A new documentary film about Peter Asher covers his time in Peter & Gordon and his transformation into one of the world’s most successful music producers.
The film has been screened at special events, and will expand to wide release in theaters on June 26th. Peter Asher will have turned 82 four days earlier.
Besides some time as a child actor, the public became aware of Peter Asher when he and his singing partner, Gordon Waller, released the #1 hit “World Without Love” in 1964. We soon learned that the song was written by Paul McCartney, who was dating Peter’s sister, Jane.
Peter & Gordon had a short but successful career with 10 Top-40 hits, including “True Love Ways”, “Woman” (another McCartney song), “Lady Godiva”, and “I Go To Pieces”. Here’s the picture sleeve from the record I bought in 1965.
Peter & Gordon disbanded in 1967, but Peter embarked on an even more successful career path. He was developing talent for Apple Corp when he signed James Taylor. That eventually led to Asher becoming one of the world’s leading music producers. His biggest clients were James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt.
The above photo was taken by Annie Leibowitz for the cover of the Rolling Stone. By that time, both Taylor and Ronstadt had a series of multi-platinum albums produced by Peter Asher. Here’s the cover with the photo they chose.
Peter Asher’s production skills were in high demand by many other performers. That’s why the title of the film is the reverse of The Beatles’ song “Nowhere Man”.
That’s the basis of the film, and we’ll hear a long list of celebrities share their stories about Peter Asher. I’ll add a review of the documentary when it’s available.