LENNY WARONKER REVEALS THE FULL STORY BEHIND HIS CAREER AT WARNER BROTHERS AND DREAMWORKS RECORDS (PART 3) (Ep. 245)

Discograffiti is the deep-dive podcast for music obsessives. In this episode (Part 3 of a 4-part series edited down from a 5 1/2 hour interview), Lenny Waronker takes a deep-dive stroll along with host Dave Gebroe through his entire career, with priceless commentary and stories peeled off along the way. Legendary producer and Warner Brothers studio head Lenny Waronker is a record producer and music industry executive. As the president of Warner Brothers Records, and later, as the co-founder and co-chair of DreamWorks Records, Waronker was noted for his commitment to artists and his belief that "music, not money, was still number one." In 2025, Waronker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Ahmet Ertegun Award category for non-performing industry professionals.

Part 3 focuses on Lenny’s time breathing rarefied air as a studio head, while he ran Warner Brothers Records and DreamWorks.

Here are just a few of the many things that Lenny discusses with Discograffiti in this podcast:

• The A&R dream team Lenny assembled to sign talent for Warner Brothers in the early 1970s;
• Grievances about his time at DreamWorks;
• Thoughts on becoming close to the artists with whom he worked;
• Tales from the trenches with Elvis Costello and Gordon Lightfoot;
• Lenny’s love life;
• The biggest asshole he’s ever worked with;
• And a lengthy conversational outro that stands alone in the annals of Discograffiti history.

The Free Teaser: linktr.ee/discograffiti

For the full, ad-free, 62-minute podcast, either subscribe to Discograffiti’s Patreon at the Private Tier or higher, or just grab the episode as a one-off at the same link.

The Full Podcast: Patreon.com/Discograffiti

Dave's Show Notes are available at a separate link for Lieutenants & up.