GEFFEN, DAVID

GEFFEN, DAVID (1944– ), U.S. record producer. Born in New York, Geffen began his career in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency, moved up the ladder to a position as agent, and then founded his own agency with Elliot Roberts in 1968. Taking such stars as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young under his managerial wing, Geffen founded the now major recording label Asylum Records (1970). He picked up recording artists such as Jackson Browne and built his company up to the point where it merged with long-established Electra Records, with Geffen installed as president (1973–76). In 1975 he was made vice chairman of Warner Brothers Pictures and in 1977 became executive assistant to the chairman of Warner Communications. In 1980 Geffen founded a new record label under his own name and signed John Lennon and Yoko Ono, as well as Bob Dylan, Elton John, and Donna Summer. The Lennon-Ono Double Fantasy (1980) album was the first released on Geffen Records. Geffen's original signings continued to bring his company success through the 1980s and into the 1990s, when Guns N'Roses proved one of the most successful groups in rock history. His ability to recognize talent was instrumental in helping to launch or develop the careers of such entertainers as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Eagles, and Tom Cruise. In 1981 he branched out into producing Broadway musicals and had success with Dreamgirls and Cats, which became the longest-running musical in Broadway history. Geffen's incursions into stage as well as film production (Personal Best; Risky Business; Interview with the Vampire) netted him millions of dollars. By 1996 he was a billionaire. He sold Geffen records to MCA, receiving stock valued at $545 million in exchange, and received a further $710 million when the Matsushita Corporation bought MCA a few months later. In 1994 he launched the Dream Works film studio project in partnership with steven spielberg and jeffrey katzenberg . Geffen taught at Yale and UCLA. In 2002 he donated $200 million to the UCLA medical school, the largest single donation to a U.S. medical school in history. The school is named the David Geffen School of Medicine. The campus already includes the Geffen Playhouse, which was named for him when he donated $5 million. Geffen has also contributed generously to the Democratic National Party; Los Angeles's AIDS Project; New York's Gay Men's Health Crisis; and AIDS Action in Washington, D.C. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Singular, The Rise and Rise of David Geffen (1997); T. King, The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New Hollywood (2000). (Jonathan Licht / Rohan Saxena and Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)