Ears wide open

"Bruce would spend eight hours trying to write one line of the lyrics to 'Jungleland' and longer on the guitar part to 'Thunder Road.' He'd try it one way and then tell everybody 'again' and 'again' for days. I fell asleep for four hours one night and the first thing I heard after waking up was Bruce saying, 'Again.' "

Iovine, the 53-year-old son of a Brooklyn longshoreman, is in the bright exercise room of his Holmby Hills estate, though he doesn't look much different here, in his Nike baseball cap and sweat suit, than he does in his Santa Monica office.

As he steps onto an elliptical trainer, the slender executive isn't just looking for a cardiovascular boost but for another hit record -- to join the ones he has had as producer or record company head with such artists as U2, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Tom Petty, 50 Cent and Gwen Stefani.

Iovine had the business smarts to build Interscope Records from a $30-million start-up in 1991 to the crown jewel in the world's biggest music firm, Universal Music Group, but he believes his most important role is in finding and nurturing talent. He constantly draws upon lessons from his studio apprenticeships in the '70s.

"I've always wanted to bring to this record company the intensity and drive of those artists," says Iovine, whose roster of labels also includes A&M and Geffen Records. "Every artist can't be Springsteen or Lennon or you'd only have two artists on your label, but you want to encourage everyone to reach for that spark of passion that I saw every day in them.

"I also learned that the songs are everything. If the songs aren't there, you're dead. You must do whatever it takes to get them right -- as much time, as much pain."

Iovine brought one intangible with him to the music business: an instinct for hits, and his 35-by-30-foot exercise room is where he searches for them several mornings a week.

It was here 11 years ago that he first heard a forceful young Detroit rapper who was in L.A. seeking a record deal. An intern at the company heard Eminem live on the radio and was so impressed he got a copy of the broadcast for Iovine. He played it for premier rap producer Dr. Dre one Saturday, and Dre was so impressed he went into the studio with Eminem the following Monday. The result: worldwide sales by Eminem of 65 million albums -- or nearly $1 billion.