In a rather strange piece of news today, it is been reported that Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon will be turning DJ at this year’s Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago. The 60-year-old who moonlights under the name of “D-sol” will perform alongside Metallica, Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, and Green Day.
Surprisingly, this isn’t D-sol’s first rodeo. Back in 2020, he performed the opening act for The Chainsmokers at a charity benefit in the Hamptons, United States. That said, we did some digging into DJ/CEO, and here’s what we found.
He worked at a Baskin Robbins in his early days
Born in 1962, Solomon grew up in Scarsdale, New York, where he attended the Edgemont Junior-Senior High School. To support himself, the now Goldman Sachs CEO worked at the local Baskin Robbins, before becoming a camp counsellor. So not only he can spin records and spreadsheets, but can also serve a mean swirl.
He was rejected from Goldman Sachs initially
After graduating from Hamilton College in Clinton, with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Solomon applied for an analyst position at the Wallstreet firm. But as luck would have it, his application was rejected, which led him to join Irving Trust, a commercial bank based in New York.
He’s been with Goldman Sachs for more than 20 years now
Solomon finally found his way to his current company back in 1999, where he first joined as a partner for their leveraged finance team. Since then, he has worked his way up the ladder, serving as Co-Head of the company’s Investment Banking Division for 10 years, from 2006 to 2016.
He’s one of the best-paid CEOs in America
According to a Bloomberg report, Solomon was paid a salary of $35 million for 2021. This made him the best-paid CEO at a major US bank alongside Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman. Out of the $35 million cheque, the 60-year old was paid $12 million in cash while the rest was made available in stock rewards.
He’s played at gigs in Miami and New York
The disc-spinning CEO has performed at increasingly high-profile concerts across the United States. With performances in Sports Illustrated’s Super Bowl party in February and the BottleRock music festival in Napa, California.
When asked how manages his side hustle, Solomon confirm that his music career did raise some eyebrows at first, saying “I was told you can’t do that…it’ll hurt your career professionally. I thought about it and I said, ‘I enjoy this, I’m not doing anything wrong.’ I’m having fun…it makes me feel good.”
He has a very active listener base on Spotify
Back in 2018, Solomon released a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song, “Don’t Stop,” which made its way into Spotify’s ‘Happy Summer Beats’ playlist. Since then, the CEO has amassed a following of over 3.8 million listeners, with his debut single garnering around 8 million listens. Back in November 2020, his recent single “Someone Like You” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Dance Club Chart!
