James "Jimmy" Iovine (/ˈaɪ.əviːn/; [ˈjovine]; born March 11, 1953) is an American music producer and entrepreneur, the co-founder of Interscope Records and chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M. Iovine is currently developing a digital music subscription service, Daisy, in conjunction with Beats By Dr. Dre, the company he founded with Dr. Dre in 2006. He recently served as a mentor on American Idol.

Biography

Iovine was born in Brooklyn, the son of James Iovine, Sr., a longshoreman. As a teenager, he was introduced to music production after he met a songwriter who got him a job cleaning a recording studio, and began working as a studio professional in 1972. Since the start of his career, Iovine has been involved in the production of more than 250 albums and is considered one of the music industry's most accomplished producers.

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 renowned New York studio the Record Plant, where he worked on seminal albums such as Springsteen's Born to Run and Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. He came to prominence via his work on the 1978 Patti Smith album Easter, which included her Top 40 hit, "Because the Night", and teamed with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on Damn the Torpedoes and U2 on Rattle & Hum. Iovine also produced Bella Donna, the first solo album for Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, Making Movies for Dire Straits, and Get Close for The Pretenders, in addition to many others.

In 1990, Iovine co-founded Interscope Records, which became Interscope Geffen A&M after a merger in 1999. Interscope Geffen A&M, which is now part of Universal Music Group, has been described as "shining like a supernova in the musical universe.". The label is regarded as a major force in global music, developing chart-topping artists across a wide range of musical genres including rock, rap, pop and alternative. Under Iovine's auspices, Interscope Geffen A&M have released albums by many of the most popular and acclaimed artists in the world, including Dr. Dre, Nine Inch Nails, U2, Mary J. Blige, No Doubt, Marilyn Manson, The Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, 50 Cent, 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 $240,000,000 worldwide. Additionally, Iovine executive produced the "knockout" 2009 LeBron James documentary, More Than A Game and 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin.'

In 2006, Iovine teamed up with Dr. Dre to co-found Beats By Dre, high-performance headphones. Due in part to the design of its headphones and an expansion into smartphones and automotive audio systems, the company has become the industry leader, capturing 40 percent market share of the entire billion-dollar headphones industry. Despite the company's tremendous success, Iovine stated that “Beats is just us knowing sound and what a good product is."

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 front man Trent Reznor will work alongside Iovine.

From 2011-2013 he was a mentor on Fox's American Idol. Iovine's standout performers, including Scotty McCreery, Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez, and Candice Glover now release their music through Interscope. In August 2013, it was confirmed that Iovine would not return to the show for its thirteenth season.

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 PhD from the University of Southern California and gave the 2013 USC commencement address.

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