Lenny Waronker

His father, Simon Waronker, a classical violinist, performed with the 20th Century Fox Orchestra from 1936 through 1939, and served as the orchestra's contractor at the studio from 1939 to 1955.

When Waronker was 13, his father founded Liberty Records (he was the inspiration for one of the Chipmunks being named "Simon").

With a roster that included Julie London, Johnny Burnette, Eddie Cochran, The Chipmunks, Bobby Vee, Jan and Dean, Johnny Duffy, the Ventures and the Fleetwoods, Liberty became one of the most successful independent labels of the post-World War II period.

Liberty's first release was an orchestral composition entitled "The Girl Upstairs" by Lionel Newman.

Newman's nephew Randy Newman and Waronker – raised in the same neighborhood – were close friends.

They frequently visited the Liberty Records office, where they would watch recording sessions and study studio personnel.

Waronker had little interest in becoming a musician, and gravitated instead towards production.

Lenny Waronker (born October 3, 1941) is an American record producer and music industry executive.

As the president of Warner Bros. Records, and later, as the co-chair of DreamWorks Records, Waronker was noted for his commitment to artists and his belief that "music, not money, was still number one."

Waronker was born in 1941 in Los Angeles, California and grew up in Pacific Palisades, California.

He also produced Harpers Bizarre's "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)," which he hired Leon Russell to arrange.

Both songs were hits.

At the time, Warner/Reprise was characterized by a roster which included Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Petula Clark, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Sonny and Cher.

The perception of the label shifted as Ostin and Smith signed artists including Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, the Grateful Dead, and Van Morrison, among many others, and Waronker signed and/or produced artists including Newman, the Beau Brummels, James Taylor, Arlo Guthrie, Van Dyke Parks, Ry Cooder, Gordon Lightfoot, and Maria Muldaur.

After his college graduation in 1961, Waronker was employed by Liberty full-time, working in the label's promotion department.

A year later, he transferred to Liberty's publishing arm, Metric Music, where he worked for Mike Gould and, briefly, as an assistant to Tommy LiPuma.

At Metric, Waronker produced song demos; out of a fear that the producers would "mess up the song or the arrangement", Waronker learned how to make the demos sound like fully produced records with limited funds, and how to take advantage of "moments within a song".

At Metric, Waronker pitched songs to Dick Glasser at Warner Bros. and Jimmy Bowen at Reprise.

Impressed by his song demos, Bowen and Glasser recommended Waronker to Reprise label president Mo Ostin.

Ostin subsequently hired him as a junior A&R representative for Reprise and for Warner Bros., which was then run by Joe Smith.

Charged with developing artists who were originally on the roster of Autumn Records, a defunct label Reprise had acquired, Waronker produced the Mojo Men's "Sit Down, I Think I Love You," hiring Newman on piano and Van Dyke Parks as an arranger.

In 1970 Ostin promoted Waronker to head of A&R.

(He was nominated in the same category in 1975 for Maria Muldaur's "Midnight at the Oasis.")

Jones won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1979 and Waronker was nominated for a Grammy in the Record of the Year category for his work as the record's producer.

Waronker assembled an A&R staff composed of acclaimed producers and artists including Tommy LiPuma, Ted Templeman, Russ Titelman, Steve Barri, Gary Katz, Michael Omartian and John Cale, and by the early 1980s, Ostin, Smith and Waronker had transformed Warner/Reprise into a label known as a haven for artists.

Rickie Lee Jones, who Waronker signed on the strength of a four-song demo, was an example of the success of the Warner Bros. artist-centric philosophy; her debut album, which Waronker co-produced with Titelman, went multi-platinum, and was considered by many to be one of the best debut albums of all time.

Although the singles charts at the time was dominated by disco and arena rock anthems, "Chuck E.'s In Love" was a Top 10 hit.

Warner/Reprise continued to thrive throughout the 1980s, with releases from R.E.M. and Prince, both of whom Waronker signed, Eric Clapton, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul Simon, Madonna, Talking Heads, Van Halen, Neil Young, and Dire Straits, among others.

In 1982, Waronker determined that his A&R-focused role was limiting and "becoming tiresome."

He went to Ostin, seeking to become more active as an executive at the label.

Waronker was subsequently appointed president.

Although he remained significantly involved in signing artists, and produced tracks including Rod Stewart's "Broken Arrow" and Eric Clapton's "Forever Man," he reduced the amount of time he spent in the studio, and instead worked closely with Ostin to run Warner/Reprise.

With an emphasis on the quality of the records they released, under the joint leadership of Ostin and Waronker, Warner/Reprise entered a period of substantial commercial success.

Although many of the label's artists failed to deliver records in 1983, in 1984, with multi-platinum records from Madonna, John Fogerty, and Prince, among others, the label posted a 51% increase in revenue.

"I remember going to Randy's house and saying 'why don't we figure out the arrangement for some standard?' And it was just amazing: He'd take any odd standard song and he'd sit down and mess with it and come up with a pop arrangement," he said in a 1994 interview with Billboard.

At his father's urging, Waronker – by then educated in songwriting, the music industry, and publishing – attended USC, where he studied music and business.

As he had in high school, Waronker worked in the A&R department at Liberty during summer breaks.

Notably, in addition to serving as a gofer, Waronker worked with staff producer Snuff Garrett.

Garrett, who was legendary for his "shrewd ability to identify a good song and know what singer could do it justice" heavily influenced Waronker as he learned about production.

Waronker was additionally exposed to songwriters including Burt Bacharach, Mort Shuman, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, and Doc Pomus.