It was the age of Streisand and Springsteen, Jagger and Jackson, and business was booming at CBS Records. From 1975 to 1990, CEO and President Walter Yetnikoff had taken revenues from $485 million to well over $2 billion. But life with this stable of superstars was far from harmonious, especially when Yetnikoff himself was doing much of the howling.

Revealing the complete star-studded story, Howling at the Moon gives center stage to a man who led one of the most remarkable runs of success-and self-destruction-ever seen in the entertainment industry. Yetnikoff writes candidly about coddling egoistic crooners, taming high-strung executives like Diller and Geffen, and succumbing to the addictions that defined the era. The more Yetnikoff fed his cravings for power, sex, and cocaine, the more profitable CBS became. Reflecting on the sinister cycle that left his career in tatters and CBS flush with cash, Yetnikoff emerges with a hunger for redemption and a new reverence for his working-class Brooklyn roots.