Traveling through the 1960s and beyond with singer, guitarist, producer, manager, record company executive and former child actor Peter Asher, is an autobiographical journey through the life of a man who had a penchant for being in the right place at the right time. In an all-encompassing retrospective, he revisited, with charm, wit and a remarkably strong and well-preserved voice, the highlights of his extraordinary career.

As a young red-headed Austin Powers look-alike coming from a musical family in England, he was on hand when his sister, actress Jane Asher’s beau, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon wrote “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on his family’s piano and he knew immediately he was listening to something very special. McCartney also penned Asher’s #1 hit song, “A World Without Love,” which Asher recorded with his duo partner, the late Gordon Waller. As part of the mid-‘60s British invasion, Peter & Gordon were inspired by the close-harmonic style of their American idols, the Everly Brothers. The song opened doors that ultimately led to relationships with some of the biggest names in the music business. The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Randy Newman, Cher and The Dixie Chicks are among those who Asher has known, mentored, managed or produced.

At a mutual friend’s suggestion, James Taylor contacted Asher in London in 1968 for career direction and advice. Recognizing his enormous talent and potential, and as the newly appointed A&R man at the Beatles’ recording company, the legendary Apple Records, Asher signed Taylor shortly thereafter and the rest, as they say, is history. On yet another fortuitous occasion, he was at the Indica Art Gallery that he founded with John Dunbar and Barry Miles, when Yoko Ono and John Lennon were first introduced and sparks ignited.

A group of super-cool L.A. musicians were on hand, including keyboardist Jeff Alan Ross from Badfinger, who stood in vocally for Waller and helped to keep the music sounding authentic and fresh. Asher delighted the audience with the Peter & Gordon mega-hits “I Go to Pieces,” their last Top 10 hit, “Lady Godiva,” and, with technical help, two very moving duets, “True Love Way” and “Woman” reuniting Asher, singing live, with Waller on video.

The task of organizing all these tales had to have been daunting and Asher was wise to employ a multi-media approach with many priceless video, audio and photo clips of performances by him and Waller and the other mega-stars they worked with. He’s been urged to think about writing a book or producing a documentary of his experiences, but it seems he’s enjoying performing the songs and telling the stories, with all the advances in sound technology, now more than ever.

Although the intimacy of Feinstein’s made it feel as if Asher were speaking and singing directly to each member of the audience, this is a show that needs to be seen and heard by everyone who appreciates not only the music of that era, but also an insider’s enormously entertaining account of what it was like to live through it and beyond.

Lynn DiMenna
Cabaret Scenes
June 19, 2012
www.cabaretscenes.org