Remembering Dick Asher
• We’ve lost yet another industry legend — Dick Asher, former President of PolyGram and Columbia Records, who worked with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi and Bob Dylan over his long career, died this week at the age of 92. Asher’s son Jeffrey confirmed to Variety that his father died peacefully at home in Boca Raton, FL on Tuesday, July 23.
Asher (pictured here, left, with George Clinton, and the late, legendary CBS Records exec Walter Yetnikoff) is widely remembered for his efforts during the 1980s to battle the powerful group of independent promoters, known as “The Network,” that came to dominate radio airplay via payola and other unsavory, at times illegal efforts, as depicted in Frederic Dannen‘s 1990 book, Hit Men.
Asher graduated from Tufts University and Cornell Law School before serving in Marine Corps. Upon his discharge he took a job as a corporate lawyer; one of his clients was Don Kirshner and Al Nevins’ Aldon Music, which was essentially home base of Brill Building songwriters like Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Cynthia Weil, Barry Mann, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Neil Diamond and many others. Asher then joined CBS Records (now Sony Music) in the mid-’60s as VP of Business Affairs, where he notably renegotiated Bob Dylan‘s contract in person while Dylan was in seclusion after his near fatal 1966 motorcycle accident.
Following a brief stint at Capitol Records, Asher returned to CBS in 1971 to work with Clive Davis at Columbia Records and sent to London to turn around the company’s flagging U.K. division, and was promoted to Head of International, and later, Deputy President of the label. In October 1985 Asher was named President/CEO of PolyGram Records, which was about to release two of the biggest albums of the decade — Bon Jovi‘s Slippery When Wet and Def Leppard‘s Hysteria, among others.
After leaving PolyGram, Asher returned to law practice and later became an original director for Electronic Arts software, a post he retained for 24 years. He relocated to Florida in the 1990s and later was an affiliate professor of commercial music at Florida Atlantic University.
Asher is survived by his wife, Sheila, son, Jeffrey, four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. [Photo by Echoes/Redferns]
