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

(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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.'"

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.