Eddie Rosenblatt, the former president of Geffen Records, reportedly passed away on Tuesday, July 16, at the age of 89.
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Rosenblatt was pronounced dead at a Santa Barbara hospital while battling pneumonia. The late record label executive held his position in the 80s and 90s. He led the company to attract iconic music groups, including Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, Whitesnake, and even Peter Gabriel.
Before Geffen Records, Eddie Rosenblatt was at Warner Bros. and led the organization’s distribution arm, WEA. He also met Joni Mitchell, who was managed by David Geffen, through that position. Geffen ended up recruiting Rosenblatt for his namesake label in 1980.
Although Geffen sold the label in 1990, Rosenblatt continued his role and was named Geffen’s successor after he left the company in 1995 to launch DreamWorks SKG with Stephen Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
After the Geffen label was absorbed by Interscope in the late 90s, Eddie Rosenblatt retired.
Rosenblatt is survived by his children Michael (who is a longtime Warner Bros. record executive), Steven, Petter, and Gretchen, as well as six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He is preceded in death by his wife, Bobbie, who died last year.
Eddie Rosenblatt Previously Reflected on His Time at Geffen Records
During an interview with Best Classic Bands, Eddie Rosenblatt reflected on his decision to join David Geffen for his self-named label.
“I’m set to start with David right after Labor Day (1980) and I take a week in Hawaii. The minute I walk into my hotel room in Hawaii, David calls and tells me he signed Elton John and Donna Summer. I say, ‘Holy shit, it’s serious.’ I come back. We start.”
Rosenblatt then said, “I get a call from Phil Spector, who I knew from A&M. He says, ‘[John] Lennon’s in the studio—he doesn’t have a deal.’ ‘Oh, thank you, Phil!’ I go up to see David and I say, ‘Do you know Yoko?’ He says, ‘Of course.’ I say, ‘Call her, and make the deal.’ Which of course he did.”
The Record Executive Was At the Hospital the Night John Lennon Died
Eddie Rosenblatt also recalled the night Lennon was assassinated. “I’m in New York, staying at the Sherry Netherland. David had an apartment right next door, still does. I’m in bed. I know something’s happening, but it’s all vague.”
“So I call David and say, ‘What’s going on?’ He says, ‘Meet me downstairs in two minutes.’ I go downstairs, we hop a cab to Roosevelt Hospital. It was too late. John had already passed.”
Rosenblatt pointed out that he had been with Yoko and escorted her into a police car, which took them underground of the Dakota.
“We go up to their apartment, where I had been the previous day talking to Yoko about marketing and all the stuff we were gonna do with John. We stayed with Yoko all night. In the morning I went back to my hotel, passing throngs of saddened fans lining the streets in front of their building. I tried to pull myself together.”
He went on to add, “What a tragedy. Words cannot express my grief, and the grief that shook the world.”