Lyor Cohen, YouTube's Global Head of Music, was born in New York to Israeli parents and spent part of his childhood on an Israeli moshav. Here is his story.
Lyor Cohen (ליאור כהן), 67, has been YouTube's Global Head of Music since 2016. He was born in New York in 1959 to Israeli parents, spent part of his early childhood in a foster home on an Israeli moshav, and grew up in Los Angeles. Israeli media has profiled him for more than two decades, from Haaretz in 2003 to Ynet in 2025.
Who are Lyor Cohen's Israeli parents?
Lyor Cohen's parents are Elisha Cohen, an Israeli businessman, and Ziva Sirkis, who worked at the Israeli consulate in New York at the time of his birth, according to a 2019 Mako profile by Matan Sharon. Ynet's Yaniv Halili reported the same year that the couple had left Israel about two years before he was born, and that the Sirkis family is well known in Israel.
Cohen describes his mother as a pioneer who was wounded in Israel's War of Independence. In a May 2025 Ynet interview with Raanan Shaked, he called her a tough Israeli from Petah Tikva and said she was 94.
His mother later married Philip Shulman, a Jewish psychiatrist in Los Angeles. Cohen told Ynet in 2019 that he calls Shulman his father and refers to Elisha as his biological father. He also has an older brother, Harel, who lives in Israel, and Ynet reported in 2025 that he has a sister and several nephews there as well.
One popular claim does not hold up. Ynet's 2019 profile said that media reports describing him as the descendant of a celebrated Israeli general were false.
What was Lyor Cohen's childhood in Israel and Los Angeles like?
Lyor Cohen spent part of his early childhood in a foster home on Moshav Kfar Hayim (כפר חיים), near Netanya. Mako reports that his parents divorced when he was about three, and that he lived in the foster home (בית אומנה) for two years during their legal dispute.
Cohen told Ynet in 2019 that he does not remember those years and may have suppressed them. According to Mako, he picked up enough Hebrew there that it affected his English once he returned to his mother in Los Angeles, and a speech therapist worked with him. He now speaks little Hebrew.
Cohen remembers the Los Angeles home as a salon for poets, artists and politicians. He told Ynet that Friday night dinners at his parents' house were among his happiest childhood memories, and that his mother sent him alone by bus at age nine to study Judaism and Hebrew at a synagogue across the city. He says he has gone to synagogue on every holiday and every Shabbat since.
How did Israeli identity shape his rise in the music business?
Lyor Cohen's Israeli background became part of his public image in hip-hop, where rappers and colleagues gave him nicknames that referred to it. Haaretz reported in 2003 that he was known as "Little Lansky" (לנסקי הקטן) and "the Israeli General" (הגנרל הישראלי). Steve Gottlieb, then president of TVT Records, told Haaretz that Cohen talks a great deal about his Israeli identity.
The rapper Mos Def called him a tall Israeli running rap in the song "The Rape Over," a line Mako described as unflattering. Cohen told Variety in 2023 that he asked people comparing him to the gangster Meyer Lansky to call him Einstein instead.
His route into music started at a bank. Mako and Ynet both report that Cohen, then in his early twenties, worked at a Bank Leumi branch in Los Angeles when he booked a late-night Run-DMC show. That led him to Russell Simmons, the founder of Def Jam, and he arrived in New York in January 1983, he told Ynet. Run-DMC's tour manager had vanished before a trip abroad, and Cohen got the job because he was the one with a passport.
Variety credits him with turning Run-DMC's love of Adidas sneakers into an endorsement deal that set a precedent for the genre. Mako put the deal at $1.6 million.
How does Lyor Cohen talk about his Jewish roots?
Lyor Cohen calls himself "a proud Jewish man," a phrase Variety used in a September 2023 interview with him, and he says his Jewish upbringing taught him that most problems can be solved through education. He linked that belief to a hard moment in his career. In the late 1980s, Richard Griffin, known as Professor Griff of Public Enemy, made antisemitic comments, and Cohen said Jewish colleagues pressed him to stop managing the group. He stayed, he told Variety, because he wanted the group to hear from a proud Jewish person in the room.
In February 2025, Cohen published an open letter to Kanye West, reported by Mako, saying he was deeply disappointed by West's use of Nazi symbols and antisemitic rhetoric. The letter pointed to the shared history of Jewish and Black communities in jazz, blues and Motown.
After October 7, 2023, Cohen spoke at a City of Hope gala that honored him. He called the attack an act of terrorism, asked for the hostages to be returned, and said his heart also goes out to the Palestinian people. He told Ynet in 2025 that he watched the war from abroad and worried most about Israeli reservists in Gaza. Early in the war, he said, he tried to organize a song in support of Israel and received mostly negative or noncommittal answers from artists.
Family identity shows up in small details too. Ynet reported that three flags flew at his Hamptons wedding to Xin Li, an art dealer then at Christie's: the United States, China and Israel.
What does Lyor Cohen think of Israeli artists on YouTube?
Lyor Cohen has said that Israeli artists have a better chance of breaking out abroad than they did in the past, because YouTube and the internet have made the world smaller. He told Ynet in 2019 that success depends on the music, the storytelling and the context an artist brings, and he compared Israeli acts to Puerto Rican reggaeton stars and Korean hip-hop groups.
At the time, the Israeli pop duo Static and Ben El had just posted photos with him during their first push in the United States. Cohen said the duo could become huge.
His 2025 answer was more candid. Asked by Ynet whether he listens to Israeli music, he said not lately, though he had spoken with the singer Aviv Geffen about an album and had heard the Israeli artist Tuna, who reminded him of the French rap duo PNL. He added that he supports anything connected to Israel, including Eurovision.
For other Israeli entertainment and creator stories, see Olam's report on Paramount's Israeli series Midair and its coverage of the Nas Summit Jerusalem creator lineup. For a business view of an Israeli company built for a global audience, read about Moon Active, the company behind Coin Master. A dated list of public figures who have spoken on Israel is in Olam's ledger of celebrities who support Israel.
What is Lyor Cohen's career at a glance?
Lyor Cohen's career runs from a Los Angeles bank branch to the top of YouTube's music business across about four decades. The table below lists the main steps, using dates reported by Variety, Mako and Ynet.
| Period | Role or milestone |
|---|---|
| Early 1980s | Works at a Bank Leumi branch in Los Angeles and promotes a Run-DMC show |
| 1983 onward | Moves to New York and works with Russell Simmons, managing acts including Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy |
| Until 2004 | Helps lead Def Jam |
| 2004 to 2012 | Senior leadership at Warner Music Group, where he negotiates a 2006 content deal with YouTube |
| 2012 | Leaves Warner and co-founds 300 Entertainment, which Warner bought in 2021 for about $400 million, Variety reported |
| 2016 | Named YouTube's Global Head of Music on September 28 |
YouTube paid the music industry more than $8 billion between July 2024 and June 2025, World Music Views reported from a talk by Cohen in 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is Lyor Cohen Israeli?
Lyor Cohen was born in New York to Israeli parents, and Israeli media calls him an Israeli-American (ישראלי-אמריקאי). He spent part of his early childhood in Israel and has family there.
Where was Lyor Cohen born?
Lyor Cohen was born in New York City on October 3, 1959. He grew up mainly in Los Angeles.
Where in Israel did he live as a child?
Lyor Cohen lived in a foster home on Moshav Kfar Hayim, near Netanya, for about two years, according to Mako.
Does Lyor Cohen speak Hebrew?
Lyor Cohen speaks little Hebrew today, Ynet reported in 2019 and again in 2025. He studied Hebrew as a child at a synagogue in Los Angeles.
What does Lyor Cohen do at YouTube?
Lyor Cohen is YouTube's Global Head of Music, a role he has held since 2016. He leads the platform's relationships with artists and the music industry.
Is Lyor Cohen the grandson of an Israeli general?
No source Olam reviewed supports that claim. Ynet's 2019 profile called reports that he descends from a celebrated Israeli general false.
How we report: Olam stories draw on public filings, company disclosures and named sources, checked by our editors. Read our methodology · Corrections
