Peter Asher (born on June 22, 1944 in London, England) is a guitarist, singer and record producer.

Asher is best known as "Peter" of 1960s duo Peter & Gordon, whose biggest hit was "World Without Love"; since Peter & Gordon disbanded, Asher has enjoyed great success as a producer.

While attending Westminster School, he first met fellow student Gordon Waller, and together they began playing together as a duo — Peter & Gordon.

Asher is the older brother of actress and businesswoman Jane Asher, who in the mid-1960s was girlfriend of The Beatles' Paul McCartney. Through this connection he and Waller were often given unrecorded Lennon-McCartney songs to perform, most notably their first and biggest hit, 1964's decidedly Beatlesque "World Without Love." After Peter & Gordon disbanded in 1968, Asher took charge of the A&R department at the Beatles' Apple Records label, where he signed a then-unknown James Taylor and agreed to produce the singer-songwriter's debut solo album. The album was not a success, but Asher was so convinced that Taylor held great potential, that he resigned his post at Apple to move to the United States and work as Taylor's manager; he managed Taylor and produced his albums over several decades.

Asher also played a role in shaping the mellow California rock sound prominent during the 1970s, producing records for Linda Ronstadt, J. D. Souther, Andrew Gold and Bonnie Raitt. In the 1980s, Asher also worked on hit albums for artists as diverse as Cher to 10,000 Maniacs.

Credit: en.wikipedia.org