Clarence Avant: Music Business Pioneer

His influence reverberates throughout the music industry. Yet Clarence Avant—pioneering label executive, shrewd deal-maker and mentor extraordinaire—remains the spotlight-shunning person who first entered the game more than 40 years ago.

Longtime friend Quincy Jones distills the essence of the Avant mystique: "He's the perennial godfather of our business. Everyone in this business has been by Clarence's desk, if they're smart."

"Everyone" includes such industry personages as Jimmy Iovine, Barbra Streisand, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, David Munns, Doug Morris, Kenny Gamble, Sylvia Rhone, Holland/Dozier/Holland, Walter Yetnikoff, Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. But the list is not music industry-exclusive.

Avant's colleagues also include presidents (Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter), ambassadors (Andrew Young), politicians (Maxine Waters), entrepreneurs (BET founder Robert Johnson, Black Enterprise publisher Earl Graves), social activists (the Rev. Jesse Jackson) and TV personalities (Oprah Winfrey).

As impressive as his Rolodex is his résumé: artist manager, record-label founder, broadcaster, former chairman of Motown Records, entrepreneur and a tireless advocate of opportunities for African-Americans within the music business and beyond.

The ever-humble Avant, who turns 75 this month, insists he is just a country boy. But look deeper, and you will find a no-nonsense yet funny man determined to simultaneously live life and give back.

If you search online for his name, you will find Avant's birthplace listed

as Greensboro, N.C. And he will tell you the same thing himself. But he was actually born in Climax, a small town outside of Greensboro. Adopting his mother's maiden name of Avant, he never really knew his father and did not finish high school.

Moving up north at the age of 16, he eventually worked at Macy's in New York and for a law directory in Newark, N.J.

In his 20s, Avant was initiated into the music business when he worked at a club called Teddy P's Lounge. Blues artist Little Willie John played the club and was so impressed by Avant that he hired the young man as his manager. Soon other clients followed, notably jazz organist Jimmy Smith, composer Lalo Schifrin, jazz producer Creed Taylor and recording pioneer Tom Wilson.

Before exercising his own considerable mentoring skills, Avant was tutored by a key figure in the music industry of the '50s and '60s: Joe Glazer of Associated Booking. At the time, Glazer managed Louis Armstrong. He also booked gigs for a who's who in jazz and pop that included Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday and an ingénue by the name of Barbra Streisand.

Quoted in "The Autobiography of Quincy Jones," Avant says Glazer taught him two important lessons that have served him well through the years: One, keep your mouth quiet about what you know. Two, when you make a deal, ask for as much money as you can without stuttering.

That second lesson sparked Avant's decades-long friendship with Jones.

It was the early '60s, and Jones was a VP at Mercury Records—the first such position held by a black man at a U.S. record label. Avant got wind that Jones had signed jazz artists Gillespie and Gerry Mulligan for $100,000. So he decided to talk to Jones about his signing Smith, one of his clients.

However, Avant wanted a little more than $100,000. Four-and-a-half times more, to be exact.

Jones laughs as he recalls asking Avant, "Are you smoking Kool-Aid?"

Avant moseyed over to Verve Records, then a division of MGM, and signed Smith there for a huge sum. He and Jones celebrated by seeing the Supremes at the Copa—and getting drunk.

"He went and got the deal," Jones says. "I respected him for that."

Avant's deal-making prowess was called into play in the late '60s when he negotiated the first joint venture between an African-American executive and a major record label. The executive was Motown A&R man Mickey Stephenson, the label Venture Records. Although Venture did not pan out, Avant decided to try his hand at running a label.

Black music executives at major labels were rare at the time. And there were not any formal R&B music departments. Black music was placed under the "special markets" banner.

As veteran label executive and Urban Network publisher Miller London told Billboard last year, "People like Berry Gordy and Clarence Avant said, 'Look, I can't make it in that world. I'll make my own world so I can make money.' "

Avant got his chance in 1971 when he founded Sussex Records.

The name is evidence of Avant's sly humor. Jones recalls that Avant, who co-founded Sussex with the late Ronald Moseley, once told a group of MBA students that the name was inspired by two words: success and sex.

The label's eclectic roster included Dennis Coffey, the Presidents, Gallery and Wadsworth Mansion. But the best-known artist to emerge during Sussex's heyday was Bill Withers.

For Island Def Jam chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid, Withers' work on Sussex is one of the most significant achievements in Avant's storied career.

"Clarence is an amazing music man," Reid says. "To have that kind of an artist on your roster and still hear his records every day, not to mention others recutting his songs . . . that's impressive."

Avant's barrier-breaking continued in the '70s with the purchase of Los Angeles radio station KAGB. The move made him one of the first African-Americans to own an FM station.

After Sussex folded, Avant launched a second record label, Tabu. The label scored its first No. 1 R&B hit in 1980 with the S.O.S. Band's "Take Your Time (Do It Right)." Labelmates included Cherrelle and Alexander O'Neal.

A subsequent single by S.O.S., "High Hopes," did not fare as well on the R&B chart, peaking at No. 25. But it precipitated a fortuitous meeting in 1982 between Avant and the song's writers, Jimmy "Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis, moonlighting members of Morris Day's band, the Time.

Avant called Jam & Lewis a year later and asked them to pen a couple of songs for the S.O.S. Band's next album. The pair crafted the back-to-back top five singles "Just Be Good to Me" and "Tell Me If You Still Care." And the fledgling songwriting/production duo was off and running. But not before learning a valuable lesson from Avant.

After the duo's representative negotiated a price for the songs, Jam & Lewis received a phone call from Avant's office requesting a meeting. The two newcomers—whom the sweatsuit-wearing Avant would teasingly call thugs because they wore suits and hats—thought they had blown the situation by asking for too much money. It turns out they had not asked for enough.

"He said, 'Here's what you're worth and what the budget should be,' " Jam says. "That spoke to Clarence's fairness. There's not one person who has been more instrumental to the success of myself and Terry than Clarence Avant."

Jam in turn introduced Avant to another up-and-coming production team, L.A. Reid & Babyface. With Avant's guidance, the prolific pair would go on to establish the pivotal Atlanta-based label LaFace Records.

"I had never heard of Clarence until Jimmy Jam told me how he could help us organize our business," Reid recalls. "His contribution to my career has and continues to be invaluable. We still talk at least a couple of times a month. His career guidance is maybe less celebrated because it's behind the scenes. But the advice he's contributed—to Quincy 30 years ago, me 20 years ago, Puffy 10 years ago and those coming up now—is clearly significant."

Avant was recruited by the major leagues in 1993, taking on the chairman role at Motown Records. That was the year PolyGram purchased Berry Gordy's legendary label. During his five years as chairman, Avant counseled the Motown management team on restructuring its operations. He was also appointed to the international management board of parent PolyGram Holding, making him the first African-American board member.

Among the executives Avant became acquainted with during this time was PolyGram senior VP of worldwide pop marketing David Munns. Now EMI Music vice chairman, Munns credits Avant's sage advice, hard-to-match integrity and humor ("he's hilarious when he's on form") as the reasons behind his strong connections inside and outside the music industry.

"You may not like what he has to say, but he says it straight up," Munns says. "There are no hidden agendas with him. If everybody in the world had the same values as Clarence Avant, the world would be a much better place."

Making the world a better place is a prevailing theme in Avant's various endeavors outside the music business. An active member of the Democratic Party, he campaigned for President Clinton, was a delegate to the Dominican Republic during the Carter administration and served as a member of the Trade Mission to the African Nations for former United Nations ambassador Andrew Young.

A major supporter of Operation Push and the NAACP, Avant secured funds to ensure the completion of the 1973 film "Save the Children." The moving documentary featured a host of artists from Cannonball Adderley to Curtis Mayfield.

Avant promoted Michael Jackson's first solo tour, hiring promoter Al Haymon to assist him. The 14-month Bad world tour, which opened in Tokyo in September 1987, grossed a reported $125 million. In the early '90s, Avant brought together African-American investors (including Shaquille O'Neal) in a $20 million investment partnership in South Africa. New Age Beverages, established in 1994, later teamed with PepsiCo to build a bottling plant in South Africa.

"Clarence has the most amazing mind," Jones marvels. "I'd swear he's been reading The Wall Street Journal since he was 2. He's aware of every business deal—and its details—on the planet."

A deal of his own making occurred in 2004 when he selected Universal Music Publishing Group to administer his Los Angeles-based publishing companies, Avant Garde and Interior Music. The worldwide deal covers such classic songs as Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine," Dennis Coffey's "Scorpio" and the Jam & Lewis-penned "Saturday Love," popularized by former Tabu artists Cherrelle and Alexander O'Neal.

In addition to serving as president of Avant Garde and Interior Music, Avant remains an active member of the Pepsi-Cola African-American Advisory Board and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Among the accolades he has received are an honorary doctorate from Morehouse College, the Heroes Award from the Los Angeles chapter of the Recording Academy and the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award.

Avant's lessons in business and life are not lost on the younger generation. Songwriter/producer Rodney Jerkins says, "This is a hard industry to stay around in, especially for people of color. He put his stamp and mark on the game. He's not going anywhere."

Nor are they forgotten by those who consider him a father. "Here's a guy who forsakes no one," Lewis says. "He's done for his family and his career, and helped everybody else at the same time. There's not a person I know who doesn't respect him."

Jam adds, "He reinforced our ethics and morals. He showed you can still be in the music business, retain those values and still be successful."

Or as Jones eloquently states, "He is Mr. True." ••••