Ilste'llimwrilkaim PEOPLE

IlSTE'LLIMWrilkaim PEOPLE As Chosen By A Panel Of Their Peers Jac Holtzman 111111111111111111111M When Jac Holzman was in college, he might have been 1967) and commissioned the first piece of electronic music "arty" but he was no dummy. While still attending St. to win a Pulitzer Prize (Morton Subotnick's Silver Apples Of John's,he founded arecord company and namedit The Moon, 1970). "Elektra."after abeautiful demi-goddess from Greek mythology. He chose the name, however, because he had After selling Elektra in 1970, he became a Senior Vice learned from an uncle (who owned a scrap business called President of Warner Communications Inc, and the compa- AAA Cincinnati Waste Materials) that it was the companies ny's Chief Technologist in 1973. It was Holzman who rec- whose names were closest to the beginning of the alphabet ommended that Warners buy Atari in 1976. In 1972, mean- that usually got paid first. while. he became the first American to become a director of a major Japanese corporation, Pioneer Electronics, where Thus, Elektra Records was born in 1950. Holzman started he serveduntil1982. Holzman then assumed the it with $600, recording folksingers in their homes. Two Chairmanship of Panavision, Inc.. and doubled its value by decades, and some 500 albums later, when he sold Elektra the spring of 1985. Later, he formed FirstMedia, acquiring (anditscompanion label,Nonesuch)toWarner the Discovery, Trend, and Musicraft jazz labels and a Communications, he was doing over $15,000,000 in annu- controlling interest in Cinema Products, makers of the al business. His roster had stretched from singer/songwrit- Steadicam. ers such as Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton. to writer -inter- preters such as Judy Collins and Carly Simon, to rock Obviously. Holzman is impossible to capture within a few legends such as Queen, Love and The Doors. paragraphs. Luckily, the whole story can now be found in the recently released book Follow The Music-The Life And During the "Elektra years," Holzman invented the "sampler" High Times Of Elektra Records In The Great Years Of album (1954), became the first American to release a American Pop Culture. Read it. Dolby record in the US (1962), created the first music bill- board on the Sunset Strip (for The Doors' debut album. Don lenner While still in high school, little Donnie lenner would the launching of artists such as Whitney Houston, wave good-bye to his friends, throw his books in his Kenny G, The Church and The Jeff Healey Band, as locker and head on over to "The Tower." The yearwell as the resurgence of legends ranging from was 1970, rock & roll was turning into a genuine Aretha Franklin to The Grateful Dead. Eventually he business, and lenner was getting in on the ground worked his way up to Executive Vice President and floor. Well...actually, he was getting in through the General Manager of Arista. mailroom at Capitol Records. Then, lenner found himself at Columbia Records Whatever floor he started on, it worked for lenner, where, in 1989, he became the youngest executive because in 1971 he went into partnership with ever to head the label. As President, he supervised Jimmy lenner in CAM -USA, a successful publishing, the day-to-day operation of Columbia. lenner's sign- management and production company. Their client ings to the label include Alice In Chains, Toad The list read like a quintessential early -'70s album chart, Wet Sprocket, Aerosmith, Jeff Buckley, Bob Dylan, including Three Dog Night, Grand Funk Railroad, Billy Joel, The Offspring, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Blood, Sweat & Tears,The Raspberries, The Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Stabbing Westward and Chambers Brothers, Lighthouse, Eric Carmen and Soul Asylum. In 1994, in addition to his role as The Bay City Rollers. Presidentof Columbia Records, he became the Chairman of the Columbia Records Group, now In 1977, lenner co-founded Millennium Records and directing and overseeing the activities of Columbia served as its Executive Vice President. In 1982, he Records anditsaffiliatedlabels(including, we took on the role of Vice President of Promotion for assume, their mailrooms). Arista Records, where he was closely involved with Jimmy lovine Imagine you have spent the last two decades bust- scratch. Almost immediately, the industry is stunned ing your chops in recording studios all over the world. by your success,initiallyreleasing gangsta-rap You have emerged as one of the most sought-after albums by artists such as Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and producers in rock, twisting the knobs for artists such Snoop Doggy Dogg. Soon you're striking profitable as Patti Smith, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. partnerships with subsidiary labels, including Trauma Soon, you're tapped to oversee U2's epic album Records and their multi -Platinum Bush, and Nothing Rattle & Hum. Then, the band's manager asks you a Records, which brought fun guyslikeMarilyn strange question, and it goes something like, "When Manson and Trent Reznor into the Interscope fold. are you going to get a real job?" Later, you discover hit acts that others simply can't see. In 1991, for example, you heard a tape by a Luckily, you're Jimmy !ovine, and when fellow Album California punk-ska band called No Doubt. You sign Network honoree Paul McGuinness asks you a ques- them, and although their first two albums did pretty tion like this, it's because he's got a hot tip for you. much zilch,their first one on Interscope,Tragic Seems McGuinness had a friend named Ted Field, Kingdom, sells in excess of 8,000,000 copies. whose wallet was burning a quick hole in his pants in 1990. The solution? Find a savvy guy like you to "I don't care if it's eight donkeys in a row playing har- head a record label, fund it completely, and callit monicas," you told Time magazine, "if they all look Interscope. great and sound great, I'll sign 'em." So now you're running a record label, with the At least you did all that if you happen to be Jimmy responsibilityofbuilding anartistroster from lovine. 60.

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