David Geffen, the elusive billionaire and kingmaker of the entertainment world, lived a life most wouldn’t dare to dream. Without a college degree or formal credentials, he carved his name into the bedrock of music, film, and power. He wasn’t just successful. He was seismic.
Long before his name adorned buildings and theaters, Geffen navigated the treacherous waters of Hollywood and emerged as a master. He briefly dated Cher while she was still legally married to Sonny Bono. But it was another woman who captured Geffen’s heart in a way no one else could, songbird, Laura Nyro.
Nyro, the brilliant and enigmatic singer-songwriter, was a thunderstorm of soul and silence. She wrote hauntingly beautiful songs recorded by legends like Barbra Streisand, The 5th Dimension, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Yet she retreated from fame just as the world was beginning to understand her genius. Private, spiritual, and fiercely independent, she stunned Geffen when she chose not to sign with his record company. That rejection, not her early death, was the heartbreak that stayed with him.
Nyro just like her own mother died of ovarian cancer at just 49, leaving behind a legacy of rare beauty and unfinished verses. Her voice still lingers, raw and radiant, in the memories of those who understood her gift.
Geffen’s fortune, built from nothing but hustle, vision, and audacity, grew to staggering heights. With wealth overflowing, he turned to legacy. He gave $200 million to UCLA, and in return, the medical school now bears his name, the David Geffen School of Medicine. Many of the nation’s finest physicians have passed through its halls, including those now serving veterans at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center where I was treated.
In Westwood, his name lights up the marquee of the Geffen Playhouse, a temple to dramatic storytelling befitting a man who spent a lifetime crafting narratives behind the curtain.
I never met David Geffen. I never met Laura Nyro. But I think about them often. One built an empire. The other built a sound. Together, they remind us that greatness often hides in the shadows. Some stories, no matter how extraordinary, end far too soon. Of course Nyro’s music is all over YouTube and iTunes.
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