Echo/Redferns
Dick Asher, the music industry titan who served as president of PolyGram and Columbia Records, has died at the age of 92. Asher's son, Jeffrey, announced the news on Facebook, saying his father passed away peacefully on Tuesday (July 25) at his home in Boca Raton, Florida.
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“It is with great sadness that I inform you all that my father, one of the legendary executives in the music industry, passed away yesterday afternoon at the age of 92!! My father is in London, England presenting Mott the Hoople with an award for album sales,” Jeffrey posted, alongside a photo of his father and the British rock band.
Born in New York City in 1932, Usher has had a career spanning more than 40 years in the music industry, during which he has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi.
He began his professional career after graduating from Tufts University and Cornell Law School. After serving in the Marines, he joined CBS Records (now Sony Music) as vice president of business in the mid-1960s. After Bob Dylan was nearly killed in a motorcycle accident in 1966, Usher famously traveled to Woodstock, New York to negotiate a contract renewal with the superstar.
Asher left CBS for a brief stint at Capitol Records, but returned to the label in 1971 to work with Clive Davis at Columbia Records, later serving as a vice president at Columbia and playing a key role in stabilizing the company's finances.
In the 1980s, Usher stood up to a network of powerful independent promoters known as “The Network” who monopolized radio airplay through bribery and other questionable practices, and to that end, he released Pink Floyd's “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II” without their involvement, as recounted in Frederick Dannen's book Hit Men.
“Another Brick” was initially met with resistance from major radio stations, but ultimately became a major hit, spending four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in March and April 1980. Usher's resistance to The Network ultimately led to congressional hearings that exposed the group's activities and led to their dissolution in the mid-1980s.
Usher's tenure at Columbia ended in 1983 due to conflicts with the company's president, Walter Yetnikoff. He then joined Warner Communications and became president and CEO of PolyGram Records in 1985. During his time at PolyGram, the company released several hit albums, including Bon Jovi's “Slippery When Wet” and Def Leppard's “Hysteria.” He left PolyGram in 1990 due to a contractual dispute and returned to law practice, providing consulting services to various artists and companies.
Asher went on to serve as the founding director of Electronic Arts for over 20 years, before moving to Florida in the 1990s to become an associate professor of commercial music at Florida Atlantic University.
Asher is survived by his wife, Sheila, his son, Jeffrey, four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.