Peter Asher: singer, producer, manager, main role model for Austin Powers

Peter Asher started out as a child actor in films with John Mills, Alastair Sim and Boris Karloff. He was in the Adventures of Robin Hood with his sister Jane but they were eventually “demoted to peasant children”. He then formed Peter & Gordon, had a global number one with A World Without Love (written by his sister’s boyfriend who was living in the family home) and then began a career in production and management that’s still thriving today. This is full of wonderful stories and features …

… playing the London club circuit in 1964.

… Paul McCartney adding the missing bridge to A World Without Love in eight minutes – “I have the handwritten lyrics and chords in a fireproof safe in case I ever need to run to Sotheby’s and Paul can save the day again!”).

… assembling the band for a Paul Jones session – Nicky Hopkins piano, Jeff Beck guitar, Paul Samwell-Smith bass, McCartney drums).

 … appalling ‘60s royalty rates.

… life as head of A&R at Apple where people sent “100 pages of certifiably mental lyrics in the hope that John Lennon might put them to music”.

… signing and producing James Taylor and the album that changed the music business. And Taylor supporting the Who on US tours.

… the secret of being a great manager.

... Linda Ronstadt singing barefoot at the Bottom End. 

… Apple recording artist Brute Force and his non-chart-troubling single The King Of Fuh.

… the other role model for Austin Powers.

… and why music today is just as good as the past.

David Jacks' memoir, Peter Asher: A Life In Music …

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peter-Asher-Music-David-Jacks/dp/1493061216

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