his time to philanthropy. Moss, Tina and the Moss Foundation made a gift of $25 million to The Music Center in Los Angeles. He also established scholarship programs at UCLA in art and music and created an endowment to its medical school.
Moss is survived by his wife, his four children — Ron, Jennifer, Harrison and Daniela — five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Services will be held in Los Angeles this weekend at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary.
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