Terry Melcher Discography

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Melcher was born Terry Jorden in New York City to trombonist Al Jorden and his wife, singer/actress Doris Day. Day was only 19 years old when she gave birth to Terry. Before Terry`s birth, Day was planning to leave the abusive and violent Al Jorden. Jorden was outraged when he found out about her pregnancy, and demanded Day get an abortion. Doris refused and in turn, Jorden physically abused Day throughout her entire pregnancy. Shortly after Terry`s birth, Day filed for divorce, left Terry with her mother in Ohio and went back to touring with big band leader Les Brown. After the divorce, Terry`s father failed to visit his son on a regular basis and had little presence in his life. Al Jorden would ultimately commit suicide years later.[1]

Day`s career led her to Hollywood where she appeared on local radio shows. After marrying and divorcing her second husband, saxophonist George Weidler, Day met and married Martin Melcher. Martin Melcher would become Day`s manager and go on to produce many of her movies. Although Terry and Martin disliked each other intensely, Martin adopted Terry, giving the boy his surname.[2]After Martin`s death in 1968, it was discovered that he had mismanaged or embezzled $20 million of Doris Day`s money

In the early 1960s, Terry Melcher and Bruce Johnston formed the vocal duet Bruce & Terry. The duo had hits like Custom Machine and Summer Means Fun. Melcher and Johnston also created another band together, The Rip Chords, that had a Top 10 hit Hey, Little Cobra. Later, Bruce Johnston would join The Beach Boys. By the mid-60s, Melcher had joined the staff of Columbia Records and went on to work with The Byrds. He produced their song, Turn, Turn, Turn, and helped them to produce their remake of Bob Dylan`s, Mr. Tambourine Man. Due to conflicts with the band, Melcher was replaced. He later worked with Paul Revere and the Raiders, Wayne Newton, Frankie Laine, Jimmy Boyd, Pat Boone, Glen Campbell, Mark Lindsay and The Mamas & The Papas. Melcher was instrumental in signing another near-legendary L.A. band, the Rising Sons led by Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder.[4] Melcher also performed on the Beach Boys album Pet Sounds, as a background vocalist, and introduced Brian Wilson to Van Dyke Parks in February 1966, beginning their partnership on the ill-fated SMiLE project.[5] He was also a board member of the Monterey Pop Foundation and a producer of the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

In 1968, Beach Boy Dennis Wilson introduced Melcher to ex-con and aspiring musician Charles Manson. Manson and his "family" had been living in Wilson`s house after Dennis had picked up two girls from the "family" hitchhiking. Wilson expressed interest in Manson`s music and even recorded two of Manson`s songs with The Beach Boys. For a time, Melcher was interested in recording Manson`s music, as well as making a movie about the "family". During that time, Manson met Melcher at 10050 Cielo Drive, the home Melcher shared with his girlfriend, Candice Bergen, on different occasions. Manson eventually auditioned for Melcher, but Melcher declined to sign him. There was still talk of a documentary being made about Manson`s music, but Melcher abandoned the project after witnessing his subject becoming embroiled in a terrifying fight with a drunken stuntman at Spahn Ranch.[3] Both Wilson and Melcher severed their ties with Manson, a move that angered Manson.[6]

After severing ties with Manson, Melcher and Bergen moved out of the Cielo

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