David Geffen

David Geffen, born in 1943, American entertainment executive, record producer, and founder of Geffen Records. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Geffen briefly attended Texas A&M University and Brooklyn College before turning his attention to the entertainment industry. He was fired from a short stint as an usher at CBS before going to work in the mailroom at the William Morris talent agency in 1964. Geffen became a talent agent and focused on the emerging rock-music business (see Rock Music), representing groups such as Buffalo Springfield and Peter, Paul and Mary, and singers Janis Joplin and Laura Nyro. Geffen eventually became Nyro's manager, a partnership that revived Nyro's career and made Geffen a millionaire at the age of 27.

In 1970 Geffen founded Asylum Records to release recordings by another client, folk-rock singer and songwriter Jackson Browne. Asylum quickly grew to include popular performers such as Joni Mitchell, the Eagles, and Linda Ronstadt. In 1972 Geffen sold Asylum to Warner Communications Inc. (WCI) for $7 million. He then served briefly as vice-chairman of the Warner Bros. motion-picture company before retiring in 1976 at the age of 34. Geffen later attributed his early retirement to a mistaken diagnosis of cancer, and he started Geffen Records in 1980. In the 1980s hit records by several hard-rock bands—including Aerosmith, Whitesnake, Guns 'n' Roses, and Nirvana—helped Geffen Records become one of the leading record companies in the United States.

Beginning in the 1980s Geffen entered the theater and motion-picture business. He coproduced the plays Dreamgirls (1981), Cats (1982), M. Butterfly (1988), and Miss Saigon (1991), in addition to numerous motion pictures, including Risky Business (1983), Beetlejuice (1988), and Interview with the Vampire (1994). In 1990 Geffen sold his record company to MCA Records for $550 million in stock. The following year, the sale of MCA to the Matsushita Electrical Company of Japan netted Geffen $745 million. A philanthropist, Geffen has been a leading supporter of research and treatment programs for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In 1994 he cofounded the company DreamWorks SKG with film director Steven Spielberg and former executive of the Walt Disney Company Jeffrey Katzenberg to create various entertainment products, including motion pictures, television programs, and musical recordings.