Trumpeter Herb Alpert is one of the most successful instrumental performers in pop history. Alpert's musical accomplishments include five number one hits, 28 albums on the Billboard charts, eight Grammy Awards, fourteen Platinum albums and fifteen Gold albums. Herb Alpert has sold 72 million albums worldwide and is the only recording artist to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both an instrumentalist ("Rise" 1979) and a vocalist ("This Guy's in Love with You" 1968).

Alpert's first big pop music success came in 1960 when he and writing partner Lou Adler, along with Sam Cooke wrote Cooke's, enduring hit "Wonderful World." In 1962 he teamed with Jerry Moss to found A&M Records, scoring a Top Ten hit with the single "The Lonely Bull." A&M grew to become the world's biggest independent label; among its greatest successes were the Carpenters, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, the Police, Supertramp, Peter Frampton, Styx, Janet Jackson and many others.