I only knew her as “the frosting lady” – the sultry woman on the cover of “Whipped Cream & Other Delights,” a record my dad owned and mom tolerated. The seemingly nude, doe-eyed woman covered in whipped cream with that provocative stare tested the limits of decency and clouded my mind with possibilities. The album, by Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, was released April 1, 1965, the day after his 30th birthday, and was considered by most males (including myself) the sexiest album cover of the 1960s. What did a woman covered in whipped cream have to do with pop jazz? Didn’t matter. It sold 6 million copies. More than any other album that year including the Beatles. Sixty years later, the album is still iconic and still my favorite.
COVERED IN CREAM
Herb Albert was in a recording studio when he was presented with the concept for the album cover. “My first reaction was, ‘Holy s– man. Too racy,’” the artist told Billboard. “Obviously now it would hardly register, but at the time I thought, ‘Wow that’s a little much.’ And I didn’t know quite frankly, whether it reflected the album – the music I was doing at the time.” But they went with the cover and it would become his most successful album and one of the most memorable LP covers of all time.
The model, Dolores Erickson, now 89 living in Seattle, was a working artist at the time. She had modeled for the album cover “The Touch of Your Lips by Nat King Cole, and appeared in a few commercials and movies. She ran in the same L.A. social circles as Alpert and had attended several recording sessions in his garage when she was chosen to model for the cover of his new album.
The concept was that of A&M’s art director, Peter Whorf, who took the photos himself in his garage. Because whipped cream would turn runny under the hot lights, Whorf used cotton batting and several cans of shaving cream to cover her body to simulate whipped cream, which was only used on Erickson’s head and index fingers. Erickson, who was three months pregnant, wore a bikini with the straps pushed down below the shaving cream.
A&M Records, which stands for Alpert and Moss, was co-founded in 1962 by Alpert, left, and Jerry Moss.
DELIGHTFUL MILESTONES
Whipped Cream & Other Delights hit No. 1 on the Billboard Album Chart and held the position for six weeks, and stayed on the chart for 185 weeks. The title track “Whipped Cream” and “Lollipops and Roses” were used as theme music on ABC’s “The Dating Game.”
Through the years, the cover of Whipped Cream & Other Delights would be the target of numerous parodies. One notorious parody was in 1989 from the Minneapolis band Soul Asylum. For the photo, the group’s bassist, Karl Mueller, sat in for the original album’s model. According to the band’s manager, Mueller had to sit for hours in a foul-smelling combination of sour cream, paint, whipped cream and seafood. The title of the album, “Clam Dip & Other Delights” mimicked the original design and even made fun of the A&M logo incorporating the Twin/Tone Records logo instead.
BEYONE WHIPPED
In the span of his career, Alpert recorded 50 albums, 28 which have appeared on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and five of which reached No. 1. He has sold an estimated 72 million records worldwide. Here are just a few of his most iconic albums.
WHIPPING THE CHARTS
Herb Alpert’s music made the Billboard Hot 100 a total of 39 times in his career.
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Sources: Billboard, American Songwriter and Herb Alpert, Seattle Times