Check out this photo circa 2002 the guy in the black tank top leaning on Utada chair is one Lyor Cohen.... at the time CEO of Island Def Jam

Japanese Star Hikaru Utada Signs With Island Def Jam.....

http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-retail-stores-not/4364943-1.html

http://www.mtv.com/news/yhif/utada/

Quote:

?Word of her success didn't take long to reach the U.S., and Utada was approached by a number of labels to do an English-language album, including Island Def Jam, whose former CEO Lyor Cohen asked the singer to record a song for a soundtrack to see how she fared in English?.......

I would like to leave this thought with you for the moment, because issues that U3 are experiencing now with the release of "in the flesh" DVD I believe are directly attributed to when Lyor Cohen, was CEO of Island Def Jam...but I need to check sources, before posting ...so the background ........

JQ interview with Hikaru Utada ? by Justin Tedaldi..........

Q:So you?re not worried about being thought of as a one-name artist like Prince or Madonna or any of those people?

A:But then, that?s their real names, right? Hey, Sting, Madonna, Bj?rk?

Q:You?re in good company.

A:Yeah! I wouldn?t mind those associations at all.

Q: For the new English album, the first since Exodus almost five years ago, I was around when that came out and I watched all the hoopla that was surrounding it when it was released and listened to it when it first came out. I?m curious, what would you have done differently in hindsight with that album compared to the way you?re going to promote and market the new one?

A: Well, it?s not really a matter of me, it?s the promotional staff, like the record company and what kind of PR we get?actually, there?s a lot to learn from that. I mean, Island Def Jam was really?it on the edge of change and chaos. Nobody knew what they were doing and nobody really knew what was going on and I was just like, ?what the hell is this? No support, come on, man, what?s happening here??....

Q: And you signed that deal?

Q: With [then-Island Def Jam chief] Lyor Cohen?

A: Yes, years prior to that. I was living in Japan at the time when that happened [in 2002], and I thought, ?Oh, it?s probably going to come out very soon,? and I think it was something like a two- or three-year wait?

A: And part of the reason was because of all that happening and?I guess I wasn?t mentally conscious and aware as an artist myself of how to promote myself that I?d never done that kind of stuff before. It?s not really the artist?s thing to worry about-it shouldn?t be, really. But now I?m more hands-on with it. I?m more involved in the promotional aspect of it, too. Because I learned from last time what kind of PR group you choose and have to work with you [on] what you don?t need, what you need, and how much to be in touch with the record company on this and who to be in touch with for what, and all those kinds of quirks with it. There?s a lot to work with it, and now I?m working with THE DOOR this time, we got a different company for that, and?everything?s quite efficient I think, much more efficient than last time, and I feel support, I feel some kind of face-I felt so insecure during the recording and promotion of Exodus, because it didn?t seem like anyone knew what I wanted to do, and I didn?t know how to get it across to these people. We were not on the same page at all, and now it seems we are.

http://jetwit.com/wordpress/2009/06/08/jq-interview-with-hikaru-utada-by-justin-tedaldi/