Lyor Cohen Birthday & Fun Facts

Lyor Cohen Birthday Highlights

Birth Name

Lyor Cohen

Place Of Birth

New York, USA

Age

64 years old

Birth Date

October 2 1959

Lyor Cohen Facts

Child Star?

no

Occupation

Record Executive, Entrepreneur

Education & Qualifications

University of Miami

Net Worth

$150,000,000

Current Partner

Xin Li

Children

Bea Cohen, Az Cohen

Siblings

Daniel Shulman

Born in New York City, Lyor Cohen is a famous American executive in record labels and entrepreneur.

Lyor Cohen is best known for being active in the hip-hop genre of music for over 30 years. He has been associated with many record labels, including 300 Entertainment.

Lyor Cohen started his career as a record label executive by managing rappers in Rush Productions. He went on to lead Def Jam before finally taking on his career with the Warner Music group. By 2012, he made his own record label '300 Entertainment', and thrived with it. As his career progressed, he became the Global Head of Music on YouTube in 2016. Keep reading to know the path that Lyor Cohen followed to become a sensation in the music business industry!

What is Lyor Cohen’s net worth?

Lyor Cohen has garnered a massive net worth of an estimated $150 million throughout the course of his career.

How much does Lyor Cohen earn per year?

The primary source of income for Lyor Cohen is his career as a music business executive. The estimated earning is $2.19 million annually. He is also known to have earned 33 million dollars in 1994 when he sold Def Jam records. But the exact amount of annual earnings is unknown.

How tall is Lyor Cohen?

Lyor Cohen stands at the average height of 6 ft 5 in (196 cm tall). He has grey hair and blue eyes.

How old is Lyor Cohen?

Born on October 3, 1959, Lyor Cohen is 62 years old as of October 2021.

Lyor Cohen was born in New York City on October 3, 1959. His parents were Israeli immigrants, and they raised him in Los Angeles. He completed his schooling at Marshall High school. Before he stepped into the music industry, he earned a degree from the Miami School of Business at the University of Miami. He earned his degree in global marketing. He worked at Bank Leumi in their Beverly Hills office. He has a brother named Daniel Shulman, who is known to be a famous guitarist.

Who is Lyor Cohen’s partner?

Lyor Cohen is currently married to Xin Li. She has been a model and a basketball player who currently serves as the deputy chairman of Christie's Asia.

Previously, Lyor Cohen was married to E.K. Smith for a short span of time before finally separating. He went on to marry his second wife, Amy Cohen, in 1990. Their marriage lasted until 2006. The couple had two children named Bea and Az.

Best Known For…

In 1984, Lyor Cohen started managing Run-DMC's road by taking additional responsibilities for several musicians including Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Whodini, Run-DMC, and Kurtis Blow. Within three years of him joining Run-DMC, he started signing stars himself, which included celebrities like DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Slick Rick, EPMD, Eric B. and Rakim, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest.

By 1989, Lyor Cohen and Simmons formed Rush Productions, where he started managing the label side of the music business. Cohen's pairing up with Simmons made him the owner of Def Jam on a day-to-day routine. They departed Def Jam from Sony Music Productions and associated with PolyGram. As Def Jam prospered, they worked with several celebrities including Method Man, Red Man, Jay-Z, Ja Rule, DMX, and Ludacris. By 1998, their merge PolyGram was bought by Seagram and was merged with the major label Universal. In the same year, Lyor Cohen became the co-president of The Island Def Jam, which was a result of the merger of Universal and PolyGram. They started working with mainstream artists like Mariah Carey, Bon Jovi, Elvis Costello, Shania Twain, Ashanti, Nickelback, and Slayer.

In 2004, Lyor Cohen started working with Warner Music as their chairman and chief music executive. He placed his protege Julie Greenwald at the Atlantic and Elektra merge as its chief operating officer. This move allowed the company to work with celebrities like Bruno Mars, The Black Keys, Jason Mraz, Kid Rock, T.I., Plies, and Wiz Khalifa. By 2012, he resigned from the Warner music group.

In 2013, Lyor Cohen started his independent label '300' and would be backed by Google and Atlantic. Within the next three years, Lyor Cohen would become the Global Head Of Music at YouTube. He soon resigned from his label '300' and joined the YouTube platform on a full-time basis.

Charity Work

Lyor Cohen is a part of the American youth services organization Boys & Girls Harbor, which is a New York City-based charitable organization.

• Lyor Cohen often praises Jam Master Jay for teaching him the basics of the business in the music industry.
• Cohen is known to have trained and inspired several music executives, including Julie Greenwald, Kevin Liles, Mike Kyser, Chris Lighty, and Todd Moscowitz.
• Cohen is currently on the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• During his time with the Warner group of Music, he oversaw an agreement with the group with the popular music platform Spotify in 2011. He also oversaw an agreement of the Warner music group with YouTube where YouTube would show the videos of Warner music in exchange for its advertisement generating revenue.
• In 2001, Lyor Cohen was the person responsible for Island Def Jam in their purchase of the heavy metal record label, Roadrunner.
• Lyor Cohen often called himself 'the first Hip-Hop president in charge of a major label.'
• In 2015, the famous architect of Leroy Street studio of New York designed Cohen's 4,747 sq ft technology house, which he called 'Shore House.' The home is located in Sag Harbor in New York and consists of three bedrooms and three bathrooms. It is 1.8 acres in measurement.
• In 2000, Lyor Cohen brought a townhouse on the Upper East Side for an estimated $9 million and later sold it for $28 million in 2010.
• Lyor Cohen's zodiac sign is Libra as he is born in October.
• After graduation, Lyor Cohen went to Ecuador in order to start a shrimp farming business. But after some weeks he decided to discontinue it, as it was not working out for him.

Main image credit: Aisia Williams / Shutterstock.com