And he has relationships with one babe after another. He’s a good-looking dude, but you don’t quite get his charm in this book. And you’ve got to be charming to be uber-successful as an entrepreneur, that’s what outsiders don’t understand, that’s one of Irving Azoff’s superpowers. TOM TOM CLUB (MUSICAL GROUP): What you going to do when you get out of jail? I'm going to have some fun. What do you consider fun? Fun, natural fun.

So we've been talking mostly about the Jamaican music that you produced. But after moving to England, you produced a lot of British performers, and one of the groups you produced was U2. And you were unimpressed with them the first time you heard them on record - on a tape, and then you heard them in person and signed them. What made you so enthusiastic after being not so much? U2 insisted on using Eno, a man Chris knew and had made many records with but was reluctant to agree to, after “War” because they were fearful of getting pigeonholed as a hit singles act. And it was “The Joshua Tree” that made them legends, and “Achtung Baby” delivered their bona fides. First time through you didn’t understand “Achtung Baby,” didn’t get it, and then like “Exile on Main Street” you realized it was one step beyond, SPECTACULAR! If you are fan of any of the music artists, you will likely enjoy this journey through their early years and their early recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s. U2 (MUSICAL GROUP): (Singing) I have climbed highest mountains. I have run through the fields only to be with you, only to be with you. I have run. I have crawled. I have scaled these city walls, these city walls, only to be with you. But I still haven't found what I'm looking for. But I still haven't found what I'm looking for. At the same time, he finds great satisfaction in the artistic leaps that came from his decision to let his best talents follow their muse. “I don’t tell people what to do,” he said. ‘I encourage them to do what they can.”And it was clear that the artists were in charge. You made a deal, they delivered your record, oftentimes without interference, and then you had to put it out. And successful artists made more than almost anybody at the label. Today it’s reversed. Predictably, given my age and musical tastes, this was a great read. I particularly enjoyed the first part, as it related the early years of Island Records, the time when I was most switched on to popular music. I can remember singing along to ‘My Boy Lollipop’ in an Irish cinema - probably one of the last to put the lyrics up on a screen and encourage the audience to join in. I can remember dancing madly to Free’s ‘All Right Now’ in 1970. Traffic, Stevie Winwood, Procul Harum, the Spencer Davis Group....the list goes on. And then Bob Marley and the Wailers.... GROSS: You decided to start your own record company. You'd been hunting for records and for jukeboxes and for sound systems, and it was an exciting way to learn - to earn a living. And you were also very excited by the music you were finding and loved scouting music. So you decided to start your own record company, which was Island Records. Did you have a creed when you started the company of, like, how you wanted to define yourself and Island? It’s even worse in the music business. Today’s hitmakers believe the business began with Napster, disrupting what once was so new acts could flourish on the internet. GROSS: So "Joshua Tree" was a huge success. U2 was a huge success. But the success kind of led to some financial problem indirectly for Island Records because you had taken some money and invested it in your film company, and then you ended up owing U2 an enormous amount of money in royalties 'cause their music was doing so well. So it's like an example in the music industry or in the entertainment industry how success can sometimes cause problems (laughter) for the label. So how did you end up working that out? 'Cause you didn't have the money to pay the royalties.

I found that his glowing description of Tom Waits, whom I’ve never had a taste for, (combined with a friends recent accolades shared on Facebook) has convinced me to give ol’ Tom a second chance. GROSS: You know, in your book, you write that one of the reasons why you left Jamaica and went to England is that when Jamaica was getting its independence, you felt like you were on the wrong side of history in Jamaica. And, you know, your parents - or your mother's family had a banana plantation in Jamaica. So I'm wondering what it was like for you to work with artists. How did you bridge that gap? Did they see you as, you know, representing the colonizers? The first big international hit was Millie Small's My Boy Lollipop (1964), which you can hear at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSM9N...DEDICATION: “For all those who have traveled with me in my life: those who are here and those who are no longer here” POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: In the audio and transcript of this interview Terry Gross incorrectly implies that U2 is a British band. They are Irish.] But then in 1979 it all started to crumble, but MTV and CDs caused a renaissance with untold riches, music was raining dough. You didn’t seek endorsements, you didn’t have to! You were making so much money! GROSS: So let's hear something from U2's 1987 album "Joshua Tree," which was a huge hit for them. Do you have a favorite song from that album? But if you were there, you will enjoy getting an inside peek at the creation and workings of Island. And remember when a gig at the label was your heart’s desire. Just to be closer to the music.