After graduating with a diploma in English from Brooklyn College as well as a stint in the Military, Moss started his music career by encouraging “16 Candles,” a success for The Crests on Coed Records. Finding the name was already chosen, they dubbed their new found business A&M Records. Following the A&M label was bought by PolyGram, the two guys went on to form Almo Sounds in 1994, a new record label which continues to run. Moss and Herb Alpert were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 as nonperformers.
Jerry Moss and his wife, Ann, are also longtime horse breeders and owners who received the greatest ever first place purse in the Kentucky Derby in 2005 after the success of the primary horse he’d ever entered because race, Giacomo. In 2004, Moss was named to the California Horse Racing Board, replacing longtime television producer Alan Landsburg. Giacomo was named by Jerry and Ann Moss in honor of a buddy of theirs, rock musician Sting, with a son by an identical name. Like Giacomo, the Mosses have named another runner following a link to Law Enforcement. Zenyatta, a half sister to the multiple grade I winner Equilibrium, was bought as a $60,000 yearling at the Keeneland Sales in September 2005. Zenyatta retired with only one loss as well as a record 20-19-1-0. Zenyatta is the sole female horse ever to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. In 2010 she was American Horse of the Year.