Herb Alpert West Coast band We Five. Among the notable artists he worked with personally are Chris Montez, The Carpenters, Sérgio Mendes and Brasil '66, Bill Medley, Lani Hall (Alpert's second and current wife), Liza Minnelli and Janet Jackson (featured vocalist on his 1987 hit single "Diamonds"). These working relationships allowed Alpert to place singles in the Top 10 in three different decades (1960s, 1970s, and 1980s). Alpert and A&M Records partner Jerry Moss agreed in 1987 to sell A&M to PolyGram Records for a reported $500 million. Both would continue to manage the label until 1993, when they left because of
Herb Alpert had his biggest instrumental hit, "Rise" (from the album of the same name), which went to No. 1 in October 1979 and won a Grammy Award. It was later sampled in the 1997 No. 1 rap song, "Hypnotize" by Notorious B.I.G. "Rise" was written by Alpert's nephew, Randy "Badazz" Alpert and his friend Andy Armer. "Rise" made Alpert the only artist ever to hit No. 1 on the "Billboard" Pop Singles chart with both a vocal piece and an instrumental piece. Another Randy "Badazz" Alpert / Andy Armer song, "Rotation", hit No. 30 on the "Billboard" Pop Singles chart. The