At William Morris, Geffen’s drive to succeed and overaggressiveness was greeted with open arms. He was the first to work every morning, reading everyone’s mail before it was delivered to them and soaking up everything he could about the business. Choosing the music department — not for any particular love of music, but rather because it seemed like the fastest track to success — Geffen was soon the New York contact for such groups as the Buffalo Springfield. The young agent got his first break when he wrestled a young songwriter named Laura Nyro away from a fellow agent. Geffen doted on Nyro, spending excessive amounts of time and energy on the talented young performer, and when Nyro’s compositions began to make their way into the hands of artists such as Frank Sinatra and the Fifth Dimension, both their fortunes took a turn for the better. Negotiating with Clive Davis at Columbia, Geffen secured a three-million-dollar deal for Nyro, becoming a successful independent agent and a millionaire at the age of 27.
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