TORONTO — Hip hop star Dr. Dre and music mogul Jimmy Iovine are announcing Wednesday a $70 million donation to the University of Southern California (USC) to create an academy to help students get into the music business.
The Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation will open in the fall of 2014 with 25 students. Andre Young is Dr. Dre’s birth name.
The academy will utilize existing facilities at USC while a building is constructed.
Students will be able to earn an undergraduate degree at the end of the academy’s four-year program.
Iovine, 60, told The New York Times: “If the next start-up that becomes Facebook happens to be one of our kids, that’s what we are looking for.”
Dr. Dre, 48, added: “I feel like this is the biggest, most exciting and probably the most important thing that I’ve done in my career.”
Dr. Dre, formerly a member of rap group NWA, is a respected performer and producer who has worked with artists like 50 Cent and Eminem. He created the wildly popular Beats by Dr. Dre line of headphones, speakers and other products.
Iovine, a mentor on American Idol, is chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records and has produced music for a long list of artists.
Comments