Lyor Cohen

Who is Lyor Cohen?

Lyor Cohen is an American music industry executive, and until September 2012, he was the North American Chairman and CEO of Recorded Music for Warner Music Group.

Cohen has been actively involved in hip-hop at various top labels for more than 30 years, as the industry grew from the margins of pop culture to the mainstream. He started by managing highly successful rappers for pioneering firm Rush Productions, then led Def Jam Recordings, the hip-hop genre’s top record label at the time, ”the most important black music company since Motown” according to Newsweek.

After Def Jam, Cohen successively assumed the leadership of two of the music industry’s major labels - the Island Def Jam Music Group, and the Warner Music Group – which represent popular musicians of all genres.

Cohen’s closest associates have included his longtime friend and partner Russell Simmons, rapper Jay-Z and Atlantic Records chairman Julie Greenwald, and Jon Bon Jovi. Rapper Kanye West dubbed himself “the Lyor Cohen of Dior Homme” on a 2010 recording.

In September 2012 Cohen resigned from the Warner Music Group. Although he has not yet announced his next venture, Cohen remains—in the opinion of Complex magazine -- “one of the most powerful ‘unemployed’ persons on the planet.”