YouTube and Google’s global head of music Lyor Cohen has been confirmed to receive City of Hope’s highest honor, the Spirit of Life Award, at its fall gala.
The veteran music executive will receive the shine on Oct. 18 at West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center. The Spirit of Life Award is “presented to an esteemed community of industry leaders around the world who have made a significant commitment to improving the lives of others through the advancement of research and clinical innovation and the delivery of personalized, compassionate care,” per City of Hope.
Once he takes a spin at the podium, Lyor will join a list of previous recipients that includes Shelli and Irving Azoff, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Coran Capshaw, Eddy Cue, Clive Davis, Lucian Grainge, Allen Grubman, Quincy Jones, Rob Light, Monte and Avery Lipman, Doug Morris, Mo Ostin, Bob Pittman, Jon Platt and Sylvia Rhone, among others.
“If you have the opportunity to give a gift back to the industry you love, with an organization like City of Hope, whose doctors and scientists’ passion for helping others is so extraordinary, it’s a no-brainer,” Cohen said. “My career has been shaped by a contrarian point of view. Open to making mistakes, making big bets, unpopular decisions and being comfortable with change; that is how culture shifts and how breakthroughs happen. To me, these are many of the same qualities that make City of Hope’s mission to transform the future of cancer care across all communities so impactful.”
Cohen began his career as a road manager for Run DMC and the Beastie Boys, before taking on a variety of leadership roles across the music business, from management to the highest-level C-suites. His resume features top posts as Def Jam, Island Def Jam Music Group, Warner Music Group, 300 Entertainment and now, YouTube. Cohen sits on the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Independent Venue Association, and is an acting director for SCAN-Harbor.
“In addition to Lyor powering American hip hop as a cultural and musical phenomenon, I have known him to have a big heart and passion when it comes to helping others. This is certainly a prime example of that as he now takes an incredible step in helping City of Hope fight cancer, diabetes and HIV,” offered Evan Lamberg, president of Universal Music Publishing Group North America and president of City of Hope’s music, film and entertainment industry board.