Michael Lippman, a longtime music executive and entertainment lawyer whose clients included George Michael, David Bowie and Matchbox Twenty, died at his home Monday. He was 79 years old.
“Dad was a fierce advocate for his clients, friends and family,” Lippman’s son Josh said in a statement to Rolling Stone on Tuesday. “He was the person you wanted by your side in any situation. He went from bulldog to charmer effortlessly in no time, often multiple times during a conversation, and never faced a challenge he couldn’t solve.”
Lippman is best known for managing Michael twice: during the “Faith” era in the late 1980s, and again beginning in the mid-2000s. He also served as Bowie’s lawyer and manager from 1971 to 1975, during the “Ziggy Stardust” era. Bowie then lived with Lippman during the “Station to Station” period before the two went their separate ways. In addition to his well-known stage acts, Lippman managed Elton John’s longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin for 37 years, beginning in 1980.
The manager later launched Lippmann Entertainment in 2004 with his son Nick.
“I think I’m the luckiest man in the world to have been able to work with my two sons and my brother in the same company,” Michael said in a 2016 Billboard profile. “At the same time, I wasn’t a great father because I was always on the road. So now that I have the opportunity to see them every day and work side by side, it’s been incredible. Nicholas is my best friend today.”
Of his father’s passing, Nick added Tuesday: “Michael was my mentor and greatest teacher. For over twenty years, we traveled the world and shared a bond that deepened over time. We spoke every day and finished each other’s sentences often. Our relationship was shaped by the work we did side by side and by a bond of love, trust and mutual respect.”
Michael Lippman is survived by his wife Nancy and two sons, Nick and Josh.
