YEAR
2022
INDUCTED BY
Bruce Springsteen
CATEGORY
Ahmet Ertegun Award
Jimmy Iovine has crafted one of the more unique success stories in the business of rock & roll, playing the roles of engineer, producer, label founder, entrepreneur, and digital music innovator. He developed a “magic ear” for production, proven in his work with rock & roll icons such as Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Stevie Nicks and U2. After founding Interscope Records and elevating the careers of artists like Nine Inch Nails, Tupac, No Doubt, and Lady Gaga, Iovine expanded his empire in co-founding the premier audio brand – Beats headphones.
Jimmy Iovine
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Parke Puterbaugh
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has inducted numerous music-industry personnel, but seldom has one person excelled at so many aspects of the business as Jimmy Iovine. He could’ve been inducted for the work he did at any one of several points in his lengthy career: as a producer of some of the most popular and ambitious rock acts of the 1970s and 1980s; as cofounder of Interscope Records, a wildly successful startup label that captured the edgy vibe of the 1990s; and as cofounder (with Dr. Dre) of the Beats franchise, which has steered the intersection of technology and culture in the twenty-first century.
