Jimmy Iovine

James Iovine ( ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, former record executive, and media proprietor. He is the co-founder of Interscope Records and became chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M, an umbrella music unit formed by Universal Music Group in 1999.

Iovine has been involved in the production of more than 250 albums.

In 2006, Iovine and his close friend, hip hop musician Dr. Dre, co-founded Beats Electronics. Two years later, the brand launched its first set of headphones. In late 2013, they began development for Beats Music, and released it in 2014, which went on to become the framework for Apple Music. The company was purchased by Apple Inc. for $3 billion in May 2014. At the same time, Iovine vacated his positions as chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, ending his twenty-five year relationship with his label.

On August 21, 2018, after initial denial, Iovine parted ways with Apple and effectively retired from the media business. He is credited or named in institutional education centers such as the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy, which was inaugurated in 2013, and the Iovine and Young Center, a magnet high school which opened in Los Angeles in August 2022.

Early life and training

James Iovine was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, to an Italian working-class family. His mother was a secretary and his father, Vincent Iovine, worked on the docks as a longshoreman. He has an older sister, born in 1946. The family lived in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood. His father died in 1985.

Iovine attended a Catholic school in Brooklyn, graduating from the since-closed Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School and went on to attend New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice. At age 19, he dropped out of college. He was introduced to music production after he met a songwriter who helped him find a job as a recording studio cleaner, and he soon began working as an engineer.

Career

Music career

1970s–1980s: Music production and engineering

In the early 1970s, Iovine became a recording engineer, working with John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, among others. By 1973, Iovine was a part of the staff, working for the now-demolished New York City faction of the Record Plant, where he worked on Springsteen's ''Born to Run'' and Meat Loaf's ''Bat Out of Hell''. He came to prominence through his work on Patti Smith's album ''Easter'' (1978), which included her Top 40 hit "Because the Night". He later collaborated with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on '' Damn the Torpedoes'' and U2 on ''Rattle and Hum''. Iovine produced '' Bella Donna'' (the first solo album by former Fleetwood Mac member Stevie Nicks), ''Making Movies'' for Dire Straits, '' The Distance'' for Bob Seger and '' Get Close'' for The Pretenders.

Iovine served as sound engineer for the Voyager Golden Records, a pair of phonograph records that were launched aboard the Voyager space probes in 1977. His father's death and love for Christmas inspired Iovine to record and oversee '' A Very Special Christmas'' in 1985. The compilation was not released until 1987 under Interscope's future sister label A&M Records. Iovine chose to not profit off the album and instead used the money from album sales to help fund Special Olympics programs. Following the release of the first album, ten more were produced. The initiative has raised over $145 million and helped more than 110 local Special Olympics programs. He was responsible for supervising the music used in the 1984 romance film ''Sixteen Candles'', ''Streets of Fire'' and the 1988 comedy film ''Scrooged''.

1989–2014: Interscope Records

In 1989, Iovine and Ted Field, founder of film production label Interscope Communications, co-founded Interscope Records. A year later, the label secured a distribution deal with Atlantic Records and garnered success with artists including No Doubt, 4 Non Blondes and Gerardo. Atlantic owned a 50% stock in the label. Iovine and Field signed Tupac Shakur to a recording contract as one of the first hip-hop acts under Interscope in 1991. A year later, Interscope became notable for providing distribution, initial funding and financial oversight for the highly successful Death Row Records. Death Row, founded by Suge Knight, operated as a subsidiary of Interscope, beginning with the December 14, 1992 release of label artist and producer Dr. Dre's solo debut album ''The Chronic''. With singles consisting of "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" and "Let Me Ride", both of which featuring labelmate Snoop Dogg, ''The Chronic'' sold over five million copies in the United States and become Dr. Dre's best-selling album in his career. Iovine and Dr. Dre formed a friendship following the release of ''The Chronic''. Over 19 million records sold from Death Row, the label was largely responsible for Interscope's multi-platinum success throughout the 1990s. However, Snoop Dogg accumulated more success on Death Row and Interscope with his November 1993 debut ''Doggystyle''. It opened at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 with the biggest first-week sales in 1990s hip hop. In November 1995, Interscope released ''Tragic Kingdom'' by No Doubt, which sold over 16 million copies worldwide as its single, "Don't Speak" made number one on ''Billboard'''s Radio Songs chart.

In September 1995, after internal conflict with Atlantic Records over controversy concerning the label's support of gangsta rap, the label and its former parent company at the time, Time Warner made the decision to sell off its share in Interscope to Iovine and Field. In January 1996, Doug Morris, chairman and CEO of the music division of MCA Inc., convinced Iovine and Field to bring Interscope to the company in exchange for acquiring 50% of the label's shares for $200 million. As a result, Interscope was placed in the same company portfolio of labels alongside future sister label Geffen Records, MCA Records, Universal Records and DreamWorks Records. By then, MCA was sold off by Matsushita Electric (also a parent company of Panasonic) to Canadian distillery and mass media conglomerate Seagram. With Interscope now under the MCA and Seagram shade, the label managed to gain more success with Tupac Shakur's double album '' All Eyez on Me'', which opened at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 566,000 copies sold in its first week. The album became another success for the rap division of the label and Death Row Records, where artist Dr. Dre felt uncomfortable due to founder and former CEO Suge Knight's consistent spending, violent behavior and gang affiliation. As a result, Dr. Dre departed from Death Row and re-signed with Interscope through a new label deal, creating his own imprint called Aftermath Entertainment. The label's foundation proved to be challenging, when on November 26, 1996, upon release, the compilation '' Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath'', was given a lukewarm response as was The Firm's ''The Album'', despite the latter, released on October 21, 1997, almost a year after ''Dr. Dre Presents: The Aftermath'', debuting at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200. Iovine, as stated on the 2017 HBO documentary, ''The Defiant Ones'', was pressured by Doug Morris to either give Dr. Dre time to control his music and artists or drop him from his label. Iovine responded, "We could that, but then, you would save my salary as well because I'm going with him." Interscope had further success with Tupac Shakur's posthumous record '' The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory'' as well as Snoop Dogg's ''Tha Doggfather'' and Bush's ''Razorblade Suitcase''.

Iovine offered to sign hip hop entrepreneur Master P and his imprint, No Limit Records, but he rejected the offer. Iovine allegedly threatened him and his management team that if they would not consider the Interscope deal, they would never "find another deal in the industry nor in this town". In December 1996, MCA Music Entertainment was renamed Universal Music Group with Interscope and various other labels now being a part of the newly rebranded UMG.

Following Death Row founder Suge Knight's probation violation and prison sentence in 1997, Iovine and Interscope ended their business relationship with Death Row; the final album released under the Death Row/Interscope deal was the soundtrack to the Tupac Shakur action film, ''Gridlock'd'', which managed to reach the Billboard 200's number one position.

In March 1998, Iovine invited Dr. Dre to his house to listen to the ''Slim Shady EP'', released in 1997 by an underground rapper, who was participating a tournament of rap battles at the time, by the name of Eminem. The tape eventually landed in the hands of Interscope A&Rs Dean Geistlinger and D.J. Mormile, who later turned it in to label co-founder Ted Field, who also sent it to Iovine for review. Upon suggestion from Iovine, he urged Dr. Dre to find Eminem and have him join the Interscope family through Dre's label, Aftermath. Eminem has found success with both labels despite controversy involving his lyrical themes. On February 23, 1999, Eminem released his debut studio album, ''The Slim Shady LP'', to critical acclaim. The album made its way to number two on the ''Billboard'' 200, helping to improve both Interscope and Aftermath after years of low sales.

On December 10, 1998, Seagram acquired PolyGram, and it merged with the Universal Music Group. After the PolyGram and MCA merger of Universal Music Group, Interscope became sister labels to new entries A&M Records, Def Jam Recordings, Island Records, Mercury Records and Motown. In 1998, Interscope, Geffen and A&M were put together under the umbrella label as Interscope Geffen A&M Records (IGA). Within IGA, Iovine and Field were hired to become the unit's co-chairmen and oversee operations of Interscope and Geffen.

In February 2001, Ted Field parted ways with IGA, leading Iovine to take full control of the labels. In June 2002 of the latter year, Iovine was able to manage to negotiate Eminem and Dr. Dre's joint venture agreement involving then-upcoming hip hop artist and fellow New Yorker 50 Cent. On February 9, 2003, he released his debut studio album, ''Get Rich or Die Tryin''', to acclaim.

Iovine was confidential in merging A&M, DGC, MCA and DreamWorks into defection through Interscope Geffen A&M between 1999 and 2003. Due to A&M co-founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss (1935–2023) filing suit against Iovine, Interscope and UMG over a breach of agreement involving the label's operations, A&M Records had to remain fully operative as a one-off subsidiary of Interscope Records; the two plaintiffs were given a $200 million out of court settlement. At the end of 2003, Iovine made over $45 million in revenue generated from music sales from his label.

For the next four years, Iovine, Interscope and Geffen began to see extended success from other artists including D12, AFI, Nelly Furtado, The Roots, Gwen Stefani (as a solo artist), The Game, Robin Thicke, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, The Pussycat Dolls and others. Iovine discovered Lady Gaga in 2007 who was sent to work with singer-songwriter Akon, who in exchange for his mentorship of Gaga, asked Iovine to sign her to Vincent Herbert's Streamline Records and Interscope.

In 2014, Universal Music Group reported that Iovine was departing from Interscope Records, ending his twenty-five year tenure with the label and vacating his fifteen-year dual position as chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records (now Interscope Capitol Labels Group, as of 2024). It was confirmed that the Fueled by Ramen co-founder John Janick was hired as Iovine's replacement. Janick was hired to become Interscope's president and COO in 2012. The final artist Iovine signed to his label was J. Cole. On May 28, 2014, Iovine effectively vacated his CEO and chairman positions, while departing from Interscope. The news of his departure from the label occurred following the sale of his and Dr. Dre's headphone company, Beats Electronics, to Apple Inc.

Business career

Beats Electronics

In 2006, Iovine worked with Dr. Dre to create Beats Electronics. It was originally a conversation between the two where Iovine exclaimed to Dr. Dre, "fuck sneakers, we need to do speakers." The first set of headphones were produced in 2007 and were launched in 2008. From 2009 to 2011, Beats enclosed endorsement deals with Monster Cable and Hewlett-Packard. The company had captured 20 percent market share of the headphones industry by 2012. In January 2013, Iovine announced the expansion of Beats into the online digital music world with Daisy, a new service slated to launch in late 2013. Former Topspin Media executive Ian Rogers and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor were said to be involved. In January 2014, Beats Music was developed and opened to the public after being announced on December 8, 2013. On May 28, 2014, Apple Inc. announced the acquisition of Beats Electronics. The acquisition gave Dr. Dre and Iovine a share of over $3.24 billion, becoming the largest acquisition deal in the history of Apple's timeline. Iovine was hired to assume an undisclosed position at Apple where he helped in the creation of Apple Music, which was launched in the summer of 2015 as replacement for Beats Music. On June 26, 2018, Iovine and Dr. Dre were ordered to pay $25 million to former partner and creative designer, Steven Lamar, who sued the two co-founders for $100 million in unpaid royalties for designing the early Beats headphone models. The lawsuit was filed in 2015 after news broke out of Apple's acquisition of the headphone brand a year prior. He was the creative consultant for Apple Music until August 2018. Firstly, he denied reports of him ending his partnership with Apple in January. Citing high usage of music technology and little direction to where Apple Music could be headed to, Iovine quietly left the company and effectively retired from the media industry.

Other ventures

In August 2022, the Iovine and Young Center, a magnet high school opened in Los Angeles. The school aims to improve the declining rate of enrollment in the L.A. Unified district.

In August 2023, it was announced that the Iovine and Young Center was partnering with Atlanta Public Schools to open a new learning center at Frederick Douglass High School in August 2024. The goal of the center is to prepare students for their future academics and careers.

In August 2024, Iovine and Dr. Dre announced they would partner with Inglewood Unified School District to open a new high school to help revive a district that had been forced to close schools due to declining enrollment. Regarding the partnership, Iovine stated, “We wanted to start in the inner city, because Dre and especially me, I owe a lot to the inner city of Los Angeles and we intend to pay it back.”

Film and documentary productions

In 2002, Iovine and former Shady Records president Paul Rosenberg co-produced '' 8 Mile'', which opened at number one in the box office and went on to gross more than $240 million worldwide. The film also garnered an Academy Award for Best Original Song for its theme song, "Lose Yourself", making Eminem the first rapper to win this award. Additionally, Iovine executive produced the 2005 crime drama '' Get Rich or Die Tryin''', named after the 2003 debut album of its leading star, 50 Cent. He also produced the 2009 documentary '' More than a Game'', which centered on the life and career of basketball athlete LeBron James; his label Interscope released a soundtrack for the documentary.

Television career

In 2005, Iovine made a guest appearance as himself on " Don't Make Me Over", an episode for the fourth season of Seth MacFarlane's ''Family Guy''.

From 2011 to 2013, Iovine was a mentor on Fox's ''American Idol.'' Iovine's protégés—Scotty McCreery, Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez, and Candice Glover—released their music through Interscope. Iovine departed from the show in mid-2013; he was replaced by Randy Jackson.

In July 2017, HBO ran a four-part documentary about Jimmy Iovine's relationship with Dr. Dre and other musicians titled ''The Defiant Ones''.

Voice roles

Iovine and Dr. Dre had provided their voices and motion capture performances in two downloadable content updates for ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' (2013); the first was 2020's ''Cayo Perico Heist'' and the second was 2021's ''The Contract'', the latter of which the player helps to unlock unreleased music by Dr. Dre in between missions or after completing them.

Philanthropy

In May 2013, Iovine and Dr. Dre donated $70 million to the University of Southern California to create the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. The first class of the academy began in September 2014 with 31 students. On October 2, 2019, the USC opened the Iovine and Young Hall.

In April 2020, Iovine and Dr. Dre donated to the city of Compton to provide support for medical supplies, free COVID-19 testing, and 145,000 meals for residents of the city. In May 2020, Iovine and Dr. Dre partnered with restaurant chain Everytable to provide 30 days of drive-thru meals to Compton residents.

Honors and recognitions

In 2011, Iovine was honored by The Producers & Engineers Wing of the Grammy Awards. "This year we pay tribute to an industry leader, Jimmy Iovine, who has made an indelible impact as a recording engineer, producer, founder of Interscope Records, and now, entrepreneur focused on audio quality," Neil Portnow, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the governing body of the Grammy Awards, said in presenting the award.

On May 17, 2013, Iovine received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of Southern California and gave the 2013 USC commencement address.

In 2022, Iovine was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Ahmet Ertegun Award category.

Personal life

New York rock radio DJ Carol Miller and Iovine had a two-year relationship in the late 1970s. Miller says "Jimmy had a wonderful, close-knit Italian Catholic family from Brooklyn and Staten Island who could not have been nicer to me. It was I, the Jewish girl from Queens, who always felt silently out of place." She says her father was not very nice to Iovine and was against the relationship due to the differences in their religions. According to Miller, the relationship ended in 1980, when Iovine began spending most of his time in California working with singer Stevie Nicks.

While producing her album '' Bella Donna'', Iovine entered into a relationship with Nicks. The two eventually broke up in 1982. Nicks wrote the song, "Straight Back", included in the Fleetwood Mac album, ''Mirage'', about him. According to Nicks, Iovine was an inspiration for one of her signature songs, "Edge of Seventeen". The song also became the backbone for the guitar sample used on Destiny's Child's hit single, "Bootylicious" (2001). Nicks has said that Iovine's despondence from the death of his good friend John Lennon overwhelmed her, and eventually led to the end of their relationship. However, the strong emotion of the time led to the creation of "Edge of Seventeen".

Iovine was married to writer, lawyer, and model Vicki Iovine since 1985 before divorcing in 2006. It was finalized in 2009; the couple have four children.

In 2014, he started dating Liberty Ross, the sister of music composers Atticus and Leopold Ross. They were married in front of their Malibu beach house on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2016, with friends and family in attendance.

On November 22, 2023, Iovine was accused of sexual harassment by an unnamed woman. On February 15, 2024, the accuser dropped the sexual abuse case with prejudice. Documents obtained by ''Billboard'' also revealed that while a summons notice was filed in November 2023, no official lawsuit had been filed against Iovine after the claim was made.

Selected discography

Discography

Filmography

References

External links

Jimmy Iovine at All Music Guide
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Iovine, James
1953 births
American audio engineers
American businesspeople in retailing
American music industry executives
American people of Italian descent
Businesspeople from New York City
Engineers from New York City
Film producers from New York (state)
John Jay College of Criminal Justice alumni
Living people
Musicians from Brooklyn
Participants in American reality television series
People from Red Hook, Brooklyn
Record producers from New York (state)