Herb Alpert a vocalist at Dot Records under the name of Dore Alpert. "Tell It to the Birds" was recorded as the first release on the Alpert & Moss label Carnival Records. When Alpert and Moss found that there was prior usage of the Carnival name, they renamed the label A&M Records. Alpert set up a small recording studio in his garage and had been overdubbing a tune called "Twinkle Star", written by Sol Lake, who would eventually write many of the Brass's original tunes. During a visit to Tijuana, Mexico, Alpert happened to hear a mariachi band while attending a bullfight.
Jack Daugherty (musician) Roger Nichols, Richard felt that he was producing the records and Daugherty put his name on them. In 1972, Daugherty had his own secretary at A&M and was paid a $25,000 salary (US$ in dollars) in addition to royalties from The Carpenters' records, but after he was fired from A&M, Daugherty sued Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss for wrongful termination and he claimed that his termination undermined his credibility in the music industry. He lost the 9-year lawsuit after the courts ruled in favour of both A&M and The Carpenters, but the defense cost the record label $350,000 (US$ in