Jeff Cheen Dead: Music Exec Who Helped Bring Western Pop to China, Was 80

Jeff Cheen , the music executive who worked with the likes of John Lennon and Pink Floyd, and brought Western pop music to China, died from cancer on Oct. 16. He was 80.

Born in New York in 1945, Cheen began his music career as a teenager, working for his uncle Leonard Chess at Chess Records in Chicago. He swiftly moved to Los Angeles, where he became National Promotion Director for Tetragrammaton Records. There, he represented acts such as John Lennon, Deep Purple, Joan Rivers and Tiny Tim.

He later became head of record production and artist signings at Mercury Records Hollywood before moving to Capitol Records as head of rock artists and repertoire, expanding his clientele to include Pink Floyd, Steve Miller and George Harrison among others. Then, he headed the management division at