{"id":219842,"date":"2025-12-31T12:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T12:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/219842\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T12:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T12:20:10","slug":"manager-for-george-michael-david-bowie-was-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/219842\/","title":{"rendered":"Manager for George Michael, David Bowie Was 79"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMichael Lippman<\/a>, who worked with David Bowie<\/a>, George Michael<\/a>, Matchbox Twenty and other top stars as a manager, lawyer or label executive, died Monday at age 79. No cause of death was immediately given.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn later years Lippman was best known for serving as a manager to Michael, first at the peak of his fame during the \u201cFaith\u201d era in the late 1980s, and then again, after a 17-year gap, beginning in the mid-2000s.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut his first major notoriety came in his stint as attorney and, briefly, manager for Bowie from 1971 through 1975, with the rock star even living at Lippman\u2019s home during the \u201cStation to Station\u201d period before an abrupt split.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter his experience with Bowie, Lippman switched gears and took a label role as VP of west coast operations for Arista Records for three years into the late \u201970s, after having become friendly with the imprint\u2019s founder while making a deal for Patti Smith to join the label. \u201cClive Davis<\/a> was the boss and\u00a0I always thought my job was to take people to lunch and dinner for a living, and I did it very well,\u201d he quipped. More seriously, perhaps, Lippman said Davis \u201creally made an impact on me. I never saw a man work that hard and that long every day. He\u2019d be in the office until nine or 10 o\u2019clock and then would have \u00addinner. He inspired me to put in the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt Arista, Lippman worked closely with artists like Melissa Manchester. He took credit for forcing the Oscars to allow Manchester to sing two best-song-nominated numbers on the Academy Awards telecast in 1980, a first (the songs being \u201cThrough the Eyes of Love\u201d from \u201cIce Castles\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ll Never Say Goodbye\u201d from \u201cThe Promise,\u201d both of which she had sung on the original soundtracks). <\/p>\n

\n\tLippman was an innovator in seeing a need for producers and songwriters to have managers just as recording artists did.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat I saw was that record producers and songwriters were really treated like low men on the totem pole and represented by a lawyer but never a manager,\u201d he recalled in a 2010 interview. \u201cI realized they\u2019re artists in their own right and need to make sure their deals are done properly and their records they make are worked. That\u2019s what I did and started a company representing producers and songwriters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1980, he began managing producer Ron Nevison, and soon took on Elton John\u2019s writing collaborator, Bernie Taupin, in a professional partnership that lasted for 37 years.<\/p>\n

\n\tLippman saw the advent of so-called 360 deals as a natural extension of the cross-platform interest he had always taken in developing artists as a manager.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve always done, taking are of all aspects of my artists\u2019 career from touring to merchandising to selling records to making videos,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m a unique breed when it comes to managers who have the experience on the business and the creative\/marketing side.\u00a0In the old days record companies would tell (managers) \u2018Don\u2019t talk to radio stations or TV stations!\u2019 That was their control. I built these incredible relationships with TV and radio around the world. Now a manager\u2019s role is more important than ever in marketing an artist. Our motto is always to try to do something that no one\u2019s ever done before.\u00a0I\u2019ve always been an international manager and it was always important for us to sell records worldwide, tour worldwide and market our artists worldwide. I still think you have to go to all of those territories, but it\u2019s easier to do it on a worldwide basis with the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLippman began working with his son, Nick, in an official partnership in 2004, under the name Lippman Entertainment. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI believe I\u2019m the luckiest guy in the world to have been able to work with my two sons and my brother in the same business,\u201d he said in a Billboard profile<\/a> in 2016. \u201cAt the same time, I wasn\u2019t the greatest father because I was always on the road. So now that I have the opportunity to see them every day and work side by side, it\u2019s been incredible. Nicholas is my best friend today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLippman is survived by his wife, Nancy, and two sons, Nick and Josh.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis sons offered respective statements to Rolling Stone<\/a>. \u201cMichael was my mentor and the greatest teacher,\u201d said Nick Lippman. \u201cFor over twenty years, we traveled the world and shared a bond that grew deeper with time. We spoke every day and often finished each other\u2019s sentences. Our relationship was shaped by the work we did side by side, and a bond of love, trust and mutual respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaid Josh Lippman, \u201cDad was a relentless advocate for his clients, his friends and his family. He was the person you wanted in your corner in any situation. He transitioned from bulldog to effortless charmer on a dime, often multiple times in a conversation, and never met a challenge he couldn\u2019t solve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Lippman, who worked with David Bowie, George Michael, Matchbox Twenty and other top stars as a manager,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[113894,687,93,40326,61,60,113895,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-219842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-clive-davis","9":"tag-david-bowie","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-george-michael","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-michael-lippman","15":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}