American noted family, a musician in his own right, and talented music producer, Melcher is the son of Doris Day from her youthful first marriage to musician Al Jordan. His dad committed suicide by shooting himself and Terry took his last name from his mom’s third husband, Marty Melcher. When his step-dad died, it seems that some $20 million was missing from the family coffers.
As a youth, he was drawn to the golden skids of Hollywood’s easy pills and booze. A singer, he became a record producer with his own production company, “Equinox.”
Acquainted with hanger-on and wannabe Charlie Manson, he grew leery when Manson kept pressing him for a record contract. With his mom in financial straits, he left the big house in which he was living with model Candice Bergen and rented it to Roman Polanski and his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate. It was Tate and her friends who were home when they had company the night of 9 August 1969, the Manson gang on a deadly mission.
Melcher remained close to his mother. He often composed songs for her projects and was an executive producer of her television series, “The Doris Day Show” from 1968-1972. Melcher himself was a talented musician and issued two solo albums, but his primary contribution was providing back-up to such groups as the Beach Boys. He became a staff producer for Columbia Records in the mid-’60s and helped the label become successful on the rock and folk scene. He turned Paul Revere and the Raiders into a mainstream pop group, produced Columbia’s version of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and Pete Seeger’s “Turn, Turn, Turn”
Melcher pre-deceased his famous mother, dying of cancer (melanoma) on 19 November 2004 at his home in Beverly Hills, California. He was survived by his second wife Terese and a son Ryan from a previous marriage.
Link to Wikipedia biography