Jerry Moss, legendary A&M founder and executive, dead at 88

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Jerry Moss, a music industry giant who co-founded A&M Records with Herb Alpert, has died at 88.

Moss died Wednesday at his home in Bel Air, California, according to a statement released by his family. He died of natural causes, his widow Tina told The Associated Press.

"They truly don’t make them like him anymore and we will miss conversations with him about everything under the sun," the statement read. "The twinkle in his eyes as he approached every moment ready for the next adventure."

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Jerry Moss, right, and Herb Alpert, co-founders of A&M Records, appear during their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in New York on March 13, 2006. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen, File)

Moss rose from a Los Angeles garage to the heights of success with hits by Alpert, the Police, the Carpenters and hundreds of other performers. He was inducted with Alpert into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

Born in New York City, Moss had wanted to work in show business since waiting tables in his 20s and noticing that the entertainment industry patrons seemed to be having so much fun. After a six-month Army stint, he found work as a promoter for Coed Records and eventually moved to Los Angeles, where he met and befriended Alpert, a trumpeter, songwriter and entrepreneur.

Moss and Alpert's independent music company, A&M Records, created iconic albums throughout the 1960s into the '80s – including Alpert’s "Whipped Cream & Other Delights," Carole King’s "Tapestry" and Peter Frampton’s "Frampton Comes Alive!" The company was home to the Carpenters, Cat Stevens, Janet Jackson, Soundgarden, Joe Cocker, Suzanne Vega, the Go-Gos and Sheryl Crow.

Herb Alpert, left, makes a trumpet of his Grammy Award alongside Jerry Moss, as the two hold their Trustee Awards during the 39th Annual Grammy Awards in New York on Feb. 26, 1997. (AP Images)

Other classic singles included Alpert’s "A Taste of Honey," the Captain and Tennille’s "Love Will Keep Us Together," Frampton’s "Show Me the Way" and "Every Breath You Take," by the Police.

His music connections also led to a lucrative horse racing business, which he owned with his second wife, Ann Holbrook. In 1962, record manufacturer Nate Duroff lent Alpert and Moss $35,000 so they could print 350,000 copies of Alpert's instrumental "The Lonely Bull," the label's first major hit. A decade later, Duroff convinced Moss to invest in horses.

Racehorse owner Jerry Moss, center, his wife Ann, center left, and actress Bo Derek, far left, celebrate after Zenyatta, right, won the Vanity Handicap horse race at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California, on, June 13, 2010. (AP Images)

The Mosses' Giacomo, named for the son of A&M artist Sting, won the Kentucky Derby in 2005. Zenyatta, in honor of the Police album "Zenyatta Mondatta," was runner-up for Horse of the Year in 2008 and 2009 and won the following year. A hit single by Sting gave Moss the name for another profitable horse, Set Them Free.

In 1993, A&M Records signed Crow. She was one of the last musicians Moss and Alpert signed before leaving the company.

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"Every once in a while, a record would come through us and Herbie would look at me and say, ‘What did we do to deserve this, that this amazing thing is going to come out on our label?’" Moss told Artist House Music in 2007.

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Moss made one of his last public appearances in January when he was honored with a tribute concert at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles. Among the performers were Frampton, Amy Grant and Dionne Warwick, who wasn’t an A&M artist but had been close to Moss from the time he helped promote her music in the early 1960s.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.