Jann Wenner

Lore & Background

Wenner was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, the son of Sim and Edward Wenner. He grew up in a secular Jewish family. His parents divorced in 1958, and he and his sisters, Kate and Merlyn, were sent to boarding schools. He completed his secondary education at the Chadwick School in 1963, and went on to attend the University of California, Berkeley. Before dropping out in 1966, he was active in the Free Speech Movement and produced the column 'Something's Happening' in The Daily Californian. He avoided the military draft by providing a letter from a Berkeley doctor diagnosing him with 'serious personality disorder...with its concomitant history of psychiatric treatment, suicide ideation, homosexual and excessive heterosexual promiscuity, and heavy use of illegal drugs.' With the help of mentor Ralph J. Gleason, he landed a job at Ramparts. In 1967, he founded Rolling Stone, borrowing $7,500 from family and his soon-to-be wife's family. He played an integral role in popularizing writers such as Hunter S. Thompson, Ben Fong-Torres, Paul Nelson, Greil Marcus, Dave Marsh, Grover Lewis, Timothy Crouse, Timothy Ferris, Joe Klein, Cameron Crowe, Joe Eszterhas, and P.J. O'Rourke, and discovered photographer Annie Leibovitz. In 1977, Rolling Stone moved from San Francisco to New York City. Wenner founded Outside magazine in 1977, sold it a year later, briefly managed Look, and started Family Life in 1993. In 1985, he bought a share in Us Weekly, then jointly purchased it with The Walt Disney Company the following year; the magazine went weekly in 2000. In August 2006, he bought out Disney's share. From 2004 to 2006, he contributed about $63,000 to Democratic candidates and liberal organizations. In September 2016, he sold a 49% stake in Rolling Stone to BandLab Technologies. In October 2016, he started Glixel, a video games website. In September 2017, the remaining 51% of Rolling Stone was sold to Penske Media Corporation, who later acquired the remaining stake from BandLab. In 2022, Little, Brown and Company published his memoir, Like a Rolling Stone. Wenner co-founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in 1983. He produced Boz Scaggs's self-titled major-label debut album in 1969.

Reader's Guide

Wenner has faced controversy regarding Hall of Fame eligibility favoritism, the breakdown of his relationship with Hunter S. Thompson, and criticism that his magazine's reviews were biased. In 1975, Thompson learned Wenner had canceled a $75,000 advance for a book on the 1976 presidential campaign without telling him. Wenner then asked Thompson to cover the fall of Saigon; Thompson's story was not published until ten years later. In 1996, Wenner fired rock critic Jim DeRogatis after DeRogatis gave a negative review to Hootie and the Blowfish. In June 2017, Wenner cut ties with biographer Joe Hagan, calling Hagan's book Sticky Fingers 'deeply flawed and tawdry.' In September 2023, Wenner was interviewed by The New York Times about his book The Masters, in which he claimed black and female artists were 'not in his zeitgeist' and that female artists were 'not as articulate enough on this intellectual level.' He was removed from the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation the next day and issued an apology.

Did You Know?

• Wenner co-founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, not the museum itself.
• He founded Outside magazine in 1977 and sold it a year later.
• Wenner sold a 49% stake in Rolling Stone to BandLab Technologies in 2016, then the remaining 51% to Penske Media Corporation in 2017.
• He was removed from the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in 2023 after controversial comments about black and female artists.