Abrasive executive of CBS Records who signed a roster of stars to his label
Walter Yetnikoff, a hottempered executive at CBS Records who oversaw the careers of such performers as Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, only to be fired partly because of his own rock-starlike life of excess, died Sunday at a hospital in Bridgeport, Conn. He died three days before his 88th birthday.
The cause was cancer, said his wife, Lynda Yetnikoff.
Mr. Yetnikoff possessed no ear for music and was, by his own admission, crude, vulgar and consumed by his uncontrollable appetite for sex, drugs and alcohol. During his 15 years at the helm of CBS Records, from 1975 to 1990, he quadrupled the company’s sales.
Although Mr. Yetnikoff once claimed — without evidence — that he produced “Born in the U.S.A.” and wrote many of the album’s songs, his real talent was in signing musicians to his label, stroking their egos and encouraging them to produce blockbuster hits.
He spent millions to bring the Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand and Paul McCartney under CBS, then became the confidant of many of his stars.
He reportedly threatened to pull all of his artists from MTV in the early 1980s unless the then-fledgling network included Michael Jackson in its regular rotation of music videos.
He began to act like a rock star. He started the day with half a bottle of vodka, didn’t show up at the office until noon, then would sneak out of corporate meetings to snort cocaine.
He berated his co-workers and corporate bosses, including Laurence Tisch of CBS. He was jealous of CBS News anchor Dan Rather because company officials showed more deference to him than they did to Mr. Yetnikoff. Yet, for years, all was forgiven because CBS Records proved immensely profitable under his leadership.
Over time, however, he had a falling out with many of the musicians whose careers he had nurtured. He had a bitter feud with singer Paul Simon, who left CBS for rival Warner Bros. The dispute began, Mr. Yetnikoff wrote, when Mr. Simon wouldn’t share a marijuana joint with him after a concert.
His new bosses at Sony grew impatient with his reckless behavior, and during a visit to Sony corporate headquarters in Tokyo, guards were stationed outside Mr. Yetnikoff’s hotel room to keep him from going out into the night to indulge in drugs.
He entered a rehabilitation program in 1989, but a year later he was dismissed from his job, his fall from grace softened by a payout estimated at $25 million.
Walter Roy Yetnikoff was born Aug. 11, 1933, in Brooklyn, N.Y. His father painted buildings for the city government, and his mother was a bookkeeper.
After graduating from Brooklyn College, Mr. Yetnikoff received a law degree from Columbia University in 1956.
His marriages to June Horowitz and Cynthia Slamar ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife since 2007, the former Lynda Kady; two sons from his first marriage; a sister; and four grandchildren.