Herb Alpert’s “Whipped Cream” Cover Girl
Forty-eight years ago this month Herb Alpert’s landmark Whipped Cream & Other Delights was released and went on to sell over six million copies—and its playful erotic cover with the whipped cream-covered Dolores Erickson launched as many male fantasies.
A fashion model from the age of 14, Erickson appeared in magazines such as Vogue and Seventeen, as well as on album covers by Nat King Cole and the Sandpipers. As an actress, she rubbed shoulders with John Wayne, double-dated with Audrey Hepburn and guested on TV shows such as Father Knows Best and 77 Sunset Strip. While married to music industry exec Gil Friesen, she befriended Herb Alpert and was asked to pose for Whipped Cream & Other Delights. Today, Erickson, who describes her age as “the ’60s meets the 60s,” is a successful painter and appears occasionally at record conventions.
How did you get the job of posing for this album?
Peter Whorf, who designed the album cover, was engaged to my best girlfriend. Peter was a wonderful photographer who I worked with many times before on cover shoots at Capitol Records. He had his garage converted in a studio, and that’s where we worked. It was just like any other job.
Were you wearing anything beneath the whipped cream?
I was wearing a bikini, and there was a cotton cloth that went around my body. It was shaving cream on the cloth, but on my head was whipped cream. And of course it was whipped cream on my fingers, too. Shaving cream probably doesn’t taste very good (laughs). I don’t remember how many cans it took. We were just talking and hanging out while all this was going on.
Had you done anything as provocative in your modeling?
It didn’t seem any more provocative than other assignments. Many of the couture gowns I wore in magazines were way more revealing.
After the album took off, did you get recognized a lot?
No. It wasn’t until much later that the cover started getting recognition. When I got my first requests for autographs, I thought, “Are you kidding?” (Laughs)
But you did public appearances to promote the album …
Every time there was an awards ceremony, I was flown out from New York. But I was never asked to stand up to be recognized. It was kind of self-explanatory; everyone knew it was me. It was really about Herb and his hot music.
Are you proud to be known as that Whipped Cream girl?
It seems more important than I ever thought it would be. It’s Herb’s album, his music. It’s very humbling to be part of it all. They tell me it’s the world’s most famous album cover. So I just graciously accept the compliment.
—By Bill DeMain
Category: In Case You Haven't Heard
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I got hold of this album cover when I was just a kid – my parents WEREN’T too HAPPY about that,:) but it was my 1st preliminary taste of ” sex ” & also my 1st introduction ( I would also buy a copy of Santana’s ” Abraxas ” album some time later ) to sophisticated music, something besides The Archies & The Partridge Family.
Thanks, Dolores !
http://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2012/01/27/outtake-photos-from-the-sexiest-album-cover-of-the-1960s/
Steven is right. The cloth did NOT cover her torso (but it looks like it did cover her legs & hips).
Just bought six album cover frames this past Sunday to hang in my hall. “Whipped Cream And Other Delights” is among the six album covers I chose to put in the frames. I was five when the album came out, but I remember it vividly. So cool and so ahead of its time. Delores, you are a classic of pop culture. And how beautiful that you were expecting when the picture was taken.
Herb Alpert was one of my favs as i was growing up. As a collector of many things, oldies are one of them & when i seen an article about Deloris in the newspaper recounting her days as Alperts whipped cream girl, i started serching my collection & there it was! I indeed had the album & its the original one,with Deloris Erickson pictured on the front covered in the now famous whipped cream!I dont know what this cover might be worth , but i value it for the memories.I took the newspaer article & carefully folded it & put it in the album with Herbs recordings therefore storing yesterdays memories with todays !
To Steve regarding Delores Erickson’s bikini (or lack thereof). In this Seattle Times article from today, she says undid the straps on her bikini. It actually makes sense about the cloth (here she says it was a white Christmas tree blanket) as that would have helped hold up all that shaving cream!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018926566_whippedcreamlady16m.html
“I was wearing a bikini, and there was a cotton cloth that went around my body.”
Sorry, but this is pure BALONEY! Anyone who’s seen the outtakes can be certain that, at least on her top half, there was no bikini, no cloth, no anything.
It’s funny that she would say that there was, it almost smacks of shame. Too bad, it’s such a sexy and progressive cover shoot…
Steve
Dennis, you can get info to Dolores via the vinyltimes.com website. Anything you email there will get to Dolores.
Ray K
VinylTimes.com
I would like Dolores to appear at a tribute to Herb Alpert event I am hosting in August. We are going to recreate the Whipped Cream cover live! It would be great if Dolores could be there to give an award or just be herself.
Hello, do you know, or is there any way inwhich I could send Dolores Erikson a message? Her album cover influenced my life, my art and my wife (I’m married to a Dolores). I love her art and would like to see more of it or know where it is shown.
Thank you
Dennis Bruce Spencer