Irving Azoff earned the following mention in Variety’s Music Mogul of the Year special. For more, including the cover story on Sean Combs, click here.

Ask any music business veteran to name the biggest mogul of the past three decades, and chances are slight they won’t say Irving Azoff.

Others have run bigger companies and some may have earned more money, but in terms of reach, influence, power and the ability to inspire fear, there’s really no competition. He’s been a world-beating, fiery-tempered artist manager for the lion’s share of what he acknowledges is his 50 years in the music business. Yet he’s also been CEO of two major record labels (McA and Giant) and head of the world’s largest live-entertainment company: Live Nation, whose merger with Ticketmaster he oversaw. He’s currently running, co-running or overseeing five companies: Full Stop Management, with a roster including the Eagles,...