There’s no way that music could ever go down the tubes. I can’t imagine a civilization without music. When you realize today that music is such a part of people’s lives. And will always be, really.
You don’t have favorites among your offspring, and you don’t among the artists you’re involved with, but clearly among my most favorite was Patti Smith.
The music began, and it was one of those life-changing moments. I saw an artist, Janis Joplin. She was exhilarating. She was vibrating. And she was like no other artist that I had ever seen before… It struck me that hard. Maybe the word is epiphany, when you get that special sensation.
The purity of finding the right artist, that artist that’s gonna be the next hall of famer, that artist that’s gonna be the next headliner, lifting people out of their seats at Madison Square Garden, that song that’s gonna be sung for hundreds and hundreds of years, that essence remains the same.
My introduction of Whitney was that if there’s going to be one performer for the next generation who combined the beauty and lyric phrasing of a Lena Horne with those Gospel fiery roots of an Aretha Franklin, it would be Whitney Houston.
My years with Aretha Franklin have been very special, as were the years making records with Dionne Warwick. Other highlights include working with Janis Joplin, who was the first artist I ever signed, as well as Patti Smith and Alicia Keys.
My ‘act’ was schoolwork. I was your basic, garden-variety, ambitious, upwardly mobile, hard-working Jewish boy from Brooklyn. I was bound to go beyond my parents. It was simply the way things were.
It’s not for me to determine what a country artist has in common with a hip-hop artist. You go for those with long-lasting careers. And that’s what I’ve had as my target all my life.
In this age when people expect to get their music for free, we have to work out how we can protect the rights of creative artists so they are compensated fairly and that the record business itself remains sound and healthy.
I would say, from an all-around point of view, Bruce Springsteen is one of the two great poet lords of America, Bob Dylan, coming out of the music world, the two of them.
If an artist knows you have respect for their talent – which I have to feel to my core, to sign them – they know that you’re in their corner. That doesn’t mean you have to be ‘mum’ on everything; it doesn’t mean you can’t raise your voice.
I had no idea that I was ever getting into music. I did not prepare for a music career, and here I’ve found, out of pure luck, that I did have, not only a talent and an ear, but a passion for music. And I have it to this day.
I have total respect for the self-contained rock artist. Whether you’re dealing with Jerry Garcia or Lou Reed or Patti Smith or a Whitney or an Aretha, they know what they want with their career.
I feel blessed that I found not just a profession, but a 24/7 way of life that I purely love. That curiosity to be current, to listen to the Hozier album, to be early in recognition of a Lorde and spending time with her and Miguel, the pleasure of seeing new talent erupt… I love it.
I feel that contemporary music, with very few exceptions, is missing the voice. You see an award show, you see a hundred extras on set dancing and special effects, and you don’t see that solo voice that was the trademark of Adele. It’s no accident that it was her album that ended up selling 27 million copies worldwide.