Charlie Chaplin Studios - A&M Records

A&M Records

In 1966, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss purchased the studio from CBS to serve as a headquarters for A&M Records. A&M Records had grown from $500,000 in revenues in 1964 to $30 million in 1967. Alpert and Moss reportedly "astonished the big network by having their bank deliver a cashier's check for more than $1 million, the full amount." A&M converted two of the old soundstages and Chaplin's swimming pool into a recording studio. A 1968 profile on Alpert and Moss described their renovation of Chaplin's old studios:

"The old sound stages are in the process of being completely rebuilt into what must be the most luxurious and pleasant recording studios in the world. Chaplin's cement footprints are one of the few reminders of the past."

In 1985, the hit single and video "We Are the World" was recorded in A&M's Studio A by a cast that included Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen. Many of the recording industry's greatest stars have recorded albums and videos at the studios, including Styx, the Carpenters, The Police, the Moody Blues, Oingo Boingo, Soundgarden, and Van Morrison. Music videos filmed at the lot include "Every Breath You Take" by the Police and Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters".

The elderly Chaplin briefly revisited his former studio in 1972, when he made his only return trip to America to accept an honorary Academy Award. A&M Records had hoped to welcome him back with a ceremony, but instead he chose to avoid the attention and arranged to drive by the studio gates on a weekend.