Lou Adler
Adler was famous for producing acts on his record label, Dunhill, which he started in 1965. His acts included The Mamas and the Papas, Johnny Rivers, and The Grass Roots, among others. In 1967, he sold the label to ABC Records and started a new label, Ode Records. That same year, he produced the Monterey Pop Festival, as well as a film documentary of the festival. In 1972, Adler produced the LP Tapestry for Carole King, which went on to win Grammy awards for Album of the Year and Record of the Year for the single "It's Too Late." Adler also had great success with another Ode act, comedy duo Cheech & Chong. The pair had several LPs on the label, and later starred in a series of films based on their comedy, also produced by Adler, the most popular of which was Up In Smoke.
After seeing an original performance of the 1973 British musical The Rocky Horror Show at The Theater Upstairs in London, Adler bought the rights and brought it to his club. After several months of success of the show and its original cast LP on his Ode label, Adler went on to produce a 1975 adaptation of the musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Although the film was initially considered a failure, clever marketing on the part of Adler and others at distributor 20th Century Fox led to a massive cult success. Among Adler's wisest moves was retaining the rights to the original soundtrack album, which continues to be a healthy seller 40 years after its initial release.
Adler remains active in his promotion and dedication to Rocky Horror, attending and creating special events supporting the film and its cult following.
