David Anderle, A&R Rep For Frank Zappa, The Doors & The Beach Boys, Dead At 77

It's truly a sad time for the music industry. Deadline reports that Veteran record producer and music exec, David Anderle, died this past Monday in his Los Angeles home after losing his battle with cancer. He was 77 years old.

Throughout the course of his 35-year career, Anderle's resume held an impressive list of names and companies, having worked with the likes of Frank Zappa, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge and the Doors. His longest position was at A&M Records, according to Billboard.

The exec retired from his position of senior VP of A&R at A&M back in 1999.

Before hitting it big with that label, Anderle proved to be a jack of all trades in the music industry. He began at Auto Stereo in the early 60s, where he aimed to get labels to transfer from catalogs to 8-tracks. He then drifted into management, becoming the West Coast talent director at MGM and the eventual manager of Van Dyke Parks.

Back in 1965, it was Anderle who saw Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention perform and urged Tom Wilson to sign the band and produce their album.

Before moving onto to A&M, the famed producer moved onto Elektra as the West Coast operations director, producing the likes of David Ackles and working with Judy Collins, the Doors and Love.

He also reportedly aided the Beach Boys in setting up their own label, Brothers Records, which he was ran during its early phase.

Anderle's credits also include being the music supervisor for films such as Good Morning, Vietnam, Scrooged, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.

Photo courtesy of A&M Records

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Frank Zappa, The Doors, Beach Boys, Kris Kristofferson