David Z, Longtime Prince Associate and Key Architect of ‘the Minneapolis Sound,’ Dies at 78
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- David "Z" Rivkin died Sunday at 78 from complications of an infection in a Burbank, Calif. hospital, according to his brother Bobby "Z" Rivkin, longtime drummer for Prince & the Revolution
- Rivkin engineered Prince's earliest demo tapes beginning in 1976, and his work on those sessions directly preceded Prince's signing with Warner Bros. Records the following year
- Prince, then 18, told manager Owen Husney after meeting Rivkin: "David is the only one I want working with me" — and Rivkin went on to contribute live recordings to the 1984 "Purple Rain" album
- Rivkin produced Lipps Inc.'s 1980 smash "Funky Town," co-produced Fine Young Cannibals' 1989 hit "She Drives Me Crazy," and won two Grammys for his production work with Etta James
- Rivkin's six-decade career also included work with Gram Parsons, Elvis Costello, Al Green, Jody Watley, Angelique Kidjo, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, and Buddy Guy
- Owen Husney called Rivkin "the secret ingredient on many, many musical projects," noting he "stayed pretty silent about it" despite his foundational role in the Minneapolis music scene
Why it matters: Rivkin's death removes one of the last quiet architects of the Minneapolis sound — a small studio scene where one engineer's 1976 demo session directly opened the door to Prince's nearly two-decade Warner Bros. run and produced genre-defining hits like "Funky Town" for other artists.
