Jimmy Iovine

Early life and training

James Iovine was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Italian-American working-class family. His mother was a secretary and his father, Vincent "Jimmy" Iovine, worked in the docks as a longshoreman. His father's passing and his love for Christmas inspired Jimmy to record A Very Special Christmas in 1985. Iovine attended catholic school in Brooklyn and went onto attend New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice. At 19 he was a college dropout when he was introduced to music production after he met a songwriter who got him a job cleaning a recording studio. He began working as a studio professional around 1972. Since the start of his career, Iovine has been involved in the production of more than 250 albums.

Music and film engineering and production career

In the early 1970s, Iovine became a recording engineer, working with John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, among others. By 1973, Iovine was on staff at the New York studio the Record Plant, where he worked on Springsteen's Born to Run and Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell albums. He came to prominence via his work on the 1978 Patti Smith album Easter, which included her Top 40 hit "Because the Night". He teamed with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on Damn the Torpedoes and U2 on Rattle and Hum. Iovine also produced Bella Donna (the first solo album for Stevie Nicks), Making Movies for Dire Straits, and Get Close for The Pretenders.

Iovine was also responsible for supervising the music used in the 1984 romance film Sixteen Candles and the 1988 comedy film Scrooged.

In 1990, Iovine co-founded Interscope Records, which became Interscope Geffen A&M after a merger in 1999.

Iovine signed Tupac Shakur to a recording contract as one of the first hip-hop acts on the Interscope label in 1991.

Iovine was also responsible for providing distribution, initial funding and financial oversight for the highly successful Death Row Records hip-hop label in the 1990s. Death Row operated as a subsidiary of his company Interscope, and was largely responsible for Interscope's initial platinum selling chart successes throughout the 1990s, which later launched the company into greater success in the 2000s with platinum artists like Eminem and Lady Gaga.

In 2002, Iovine co-produced the Academy Award-winning Eminem movie, 8 Mile, which opened at #1 at the box office and went on to gross more than $240 million worldwide. Additionally, Iovine executive produced the 2009 LeBron James documentary More than a Game and 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

Business career

In 2008, Iovine teamed up with Dr. Dre to co-found Beats By Dr. Dre, a headphones brand. Due in part to the design of its headphones and an expansion into smartphones and automotive audio systems, the company has captured 40 percent market share of the headphones industry.

In January 2013, Iovine announced the expansion of the Beats brand 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.

On May 28, 2014, Apple Inc. announced the acquisition of Beats Electronics. Iovine was hired to assume an undisclosed position at Apple where he helped in the creation of Apple Music, the electronics giant's foray into streaming music.

Television career

In 2005, Iovine made a guest appearance as himself on "Don't Make Me Over", an episode 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—release their music through Interscope. Iovine stopped working with the show in mid-2013.

Philanthropy

In May 2013, Iovine and Dr. Dre donated a $70 million endowment 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 goal of the Academy has been stated as "to shape the future by nurturing the talents, passions, leadership and risk-taking of uniquely qualified students who are motivated to explore and create new art forms, technologies, and business models". The first class of the Academy began in September 2014 with 31 students.

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.

Personal life

While producing her album Bella Donna, Iovine entered a relationship with singer Stevie Nicks. The two split in 1982. Nicks wrote the song "Straight Back", included in the Fleetwood Mac album Mirage, about him.

Iovine was married 24 years to model and writer Vicki Iovine before divorcing; the couple have four children. In 2014 he started dating Liberty Ross. They got married in front of their Malibu beach house on Valentine's Day, 2016, with friends and family in attendance. Sean John Combs aka Puff Daddy, remarked at the wedding, "This is the blackest wedding with a Rabbi I have ever seen!"