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David “Z” Rivkin, the Grammy-winning producer and musician who helmed Prince’s early demo tapes and engineered several of his albums, helped create Lipps Inc.’s 1980 smash “Funky Town,” and later worked with such artists
like Fine Young Cannibals, the Jets and Jonny Lang, has died, his brother Bobby “Z” Rivkin (longtime drummer for Prince & the Revolution) confirmed to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
He died Sunday from complications of an infection in a hospital in Burbank, Calif., his brother said; he was 78.
Rivkin won two Grammys for producing Etta James and a nomination for co-producing Fine Young Cannibals’ 1989 smash “She Drives Me Crazy.”
As a producer, engineer, songwriter and guitarist, Rivkin was an active and veteran member of the Minneapolis scene that spawned Prince, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and other future members of the Revolution and the Time, among many others.
“David was the secret ingredient on many, many musical projects,” Owen Husney, Rivkin’s former bandmate and Prince’s first manager, told the Star Tribune. “He stayed pretty silent about it. He never really talked about his work or what he did. His significance is undeniable on the Minneapolis music scene.”
Over the years he also worked with such artists as Gram Parsons, Elvis Costello, Al Green, Jody Watley, Angelique Kidjo, Big Head Todd & the Monsters and Buddy Guy.
The eldest of three brothers (the middle brother, Stephen, is a film editor who has worked on the “Avatar” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchises), David Rivkin’s credits reach back to the 1960s, when he played guitar on the regional hits “Little Latin Lupe Lu” by the Chancellors and “Turn on Your Lovelight” by the High Spirits. He later worked in Los Angeles as a staff songwriter at A&M Records, writing songs with Parsons and playing guitar on records by Billy Preston and the Rev. James Cleveland.
But in 1974, he returned to Minneapolis and learned engineering. Husney recalled introducing an 18-year-old Prince to Rivkin in 1976 and played his demos. After Rivkin made some suggestions, Husney recalled, “Prince turned to me and said: ‘Let’s go. Let’s get out of here.’ I was embarrassed. I told David, ‘I’m sorry.’ I got in the car and said, ‘What happened?’ Prince said: ‘David is the only one I want working with me.’”
That demo led to Prince signing with Warner Bros. Records in 1977; he remained with the label for nearly 20 years. Rivkin worked on multiple Prince projects over the years, including the live recordings that formed the basis for three songs on the classic “Purple Rain” album and film.
He is survived by his two brothers and children Charley, Amy, Josh and Shelby as well as two grandchildren.
