David Geffen
b. 1941, New York, USA. Geffen has become one of the richest individuals in rock through his activities as manager, label owner and film producer. Geffen got his start in show business in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency. He became the manager of Laura Nyro in 1968, signing her to Columbia. Next Geffen formed a company with Elliott Roberts, to manage Crosby, Stills And Nash, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and others. He started his first label, Asylum in 1970. A year later it was sold to WEA for $7,000,000 and Geffen stayed on as chairperson. He was promoted to chief of Elektra-Asylum in 1973, briefly signing Bob Dylan. He became vice-chairman of Warner Brothers Pictures two years later. Ill-health forced Geffen to leave the music business for four years but he returned in 1980 with Geffen Records, whose roster included John Lennon. During this period, David also started Geffen Films, with distribution by Warner Brothers. Among his movies productions were Risky Business and Little Shop Of Horrors while on Broadway he produced Cats and Dreamgirls. In 1989, Geffen sold his label to MCA for over 500 million dollars in stock and when MCA itself was bought by Japanese company Matsushita he took further profits. At MCA, he remained chairman of Geffen Records and introduced a new label, DGC. 
Further reading: The Hit Men, Frederick Dannen.