Herb Alpert: Feeling 88 Years Young

Herb Alpert, the 88-year-old award-winning musician, and former record executive, recently experienced something for the first time. One of his songs, “Ladyfingers,” from his iconic album Whipped Cream & Other Delights, became a hit again in a new way, thanks to the social media platform TikTok. For someone who rose to fame in the 1960s, even outselling the Beatles for a stint, the idea that a fast-paced digital arena like TikTok would be a factor in his life is, admittedly, odd. However, the Alpert song went viral and garnered 100 million streams. Staggering. The album the song is on sold some 14 million copies upon its release in 1965—a number that helped make the trumpet-playing Alpert famous in his heyday. But 100 million streams? That’s almost impossible to imagine, especially for someone who remembers recording music even before one-track tape players were around.