PETER ASHER — A Life in Music

Press about "Peter Asher - A Life In Music" by David Jacks, published by Backbeat Books

“One would think that a life as full as that of performer, manager and producer Peter Asher would already have been the subject of a book or two, but astoundingly not, so here's David Jacks timely tome to redress that wrong.
Jacks not only interviewed his subject but seemingly almost everyone that Asher ever met, resulting in an account that's dense in detail yet breezy and conversational in style. Asher's days as part of hitmakers Peter and Gordon and career producing multi-platinum albums for James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt naturally serve as the book's focus, but along the way he emerges as a real-life Forrest Gump, being the first person to hear ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, encountering The Civil Rights Movement during whirlwind tours of the segregated south, becoming an unexpected mentor to a young Pink Floyd, being appointed head of A&R at Apple, meeting Sharon Tate aboard the QE2, taking rooms at the Hotel Chelsea, attending Woodstock, some of that all within the space of a month! . . A fascinating read”
– Peter Gallagher, Shindig, October 2022

“In December 1977, in an exceptionally rare move, Rolling Stone put a producer and a manager on its cover: Peter Asher, a bespectacled, copper-haired Brit, photographed sandwiched between his artists James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. Asher was at his zenith then, having guided the careers of two of the decade's defining stars, and about to pick up his first producer of the year Grammy. “People always ask, ’What does it take to become a great manager or a great producer?’ Asher said recently. ’And the answer is tragically simple: great clients.’ ”
Of course there's more to the story, which Asher detailed over breakfast on a breezy fall morning at a beachside club in the Los Angeles enclave he has called home for the last 40 years. His journey is the subject of a new biography by David Jacks, Peter Asher: A Life in Music, out on Tuesday.
Asher — peering through tortoiseshell glasses, framed by tufts of faded red hair — was initially dubious at the prospect of a book. "I told David, ‘I wouldn't count on selling it’ ” he noted, in a musically lilting accent “Because I don't think I'm all that interesting.”
... he finally began reading David Jacks's biography of him in full. "I did," he said, chuckling. "And, you know, I realize that perhaps my life has been a bit more interesting than I thought."

– Excerpted from Bob Mair's article How Peter Asher, Jack-of-all-Trades in Music, Mastered Them All – featured in The New York Times' November 10, 2022, edition. ©2022 The New York Times Company

Peter Asher and David Jacks at Book Soup in Los Angeles, CA

As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast is dedicated to revealing the stories behind the writing of popular autobiographies and memoirs. Its host, Daniel Paisner, has himself ghostwritten dozens of books, including 17 New York Times best-sellers. Though Peter Asher: A Life In Music was not ghostwritten, Asher did cooperate extensively with author David Jacks for almost twenty years and both were invited by Paisner to chat about it – Jacks tells how he came to write Asher's story, and Asher describes what it was like to trust someone else in telling it.
Paisner speaks to Asher first; the conversation with Jacks begins near the 34 minute mark. Listen