Veteran music trade govt Irving Azoff, left, remains to be at it, co-managing his newest shopper, U2, together with his son, Jeffrey, who additionally manages Harry Kinds. (Zipeng Zhu / For The Occasions)
It says one thing about Irving Azoff’s humorousness — to not point out his legendary sense of self — that when the veteran music trade govt began a label of his personal in 1990, he known as it Big Data. Azoff, who stands at roughly 5 ft, 2 inches, is greatest generally known as a hard-driving expertise supervisor; among the many many acts he’s steered towards rock and pop superstardom are Jimmy Buffett, Stevie Nicks, Steely Dan, Bon Jovi and Christina Aguilera. When the Eagles had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame, Don Henley mentioned of Azoff: “He could also be Devil, however he’s our Devil.” (Azoff himself joined the corridor in 2020.)
But the dealmaker nicknamed Swirv has executed lots else in each stay and recorded music within the half-century since he got here to California from his native Illinois, together with operating a serious label, MCA; serving as chief govt of Ticketmaster and chairman of Dwell Nation; restoring Inglewood’s Discussion board and serving to to open Palm Springs’ Acrisure Area and the much-ballyhooed Sphere in Las Vegas; and founding Iconic Artists Group, which oversees — and seeks to monetize — the storied legacies of artists such because the Seashore Boys, Dean Martin and Nat “King” Cole. He’s additionally lobbied lawmakers on behalf of musicians battling the tech firms that “resist paying for music till you go beat the f— out of them,” as he as soon as put it to The Occasions.
At 76, Azoff remains to be at it, co-managing his newest shopper, U2, together with his 38-year-old son, Jeffrey, who did a stint at CAA earlier than leaving the company to kind Full Stop Management together with his father. The agency’s different purchasers embody newly signed rapper Cardi B and Harry Kinds, a prime live performance draw who offered out 15 nights on the Discussion board in 2022 and gained the distinguished album of the yr Grammy for “Harry’s Home” in 2023. (Kinds reportedly officiated the youthful Azoff’s 2021 marriage ceremony.)
Collectively, Irving and Jeffrey organized for U2 to christen Sphere final fall with an immersive, video-intensive residency extensively described as having set a brand new benchmark for stay efficiency. The elder Azoff has even gotten into the restaurant enterprise, taking up a pair of historic L.A.-area eateries, the Apple Pan and Nate ’n Al’s, together with his spouse, Shelli. Search for Irving, Jeffrey and Shelli in a sales space on the latter, the place they had been photographed not way back hanging with Henley, John Mayer (yet one more shopper), Bono and the Edge.
This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Times.
