Terry Kirkman

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Terry Kirkman, (born December 12, 1939) in Salina, Kansas, U.S., is a musician who wrote the love song "Cherish". He left the band Men in the 1960s to become a founding member and sometime leader of the musical group The Association.

Kirkman co-wrote some material with fellow group member and friend, Gary "Jules" Alexander. His "Requiem For The Masses", a song originally written about a tragic death in Vietnam, featured six-voice harmony which had the power of a much larger group.[citation needed] The music fell between that of the Beach Boys and the Beatles in both style and popularity.

Early in his musical career, Kirkman partnered Frank Zappa. Their music shared a complexity rare in rock, something quite difficult to perform.

The first commercial hit for The Association (with wide distribution) was "Along Comes Mary". It featured jazz type chord changes blended with harmony and L.A. folk rock rhythm section complete with a Fender Tele and the engineer who had previously recorded "The Monster Mash", Gary Paxton. This song was not written by Kirkman but by Tandyn Almer and Association producer Curt Boettcher (who did not receive a writing credit). Other hits sung by The Association included "Never My Love", "Windy", and "Everything That Touches You" being commercial successes. The latter song was written by Kirkman. In 1971, Kirkman collaborated with Dick Halligan of Blood, Sweat and Tears to co-write the song "Cowboys and Indians", a nostalgic look back at childhood, appearing on BS & T's #4 Album.

A very active touring group, The Association would do 250 one-nighters in a year. It was reported that a line of cars two miles long formed near Chicago's Ravinia venue when they played a concert about 1970. The Association has had a number of reunion tours during the 1980's and 90's with various personnel, and the original group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.

Terry Kirkman was vice president of an L.A. organization that helps musicians with substance abuse habits, as of 2003,