--- title: Starbucks Comments on Kenny G's Role in the Birth of Frappuccino description: The Grammy-winning musician claimed that he played a part in bringing about the delicious Starbucks beverage canonical: https://time.com/3702968/starbucks-kennyg-frappuccino/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-10T15:39:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:36.502Z og:title: Starbucks Says Kenny G Helped Give Rise to the Frappuccino og:description: The Grammy-winning musician claimed that he played a part in bringing about the delicious Starbucks beverage og:url: https://time.com/3702968/starbucks-kennyg-frappuccino/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefeea13c563c5190/69877e68524fc09420dec642/462423240-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2439 og:image:height: 1372 og:image:alt: Musician Kenny G visits the SiriusXM Studios on Jan. 28, 2015 in New York City. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Starbucks Says Kenny G Helped Give Rise to the Frappuccino twitter:description: The Grammy-winning musician claimed that he played a part in bringing about the delicious Starbucks beverage twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefeea13c563c5190/69877e68524fc09420dec642/462423240-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Starbucks Says Kenny G Helped Give Rise to the Frappuccino > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Starbucks Going Upscale, Downscale With New Retail Stores [Watch (HLS stream): Starbucks Going Upscale, Downscale With New Retail Stores](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yB9KCcNj.m3u8) (1:42)  _Published 2014-09-05. Starbucks on Friday announced it will introduce two types of retail locations. An upscale roastery and tasting room for its rare Starbucks Reserve line, and smaller, alternative stores for speed and convenience._ by [People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## People Contributor Feb 10, 2015 3:39 PM UTC  Musician Kenny G visits the SiriusXM Studios on Jan. 28, 2015 in New York City. Musician Kenny G visits the SiriusXM Studios on Jan. 28, 2015 in New York City.Astrid Stawiarz — Getty Images by [People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## People Contributor Feb 10, 2015 3:39 PM UTC When [Kenny G](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:KennyG,00.html) revealed he had a hand [in bringing about the Frappuccino,](http://www.people.com/article/kenny-g-starbucks-frappuccino) we thought a great piece of pop culture trivia had been unearthed. During the promotion of his new album, _Brazilian Nights_, the [Grammy-winner ](http://greatideas.people.com/2015/02/06/kenny-g-grammy-party-menu-recipes/)recounted how he had helped introduce the famous beverage to the [Starbucks menu](http://greatideas.people.com/2015/01/06/starbucks-new-espresso-drink-flat-white/). “Well, at the beginning, Starbucks didn’t have anything but coffee, and there was another company, Coffee Bean, that had something called blended … it was a sweet drink, and people were lined up around the block,” the sax star told [Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-01-28/kenny-g-saxophonist-golfer-starbucks-investor). “And I would always call Howard \[Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and CEO\] and say, ‘Howard, there’s this thing that they do there that’s like a milkshake or whatever, ” he continued. “And so I think that part of the reason that they did Frappuccino was people like me giving them that kind of feedback. I like to think I was partially responsible for that.” So, Kenny G and coffee — who knew? And according to the [Starbucks fact sheet](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/frappuccino%5Ffact%5Fsheet%5Ffinal.pdf), it looks like the Frappuccino has enjoyed a very rich — and delicious — history since it first debuted in 1995. So what does Starbucks think of Kenny G’s comments? “Kenny is a dear friend of Starbucks and an early investor in the company,” a spokesperson for Starbucks tells PEOPLE … “He did provide feedback on the creation of Frappuccino. That’s true … We are very appreciative of everyone, including Kenny, who’ve been a part of the success of Frappuccino.” _This_ [_article_](http://greatideas.people.com/2015/02/09/kenny-g-starbucks-frappuccino-truth/) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3702968/starbucks-kennyg-frappuccino/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3702968/starbucks-kennyg-frappuccino/"},"headline":"Starbucks Says Kenny G Helped Give Rise to the Frappuccino","datePublished":"2015-02-10T15:39:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:36.502Z","description":"The Grammy-winning musician claimed that he played a part in bringing about the delicious Starbucks beverage","url":"https://time.com/3702968/starbucks-kennyg-frappuccino/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","celebrities","Starbucks"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefeea13c563c5190/69877e68524fc09420dec642/462423240-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"People","jobTitle":"Contributor","url":"https://time.com/author/people/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefeea13c563c5190/69877e68524fc09420dec642/462423240-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Musician Kenny G visits the SiriusXM Studios on Jan. 28, 2015 in New York City.","caption":"Musician Kenny G visits the SiriusXM Studios on Jan. 28, 2015 in New York City.","creditText":"Astrid Stawiarz — Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3702968/starbucks-kennyg-frappuccino/","name":"Starbucks Says Kenny G Helped Give Rise to the Frappuccino"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Starbucks Going Upscale, Downscale With New Retail Stores","description":"Starbucks on Friday announced it will introduce two types of retail locations. 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