03/08/2026
https://www.startribune.com/david-rivkin-prince-bobby-z-jonny-lang-funkytown-etta-james-gram-parsons-owen-husney/601874481
If it weren’t for David Rivkin, the world might not have ever heard of Prince, “Funkytown” or Jonny Lang.
He produced Prince’s demo tapes and engineered many of the Purple One’s early albums. He meticulously helped Steven Greenberg craft the worldwide smash “Funkytown,” and he guided youngsters like the Jets and Lang in their first forays into big-time recording studios.
A major force on the Minnesota music scene for decades, Grammy-winning producer Rivkin, aka David Z, died Sunday night in a hospital in Burbank, Calif. He was 78.
He died of complications of an infection, said his brother Bobby Z, drummer for Prince & the Revolution.
“David was the secret ingredient on many, many musical projects,” said Owen Husney, a 1960s bandmate of Rivkin’s in local groups and Prince’s first manager. “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.”
Rivkin’s résumé as a producer, engineer, songwriter and guitarist covered a who’s who of Twin Cities artists, such as Lamont Cranston, Willie Murphy and Leo Kottke as well as numerous big names including Gram Parsons, Elvis Costello, Al Green, Jody Watley, Angelique Kidjo, John Mayall, Big Head Todd & the Monsters and Buddy Guy.
Rivkin won two Grammys for producing Etta James and earned a Grammy nomination for record of the year for producing Fine Young Cannibals’ “She Drives Me Crazy” in 1990.
“He was a master of gizmos in the studio,” Bobby Z said. “He was linking instruments together and using the [mixing] board in unorthodox ways. He was a true rebel. He was a very creative guy.”
Husney, a lifelong friend, said, “Creativity was actually encouraged in their house. Each of the three boys had creative stuff going on.”
Brother Stephen Rivkin is a Hollywood film editor who has worked on the “Avatar” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” series.
David Rivkin’s credits in the Twin Cities music scene go 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.
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He spent the early ’70s in Los Angeles as a staff songwriter at A&M Records, penning songs with country-rock pioneer Parsons, playing guitar on records by Billy Preston and the Rev. James Cleveland and hanging with such heavies as Joe Cocker and Leon Russell.
In 1974, Rivkin returned to the Twin Cities and taught himself how to be a recording engineer. He worked with Tim Weisberg, Dan Fogelberg and other nationally known people passing through town and with scores of local would-be’s and wanna-be’s.
Husney remembers introducing an 18-year-old Prince to Rivkin at Sound 80 studios in 1976. The engineer started listening to Prince’s demo cassette in front of the newcomer and humming a horn line he envisioned to put on top of the music.
Said Husney: “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.’”
Rivkin helped Prince polish that demo, which led to a contract with Warner Bros. Rivkin was in the Record Plant in Sausalito, Calif., when Prince recorded his debut and later worked on several other Prince projects, including recording the Aug. 3, 1983, concert at First Avenue where songs for the “Purple Rain” movie were cut live.
As an architect of the Minneapolis Sound, Rivkin had a fascinating take on it.
“It’s the sound of ignorance,” he told the Star Tribune in the mid-1980s when the Minneapolis Sound was creating a buzz. “It’s (a sound) made up in an isolated atmosphere. We don’t steal from someone in L.A. or New York. From the songs to the licks to the engineering techniques to the cheap mics we use, we’re so different from everyone else.”
Over the years, Rivkin also worked in London, New York, Nashville and Memphis. In 2011, he moved back to Los Angeles, where he continued to work until last year, when he retired.
Rivkin is survived by his two brothers and children Charley, Amy, Josh and Shelby as well as two grandchildren.
The producer worked with Prince, “Funkytown” and Jonny Lang as well as Etta James.
