Tony Asher

Asher worked across songwriter, lyricist, copywriter and musician. This article rests on 21 catalogued compositions and 16 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Tony Asher • Birth Name — Anthony D. Asher • Born — 2 May 1939 • Birthplace — London, England, UK • Occupation — Songwriter, jingle writer, copywriter • Years Active — 1960s–present • Notable Works — Pet Sounds (lyricist) • Relatives — * Laura La Plante (mother) • Irving Asher (father)

Tony Asher was born in London on May 2, 1939, to American actress Laura La Plante and film producer Irving Asher. He relocated to Los Angeles with his mother before the age of six months, while his father remained in England during World War II as a member of the U.S. Army. As a child, he played piano and began composing. He earned a degree in journalism from UCLA and worked at the Carson/Roberts/Inc. advertising agency, where he created the slogan "You can tell it's Mattel—it's swell!" for Mattel; its success led to additional work writing advertisements and jingles for Barbie and Chatty Cathy dolls. Among his colleagues at the firm were Terry Gilliam and Joel Siegel. He also collaborated on songwriting with Van Dyke Parks.

According to most sources, Asher met Brian Wilson while recording at United Western Recorders in 1965. At the time, Asher was a 26-year-old copywriter working on advertising jingles who regarded the Beach Boys as distinct from other artists, having released a sequence of hits where "you wouldn't even know, necessarily, that it was gonna be a Beach Boys record from the first bar or something." Although a fan, he stated: "I didn't own any of their albums. I had Bill Evans albums." Asher recounted that he was working on music or voice-overs for a commercial when he learned that the Beach Boys were in another studio. During a break, he and others lingered in the hallway before entering the booth, where Wilson was alone in the studio. This encounter led to their meeting. Seeking a departure from the band's established themes of surfing and cars, and opting not to work with his previous songwriting partners, Wilson contacted Asher around December 1965. Within ten days, the two began writing the majority of the material that would appear on Pet Sounds. Wilson and Asher collaborated for about three weeks. Asher contributed minimally to the music itself, primarily serving as a second opinion while Wilson developed melodies and chord progressions. The two traded ideas as the songs evolved. He later characterized the process as "writing an autobiography", though he "wouldn't limit it to Brian's autobiography." Asher contended that his most significant musical contributions were to "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", "Caroline, No", and "That's Not Me". He stated that he conceived the title and subject matter for three of their eight songs. Regarding royalties, Asher accepted a 25 percent share of the publishing, which he felt undervalued his input; he described the deal as "a screw", but added, "Until you consider that I was a nothing who had never done shit, and I had a chance to write with a guy who had something like nine million-selling records in a row. Well, then it doesn't seem so bad." In later years, Asher described his time with Wilson and the bandmates as an "embarrassing" experience. He later called Wilson a "genius musician but an amateur human being". Referencing this remark in a 2013 interview, Asher said that he "didn't mean that in the way it came out", explaining, "We all have areas of things we're good at and things we're not so good at, but his is so zeroed-in on music." After their songs were completed, Asher visited a few of the recording sessions, most of which were string overdub dates. He did not have a favorable reaction when he learned of the album's title, recalling that Wilson showed him zoo-themed photo proofs and mentioned the title Pet Sounds, which Asher felt "trivialized what we had accomplished", though he acknowledged that many of Wilson's unconventional ideas had proven effective. Asher was not invited to contribute to another Beach Boys album; he stated that he was unsurprised, citing the perception that Pet Sounds had been a commercial failure and that other band members had opposed Wilson's decision to collaborate with him. Mike Love said that he thought "Asher's lyrics were great. I found no fault whatsoever with his lyrical contributions."

In the late 1990s, Wilson and Asher rekindled their writing partnership and wrote at least four songs together. Only two were released: "This Isn't Love" and "Everything I Need". A piano-only rendition of "This Isn't Love" was issued on the 1997 compilation Songs Without Words, while a full-band live performance was released on Wilson's 2002 album Live at the Roxy Theatre. In 1997, "Everything I Need" appeared on The Wilsons, a project involving Wilson and his daughters Carnie and Wendy.

Tony Asher is recorded with the occupation songwriter. Recorded as a citizen of United States.