Kenny G says he's the reason why Starbucks sells Frappuccinos

(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

published 30 January 2015

The next time you find yourself enjoying a Frappuccino at Starbucks, be sure to silently thank the icy beverage’s inspiration: Kenny G.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the smooth jazz virtuoso said that as an early investor in Starbucks, he convinced chairman and CEO Howard Schultz to rip off another company's drink. "At the beginning, Starbucks didn’t have anything but coffee, and there was another company, Coffee Bean, that had something called 'blended' that was a sweet drink, and people were lined up around the block," he said. "I would always call Howard and say, 'Howard, there's this thing that they do there that's like a milkshake or whatever.'"

Kenny G admits that he's never been a coffee aficionado, and became interested in Starbucks after talking with his uncle, one of the company's first investors. He was quickly impressed by Schultz, he said, and the rest is caffeinated history.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.