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David’s name will forever be synonymous with A&M Records, where he spent two productive decades.

DAVID ANDERLE, 1937-2014

The Music Business Mourns the Loss
of a Great Man
Legendary producer, A&R executive, portraitist and human being David Anderle passed away on Monday morning following a yearlong battle with lung cancer. He was 77.

After graduating from Fairfax High School in 1955, where Herb Alpert, Lou Adler, Abe Somer and Shel Talmy were fellow students, Anderle began his career at Verve, signing Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, before moving on to Elektra, where he worked with Judy Collins, David Ackles and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, among other acts. During that time, he also did a stint at the Beach Boys' Brother Records, and was a close friend and confidant of Brian Wilson.

But David’s name will forever be synonymous with A&M Records, where he spent two productive decades, working closely with a diverse array of acts that included Rita Coolidge, Chris De Burgh, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Amy Grant and Aaron Neville.

"This is a sad day—we really thought he was gonna lick this thing," says Herb Alpert. "I have great memories of David; he was a special human being and a lovely person."

According to Jerry Moss, David was "a great friend, and an even greater support system for all we were going for at A&M."

"I last saw him at the Herb show at Vibrato with his new wife shortly after the diagnosis," longtime A&M artist relations exec Bob Garcia tells us. "His words then: ‘I'm going to beat this.’ He looked splendid. I first met him long before I and he joined A&M, around ’66-67. I was working for undergrounder Open City, and David was with Elektra. He gave me my first personality interview—when he brought Tim Buckley out to my home. He was my Dante to all things rock in L.A.—took me to see Joni Mitchell in her recording sessions with Crosby, intro’d me to Van Dyke Parks, Mama Cass, Scott McKenzie, the Whisky and all the explosions on the L.A. rock scene."

On hearing the news, our own Karen Glauber, who worked with David at A&M and remained close to him over the years, offered, "If I live knowing that I encouraged and mentored 1/100th of the hundreds influenced, inspired and nurtured by the brilliant and beloved David Anderle, I will consider it a career well-spent."

And from Sting, "God bless him on his journey."

We loved him deeply and we’ll miss him greatly.
Bud Scoppa, A&M, 1973-78

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