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Born: Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A. - December 13, 1933
Lou Adler, a prominent pop music entrepreneur from the late 50's up until the mid-70's.
His name is associated with many well-known rock-and-roll acts, particularly those from the West Coast.
In the late 1950's Adler was in partnership with Herb Alpert as managers of the up-and-coming rock-and-roll act, Jan & Dean. Adler also wrote songs, often under the name Barbara Campbell; Sam Cooke's Only Sixteen was his composition.
Adler worked for music publisher Screen Gems
and for various record labels, including Colpix and Dimension. In 1964 he started Dunhill Productions, along with
Al Bennett, Pierre Cossette and
Bobby Roberts.
Originally for the purpose of releasing
Johnny Rivers recordings (who was on
Imperial Records label).
In 1965 Dunhill Productions started the
Dunhill Record label, and was distributed by
ABC Records.
He was President of the label as well as the chief record producer from 1964 - 1967.
While President for the label he recruited
P. F. Sloan and
Steve Barri to write and produce songs.
One prominent artist signed to Dunhill was former
New Christy Minstrels'
Barry McGuire. McGuire recorded a song that had been written by Sloan and on which he was backed by the original
members of the
Grass Roots: Eve Of Destruction reached the top of the charts late in 1965.
The top act at Dunhill were the
Mamas and Papas, who placed six songs in the top ten in 1966 and 1967.
He became involved in the careers of
Shelley Fabares [whom he married in 1964, separated in 1966 and divorced 1980]
and produced several of her songs.
He continued his relationship with
Jan & Dean, and
Johnny Rivers
Adler sold his shares to ABC Records in the summer of 1967, this created ABC Dunhill Records.
In 1967, he co-produced the Monterey International Pop Festival, noted for bringing together Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Otis Redding and Janis Joplin, and produced a film of the fest in 1968.
After selling to ABC, Adler launched the Ode label, which had its first big hit with San Francisco [Be Sure To Wear Flowers in Your Hair] by Scott McKenzie; McKenzie went on to co-write the number one hit Kokomo for the Beach Boys in the late 80's. The Ode label also produced Spirit which had a top forty hit with I Got A Line On You in 1969.
The most successsful act produced by Lou Adler at Ode was yet to come. Former Brill Building songwriter Carole King became very hot as a performer in 1971 with her number one hit It's Too Late on Ode. Other hits followed for King which were produced by Lou Adler and released on the Ode label: I Feel The Earth Move, So Far Away, Sweet Seasons, Been To Canaan, Jazzman, Nightingale. Carole King won four Grammys in 1971.
After the mid-70's Lou Adler became less involved in the music business. His contributions to rock-and-roll in the
50's, 60's and 70's were enormous.
A major playboy in the 1960s and 1970s, Adler, has been romantically linked to some of the world's most beautiful women, such as singer-artist Jill Gibson, actress
Tina Sinatra, singer-actress
Michelle Phillips and movie actress
Britt Ekland, with whom he fathered a son named Nicholai in 1973.
In 1978 Adler fathered a second son, Cisco Adler, with then girlfriend Phyllis Somer.
Now married to actress Page Hannah, (
Daryl Hannah's younger sister), and they have four sons named Manny, Pablo, Oscar,
and Ike.
Lou Adler is the owner of The Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, California.
On April 6, 2006, Adler was honored with a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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