David Geffen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Geffen
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Geffen in 1973
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David Lawrence Geffen
February 21, 1943 New York City, U.S.
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| Education | Santa Monica College (no degree) |
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| Title | Founder of
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David Lawrence Geffen, born on February 21, 1943, is a very successful American businessman. He has worked as a film producer, a record executive, and a media owner. He helped start many famous companies in the music and film industries.
In music, he co-founded Asylum Records in 1971. Later, he started Geffen Records in 1980 and DGC Records in 1990. He also helped create DreamWorks Records in 1996. In the film world, he started the Geffen Film Company in 1982. Then, in 1994, he co-founded DreamWorks SKG with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
As of 2024, David Geffen is known as one of the richest people in the entertainment business. He has an estimated net worth of about $9 billion.
Contents
Early Life and School
David Geffen was born in Borough Park, Brooklyn, New York. His parents, Abraham Geffen and Batya Volovskaya, were Jewish immigrants. They met in Mandatory Palestine before moving to the United States. David's mother owned a clothing store called Chic Corsets by Geffen.
David finished high school in Brooklyn in 1960. He then went to the University of Texas at Austin for a short time. After that, he attended Brooklyn College but left again. He moved to Los Angeles, California, hoping to start a career in entertainment. He also went to Santa Monica College for a bit. David has said that he had trouble in school because of dyslexia.
Starting a Career in Entertainment
David Geffen began his career in entertainment in 1964. He started as a mailroom clerk at the William Morris Agency (WMA). This agency helps actors and musicians find jobs. He learned a lot about the entertainment business by reading the memos he delivered. To get a job as a talent agent, he needed to show he had graduated from college. He told WMA that he had graduated from University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Since he worked in the mailroom, he was able to change a letter from UCLA that said he had not graduated. He then gave the changed letter to WMA.
In 1968, Geffen left WMA. He became a talent agent for another company, Ashley-Famous Agency. By 1969, he was a top executive and talent agent at Creative Management Associates. Around this time, he also started managing artists. He quickly became successful with artists like Laura Nyro and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
The founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, suggested that Geffen start his own record label. This happened when Geffen was trying to get a record deal for a young artist named Jackson Browne.
Asylum Records
David Geffen co-founded Asylum Records in 1971 with Elliot Roberts. They started it because Geffen could not find a record deal for Jackson Browne anywhere else. They chose the name Asylum because they were known for signing artists who struggled to find a record company.
Asylum Records became very important for the folk-rock music scene in Southern California. They signed famous artists like the Eagles, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Linda Ronstadt.
Geffen left Asylum in 1975. The label later joined with Elektra Records to become Elektra/Asylum Records. In 2004, Asylum was restarted as a label for urban music, signing hip-hop artists.
After leaving Asylum, Geffen worked as vice chairman of Warner Bros. film studios. He then took a break from work. In 1977, he was wrongly told he had cancer. During his break, he taught a class about the music industry at Yale University. In 1980, he found out the cancer diagnosis was a mistake. He decided to return to the entertainment business.
Geffen Records
In 1980, David Geffen started his own record label, Geffen Records. He hired Ed Rosenblatt to be the president. The label quickly became very successful.
One of Geffen's first artists was Donna Summer. She wanted to leave her old record company. Geffen released her album The Wanderer. The main song from the album became a top hit.
In November 1980, Geffen Records released John Lennon's album Double Fantasy. John Lennon said that Geffen was the only one who trusted him enough to make a deal without hearing the music first. After Lennon was murdered in December 1980, Double Fantasy became a huge seller.
Over the years, Geffen Records released music by many famous artists. These include Olivia Newton-John, Elton John, Cher, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, and Neil Young.
In 1990, Geffen sold the label to MCA Records. He received shares in MCA worth $550 million. A year later, Matsushita Electric bought MCA and paid Geffen $670 million. Geffen continued to run the label until 1995.
In 1999, Geffen Records joined with other labels like Interscope Records and A&M Records. They became Interscope Geffen A&M Records. Today, Geffen, Interscope, and Capitol Records work together under a new group called Interscope Capitol Labels Group.
Geffen Film and DreamWorks SKG
Through the Geffen Film Company, David Geffen produced several movies. These included Risky Business (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), and Beetlejuice (1988). Geffen also helped fund Broadway musicals like Dreamgirls and Cats.
In 1994, Geffen co-founded the DreamWorks SKG studio. He started it with famous director Steven Spielberg and executive Jeffrey Katzenberg. DreamWorks became a major film studio. Geffen left DreamWorks in 2008.
Helping Others
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David Geffen is known for his generous donations to different causes. In 1995, he gave $5 million to UCLA's Westwood Playhouse. The theater was then renamed the Geffen Playhouse.
In 2002, he gave $200 million to the School of Medicine at UCLA. Because of this large gift, the school was renamed the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In 2012, he donated another $100 million to the medical school. This money helps pay for the full cost of attendance for many students each year.
In 2015, Geffen promised $100 million to help renovate a concert hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. This hall is now known as David Geffen Hall.
In 2020, he pledged another $46 million to the UCLA medical school. In 2021, he gave $150 million to the Yale School of Drama. This gift allowed the drama school to stop charging tuition for all its students. The school was renamed the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University.
In 2021, Columbia Business School announced that David Geffen had given $75 million. This money supported the school's new buildings in New York City. One of the buildings was named David Geffen Hall in his honor.
Wealth and Art
David Geffen is one of the richest people in the entertainment industry. In February 2020, he sold his home in Beverly Hills, California, for $165 million. This was one of the highest prices ever paid for a home in California.
He also owns very large luxury yachts. In 2010, he bought the yacht Rising Sun. In 2011, he bought another yacht called Pelorus for $300 million, which he later sold.
Geffen is also a big collector of American art. He owns paintings by famous artists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning. Experts say his collection of post-war American art is one of the best. In 2006, he sold a painting by Jackson Pollock called No. 5, 1948 for $140 million. This made it the most expensive painting ever sold at that time. In 2016, he sold two more paintings, Interchange by De Kooning for $300 million and Number 17A by Pollock for $200 million.
Awards and Honors
In 2010, David Geffen received the Ahmet Ertegun Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This award honors people who have made a big impact on the music industry.
In 2011, he was given the President's Merit Award at the 53rd Grammy Awards. This award recognized his important contributions to the music industry.
See also
In Spanish: David Geffen para niños
