Clarence Avant
Encyclopedia
Clarence Avant is an American music executive
, entrepreneur
, and film producer
. He was also known as the Godfather of Black Music.
Avant's 75th birthday was celebrated by Billboard magazine, on its February 2006 issue.
to Gertrude Avant. Avant was one of eight children (siblings: Weldon L. Avant, William E., Paul A., Harold L., Ann M., Brenda, and Linda Woods.) and attended a one-room school in Greensboro, N.C until the eighth grade. Avant spent his freshman and sophomore years of high school at Dudley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina, before moving to New Jersey
in 1947 at age sixteen. In New Jersey Avant worked as a stock clerk at Macy's and for a law directory. He began in the music business in the 1950s as a manager of Teddy P's Lounge in Newark, New Jersey
, owned by promoter Teddy Powell. A strong early influence and mentor for Avant was Joseph G. Joe Glaser (December 17, 1896 - June 6, 1969), music manager of Louis Armstrong
from 1935 until his death in 1969, and the original proprietor of Sunset Gardens on the South Side of Chicago. Glaser founded Consolidated Booking Corporation and Associated Booking Corporation on November 26, 1943. It went on to become one of the world's largest and most successful theatrical booking agencies with more than 1,000 clients at the time of Glaser's death. Avant later managed R&B singer Little Willie John
, jazz singer Sarah Vaughan
, rock and roll
pioneer Tom Wilson, whom Avant partnered with in the Wilson Organization, jazz producer Creed Taylor
(jazz musician of the Hammond B-3 electric organ
), Jimmy Smith
, and Argentine
pianist
-composer
Lalo Schifrin
. Schifrin and Smith collaborated to make he Cat, released on Verve Records
on April 27, 1964. During these years Avant lived in the newly built Mayfair Towers at 15 West 72nd Street near Central Park West and behind the Dakota. He had offices at 37 West 57th Street near Avenue of Americas, across the street from Joe Glaser's residence at 60 West 57th Street.
artist and a major record company. Founded as an outlet for the soul acts of MGM Records
, Venture Records Inc. was run by former Motown songwriter, record producer, and A&R department head William "Mickey" Stevenson. Avant moved from Manhattan to Beverly Hills to work with Venture Records Inc. in the Fall of 1967, doing so until 1969 when MGM Records
shut down the label and joint venture.
During this time, record producer, songwriter, and executive Al Bell
enlisted the aid of Avant, whom he had met through the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers (NATRA), to sell Stax Records
to Gulf+Western
. The deal was finalized on May 29, 1968 for $4.3 million, with Avant receiving ten percent of all debentures.
In August 1969, Avant became the associate producer, along with Al Bell, of Douglas Turner Ward's "The Reckoning" (a surreal Southern Fable), presented in co-operation with The Negro Ensemble Company at St. Mark's Playhouse in New York. "The Reckoning" started the Off-Broadway season and starred Jeannette DuBois, later Ja'net Dubois of Good Times
fame.
in Hollywood on December 18, 1969. The company went out of business in June 1975, with the IRS
seizing and auctioning off all assets because of $48,000 in federal tax liens. The remaining furniture, office equipment, and recording masters (bought by CBS Records for $50,500) were auctioned in July 1975 at Sussex offices (6255 W Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA). Avant signed singer, songwriter, and producer Bill Withers
, guitarist Dennis Coffey
, and soft rock band Gallery
to Sussex Records, which was distributed from April 1970 until 1974 by Buddah Records
, founded by record executive Neil Bogart
on March 23, 1967 and independently distributed until its demise.
and Harvard Universities, the John Hancock
and Aetna
insurance companies, Prudential Insurance Co.
, J.P. Morgan & Co.
, and the Mobil
and Gulf Oil
corporations. Avant Garde Broadcasting, run by Del Shields from the National Association of Radio and Television Announcers (NARTA), never turned a profit, and was ultimately forced into bankruptcy by Urban National on November 20, 1975 when it defaulted on promissory notes and warrants of around $400,000, and refused to accept all counsel or advice on how to run the station. Avant lost about $611,168.67 in the bankruptcy, $71,500 from Interior Music Corporation advances between August 1973 and September 1974, and $13,887 from Sussex Records loans. Comedian Bill Cosby
was an additional investor in Avant Garde Broadcasting, investing approx. $200,000 through his company SAH Enterprises.
In September 1973, Paramount Pictures released "Save The Children", with Avant serving as executive producer. Filmed at the Operation PUSH Black Expo in Chicago, the production mixed performances of top black entertainers with footage depicting blacks, especially children, in various conditions, including war-ravaged and malnourished refugees. The film premiered at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
, on January 28, 1976, signing the musical ensemble The SOS Band
(1979–1991), soul singer Cherrelle
(1983–1992), singer Alexander O'Neal
(1984–1993), and Kool & the Gang
(1991–1993), in addition to playing a key role in the successful rise of Grammy Award
-winning R&B and pop music songwriters and producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
. This duo became the in-house production team at Tabu Productions, Inc. Avant served as an unsalaried advisor and handled their business affairs from Los Angeles, while continuing his career as a deal maker, power broker, and mentor to others throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Tabu became associated with CBS Records in 1980, and later Epic Records, a division of CBS. Tabu became affiliated with A&M Records for pressing, marketing, and distribution from March to August 1991.
During these years, Avant served on the California State Board of Education, until his resignation in 1978. In connection with Avant's close political ties to Los Angeles City Hall because of major political contributions to Mayor Tom Bradley in 1973, including $20,000 from Sussex Records Inc. and $26,000 from Avant personally, Avant became affiliated with the Los Angeles Downtown Redevelopment Corporation. In October 1978, the company won approval for a $1.5 million urban redevelopment loan to purchase three buildings on or near downtown Los Angeles' Spring St., owned by Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. They purchased the Rowan Building, located at 458 S Spring St, the old Security Pacific Bank Building, located at 510 S Spring St, and the Rosslyn Hotel, located at 112 W 5th St, all with federal Department of Housing and Urban Development funds. In September 1979, after participating in U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young's trade mission to Africa, Avant was retained as Tanzania's marketing representative for meerschaum pipes and consultant on motion pictures and recordings.
In June 1980, with the help of developer Nathan Landow, Avant was given a partnership, without making a cash investment, in a $28 million office building project in downtown Washington, D.C., located above the Metro Center subway stop at 12th and G streets NW. The new partnership agreement required no cash investment and no specific services from the new minority partners. For their 10 percent interest, Avant signed a promissory note for the value of the interest, $500,000. In essence, Landow lent the $50,000 to Avant to invest in the partnership. Then the partners repaid the loan from the profits they received from the office building. There are two other economic benefits of such a partnership: first, the individual partners are able to deduct from their income taxes part of the value of the building as a depreciation expense. And second, after about 10 years, the partners may agree to refinance the building based on its increased value and general inflation in the real estate market. While this essentially adds a new and greater mortgage on the property, it allows them to draw a large amount of cash out of the property for use in other investments.
's Solar Records (Whispers, Shalamar, Lakeside, The Deele LA & BabyFace). Through Andrews' introduction to Jam & Lewis, they produced their first masters for Avant on the SOS Band. Andrews set-up Jam & Lewis' company, Flyte Tyme Productions, as a d/b/a, and the producers went on to produce several other masters on SOS Band, Cherrelle, Alexander O'Neal, and Change.
During this time, Avant was represented by attorney Ronald Eugene Sweeney of the law firm Sweeney and Irby, a law corporation in Los Angeles formed October 27, 1982.
Avant became involved as a mentor to Jheryl Busby, president and chief executive officer of Motown Record Co. LP, as the company sought to implement a new business plan during the Spring of 1993. In August 1993, as part of Polygram Holdings Inc.'s acquisition of Motown, completed July 1, 1993 and totaling more than $300 million, Avant was named Chairman of the Board of Motown Records
. Four years later, in December 1997, he became the first African-American to serve on the International Management Board for Polygram. In June 1994, Avant and a group of other notable African American investors created a $20 million investment partnership in South Africa
called New Age Beverages. New Age soon teamed with PepsiCo
to build a bottling plant in South Africa. Pepsico owned 25% of a joint venture bottling company called New Age Beverages, with the other 75% in the hands of Egoli Beverages, L.P., a U.S.-based partnership that included Avant.
Pepsi invested $5 million and Egoli invested $15 million. This plant was PepsiCo's first venture in the country since 1985, when it left South Africa to protest the policies of apartheid. The plant was to be completely managed by South Africans, with financing being provided to truck drivers at the plant so that they could eventually purchase their own trucks. PepsiCo International ended the South African joint venture with New Age Beverages due to low sales and slow growth. In May 1998, PepsiCo agreed to pay stock to the investors who lost money in its bottling company. In March 1993, Avant became associated with the World African Network equity partnership, a 24-hour pay cable network founded by Eugene D. and Phyllis Tucker Vinson Jackson in 1987. Avant was supposed to be consulting with the network regarding music programing and entertainment, as well as serving as the network's liaison with the music community. The cable network was to have start up costs of around $15 million and was to provide sitcoms, dramas, news, documentaries, variety shows and a host of other programs that appeal to people of African descent. In June 1996, Avant became an investor in the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Hotel in Miami, Florida
, the first black-owned hotel in Miami. The 422 room hotel opened in October 2001. After Andre Harrell became president and CEO of Motown Records in October 1995, the company relocated its headquarters to New York in February of the following year. Avant returned to overseeing the label's day-to-day operations however, after Harrell resigned with a reported $30 million package. George Jackson took over as president and chief executive officer in February 1998, and Avant left Motown in February 1999 after Montreal-based Seagram
Co. Ltd. purchased Polygram
for $10.6 billion in December 1998.
After Motown, Avant became associated with Urban Box Office Network, Inc., serving as its chairman. It was a web based new media company consisting of series of websites aimed at minorities. UBO was conceived of at the Mayflower Hotel in New York on a napkin in February 1999, and incorporated on May 13, 1999. Founded by George Jackson, Hollywood producer and record company executive, Adam Kidron, longtime British music industry producer, and Frank Cooper, former vice president of business affairs at Def Jam Recordings; the trio raised $5.5 million in first round financing, with Avant helping to raise $16 million in second round private equity financing from Flatiron Partners, Chase Capital Partners, the New York City Investment Fund, and an investor group on January 20, 2000. The funders of Urban Box Office Networks included Quetzal, media investment banker Allen & Co., MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Flatiron Partners. Jimmy de Castro, president and CEO of AM/FM Radio and AM/FM Interactive, also was a private investor. Quetzal was a $170-million fund founded by Clear Channel and then-CBS Corp. (now Viacom) and run by Chase Capital Partners (CCP), the private equity unit of Chase Manhattan Corp. Also invested were Belo Corp., Bonneville International, Cox Enterprises, The Walt Disney Co., Cumulus Media, Emmis Broadcasting, Fox Broadcasting, Granite Broadcasting, NBC, Radio One, Susquehanna Radio, and Tribune Broadcasting. Funding continued with $18.1 million in April and $3 million in September. After over $37 million was invested in UBO, it was unable to obtain $35 million in financing from Texas venture capital company Interfase Capital of Austin, forcing the company to file Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York in November 2000, and fire 330 employees. Although its total assets were reportedly $9.9 million, UBO was liable for $7.1 million to six holders of secured debt and owed nearly $6.8 million to 650 holders of unsecured debt.
In November 1999, Avant joined the newly established music advisory board of Mjuice.com, the Web's largest secure digital music retailer. Founded in 1998, the San Francisco-based Mjuice.com provided music fans with a dynamic Web music experience through its digital retail music site, Mjuice.com, and its network of affiliate partners. Mjuice combined one of the Web's largest catalogs of fully licensed major and independent label music with a compelling, secure and easy-to-use MP3-based music download system. Mjuice.com was based in San Francisco's Audio Alley and had 25 employees.
Today Avant is president of his own publishing companies, Avant Garde Enterprises, Inc. (November 7, 1962), Avant Garde Music Publishing, Inc.(November 27, 1968 in New York / September 2001 in California)(ASCAP), Clarama Music, Inc. (November 29, 1968)(BMI), and Interior Music Corp. (June 1983)(BMI). In May 2004, Universal Music Publishing Group
announced that it would administer Clarence Avant's music publishings catalogs, including representation worldwide for synchronization licensing for Motion Picture, TV, Advertising and other mediums. Clarence Avant has also served as a member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Pepsi-Cola African-American Advisory Board. Avant was recently awarded with an honorary doctorate from Morehouse College
on February 13, 2003 at the Founder's Day Convocation. Avant was featured prominently on the cover of the February 11, 2006 issue of Billboard
magazine. Around 2006, Avant became a key advisor to Network Foundation Technologies
, LLC (NFT), a leading developer of Internet streaming technologies.
On February 10, 2008, the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded him the Trustees Award.
, born March 6, 1968, and Alexander Devore Avant, born August 3, 1971. Mrs. Avant served as president of the Neighbors of Watts, the support group for the South Central Community Child Care Center in 1975, entertainment chairman of the NOW benefit auction and dinner dance, and chairman of NOW membership in 1974. She is also on the board of directors of the International Student Center at UCLA.
Music executive
A music executive or record executive is person within a record label who works in senior management, making executive decisions over the label's artists...
, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, and film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
. He was also known as the Godfather of Black Music.
Avant's 75th birthday was celebrated by Billboard magazine, on its February 2006 issue.
Early career
Clarence Alexander Avant was born in Greensboro, North CarolinaGreensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
to Gertrude Avant. Avant was one of eight children (siblings: Weldon L. Avant, William E., Paul A., Harold L., Ann M., Brenda, and Linda Woods.) and attended a one-room school in Greensboro, N.C until the eighth grade. Avant spent his freshman and sophomore years of high school at Dudley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina, before moving to New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in 1947 at age sixteen. In New Jersey Avant worked as a stock clerk at Macy's and for a law directory. He began in the music business in the 1950s as a manager of Teddy P's Lounge in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, owned by promoter Teddy Powell. A strong early influence and mentor for Avant was Joseph G. Joe Glaser (December 17, 1896 - June 6, 1969), music manager of Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
from 1935 until his death in 1969, and the original proprietor of Sunset Gardens on the South Side of Chicago. Glaser founded Consolidated Booking Corporation and Associated Booking Corporation on November 26, 1943. It went on to become one of the world's largest and most successful theatrical booking agencies with more than 1,000 clients at the time of Glaser's death. Avant later managed R&B singer Little Willie John
Little Willie John
William Edward John was better known by his stage name Little Willie John. Many sources erroneously give his second name as Edgar...
, jazz singer Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
, rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
pioneer Tom Wilson, whom Avant partnered with in the Wilson Organization, jazz producer Creed Taylor
Creed Taylor
Creed Taylor is an American record producer, best known for his work with CTI Records, which he founded in 1968. Taylor’s career also included work at Bethlehem Records, ABC-Paramount, Verve, and A&M Records...
(jazz musician of the Hammond B-3 electric organ
Electric organ
In biology, the electric organ is an organ common to all electric fish used for the purposes of creating an electric field. The electric organ is derived from modified nerve or muscle tissue...
), Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith (musician)
Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
, and Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
-composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...
. Schifrin and Smith collaborated to make he Cat, released on Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
on April 27, 1964. During these years Avant lived in the newly built Mayfair Towers at 15 West 72nd Street near Central Park West and behind the Dakota. He had offices at 37 West 57th Street near Avenue of Americas, across the street from Joe Glaser's residence at 60 West 57th Street.
Venture Records Inc.
On October 2, 1967, Venture Records Inc. was incorporated in California, a company for which Avant successfully engineered the first joint venture between an African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
artist and a major record company. Founded as an outlet for the soul acts of MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
, Venture Records Inc. was run by former Motown songwriter, record producer, and A&R department head William "Mickey" Stevenson. Avant moved from Manhattan to Beverly Hills to work with Venture Records Inc. in the Fall of 1967, doing so until 1969 when MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
shut down the label and joint venture.
During this time, record producer, songwriter, and executive Al Bell
Al Bell
Al Bell is an American record producer, songwriter, and record executive. Bell is best known as one of the key figures behind and a co-owner of Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records during the latter half of the label's nineteen-year existence...
enlisted the aid of Avant, whom he had met through the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers (NATRA), to sell Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
to Gulf+Western
Gulf+Western
Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., for a number of years known as Gulf+Western, was an American conglomerate.- History :Gulf and Western's prosaic origins date to a manufacturer named Michigan Bumper Co. founded in 1934, though Charles Bluhdorn treated his 1958 takeover of what was then Michigan...
. The deal was finalized on May 29, 1968 for $4.3 million, with Avant receiving ten percent of all debentures.
In August 1969, Avant became the associate producer, along with Al Bell, of Douglas Turner Ward's "The Reckoning" (a surreal Southern Fable), presented in co-operation with The Negro Ensemble Company at St. Mark's Playhouse in New York. "The Reckoning" started the Off-Broadway season and starred Jeannette DuBois, later Ja'net Dubois of Good Times
Good Times
Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer...
fame.
Sussex Records Inc.
After Venture Records Inc. folded, Avant remained in Beverly Hills in the Trousdale Estates and founded Sussex RecordsSussex Records
-History:It was founded December 18, 1969 by Clarence Avant. Initially, it was located first at 6430 W Sunset Blvd at the corner of Sunset and Cahuenga Blvds. In 1972, it moved to 6255 W Sunset Blvd Suite 1902 both in Hollywood. From 1969 to 1974, all records were distributed by Buddah Records &...
in Hollywood on December 18, 1969. The company went out of business in June 1975, with the IRS
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
seizing and auctioning off all assets because of $48,000 in federal tax liens. The remaining furniture, office equipment, and recording masters (bought by CBS Records for $50,500) were auctioned in July 1975 at Sussex offices (6255 W Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA). Avant signed singer, songwriter, and producer Bill Withers
Bill Withers
William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...
, guitarist Dennis Coffey
Dennis Coffey
Dennis Coffey is an American guitarist. He was a studio musician for many soul and R&B recordings.-Biography:Coffey learned to play guitar at the age of thirteen, in the Michigan Upper Peninsula town of Copper City...
, and soft rock band Gallery
Gallery (band)
Gallery was an American soft rock band of the 1970s. It was formed in Detroit, Michigan by Jim Gold. While Gallery did record a number of songs, they are most famous for their 1972 hit single, "Nice to Be with You", written by Gold...
to Sussex Records, which was distributed from April 1970 until 1974 by Buddah Records
Buddah Records
Buddah Records was founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding...
, founded by record executive Neil Bogart
Neil Bogart
Neil Bogart was an American record executive. He is perhaps best known as the founder of Casablanca Records, with Peter Guber....
on March 23, 1967 and independently distributed until its demise.
Avant Garde Broadcasting
Under Avant Garde Broadcasting, founded on August 6, 1971, Avant bought the first African-American owned FM radio station in metropolitan Los Angeles on March 3, 1973, renaming it KAGB-FM. Using a $199,900 promissory note and stock purchase warrants from the Urban National Corporation of Boston, Massachusetts (a Venture Capital company founded in July 1971), Avant partnered with two investment bankers; Kenneth H. Miller, who stayed until 1975, and Tull N. Gearrald, Jr., who stayed until 1976. UNC was dedicated to the implementation of new approaches to urban problems. Urban National was the first purely private venture capital organization to provide capital for the early stage development of high-risk minority businesses. It also provided its clients with expert managerial counseling to assist in their businesses success. With the goal of advancing black and other disadvantaged Americans into the mainstream of the free-market system, Urban National invested in firms that could effectively utilize at least $100,000 of financing. Its capitalization ($10 million) came from such institutional investors as YaleYale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and Harvard Universities, the John Hancock
John Hancock Insurance
John Hancock Financial is a loose term for a United States insurance company which existed, in various forms, from its founding on April 21, 1862, until its acquisition in 2004 by the Canadian insurance company Manulife Financial. It was named in honor of John Hancock, a prominent patriot...
and Aetna
Aetna
Aetna, Inc. is an American health insurance company, providing a range of traditional and consumer directed health care insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, group life, long-term care, and disability plans, and medical management...
insurance companies, Prudential Insurance Co.
Prudential Financial
The Prudential Insurance Company of America , also known as Prudential Financial, Inc., is a Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the...
, J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co. was a commercial and investment banking institution based in the United States founded by J. Pierpont Morgan and commonly known as the House of Morgan or simply Morgan. Today, J.P...
, and the Mobil
Mobil
Mobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...
and Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies...
corporations. Avant Garde Broadcasting, run by Del Shields from the National Association of Radio and Television Announcers (NARTA), never turned a profit, and was ultimately forced into bankruptcy by Urban National on November 20, 1975 when it defaulted on promissory notes and warrants of around $400,000, and refused to accept all counsel or advice on how to run the station. Avant lost about $611,168.67 in the bankruptcy, $71,500 from Interior Music Corporation advances between August 1973 and September 1974, and $13,887 from Sussex Records loans. Comedian Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
was an additional investor in Avant Garde Broadcasting, investing approx. $200,000 through his company SAH Enterprises.
In September 1973, Paramount Pictures released "Save The Children", with Avant serving as executive producer. Filmed at the Operation PUSH Black Expo in Chicago, the production mixed performances of top black entertainers with footage depicting blacks, especially children, in various conditions, including war-ravaged and malnourished refugees. The film premiered at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
Tabu Productions, Inc.
Avant founded Tabu Productions, Inc., also known as Tabu RecordsTabu Records
Tabu Productions was an American record label founded by Clarence Avant in 1975. The label focused on R&B and funk.-Founding:Avant founded the label after Sussex Records went out of business in June 1975. Tabu's flagship release, “Stormin'” by Brainstorm, was released in 1977...
, on January 28, 1976, signing the musical ensemble The SOS Band
The SOS Band
The SOS Band is an American musical ensemble, founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977. Originally known as Santa Monica, the 'SOS' initialism in the band's name stands for Sounds of Success.-History:...
(1979–1991), soul singer Cherrelle
Cherrelle
Cheryl Anne Norton, better known by her stage name, Cherrelle , is an American R&B singer who gained fame in the 1980s...
(1983–1992), singer Alexander O'Neal
Alexander O'Neal
Alexander O'Neal is an American R&B singer. He is best-known for the songs "If You Were Here Tonight" and "Fake", and the duets with Cherrelle, "Saturday Love" and "Never Knew Love Like This".-Biography:...
(1984–1993), and Kool & the Gang
Kool & the Gang
Kool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...
(1991–1993), in addition to playing a key role in the successful rise of Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning R&B and pop music songwriters and producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Steven Lewis are an American R&B and pop-music songwriting and record production team...
. This duo became the in-house production team at Tabu Productions, Inc. Avant served as an unsalaried advisor and handled their business affairs from Los Angeles, while continuing his career as a deal maker, power broker, and mentor to others throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Tabu became associated with CBS Records in 1980, and later Epic Records, a division of CBS. Tabu became affiliated with A&M Records for pressing, marketing, and distribution from March to August 1991.
During these years, Avant served on the California State Board of Education, until his resignation in 1978. In connection with Avant's close political ties to Los Angeles City Hall because of major political contributions to Mayor Tom Bradley in 1973, including $20,000 from Sussex Records Inc. and $26,000 from Avant personally, Avant became affiliated with the Los Angeles Downtown Redevelopment Corporation. In October 1978, the company won approval for a $1.5 million urban redevelopment loan to purchase three buildings on or near downtown Los Angeles' Spring St., owned by Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. They purchased the Rowan Building, located at 458 S Spring St, the old Security Pacific Bank Building, located at 510 S Spring St, and the Rosslyn Hotel, located at 112 W 5th St, all with federal Department of Housing and Urban Development funds. In September 1979, after participating in U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young's trade mission to Africa, Avant was retained as Tanzania's marketing representative for meerschaum pipes and consultant on motion pictures and recordings.
In June 1980, with the help of developer Nathan Landow, Avant was given a partnership, without making a cash investment, in a $28 million office building project in downtown Washington, D.C., located above the Metro Center subway stop at 12th and G streets NW. The new partnership agreement required no cash investment and no specific services from the new minority partners. For their 10 percent interest, Avant signed a promissory note for the value of the interest, $500,000. In essence, Landow lent the $50,000 to Avant to invest in the partnership. Then the partners repaid the loan from the profits they received from the office building. There are two other economic benefits of such a partnership: first, the individual partners are able to deduct from their income taxes part of the value of the building as a depreciation expense. And second, after about 10 years, the partners may agree to refinance the building based on its increased value and general inflation in the real estate market. While this essentially adds a new and greater mortgage on the property, it allows them to draw a large amount of cash out of the property for use in other investments.
Other ventures
In 1982, Avant was introduced to Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis by Music Executive Dina R. Andrews who was then their Manager and a key employee of Dick GriffeyDick Griffey
Richard Gilbert "Dick" Griffey was an American record producer and promoter who founded SOLAR Records, an acronym for "Sound of Los Angeles Records", which played a major role in developing a funk-oriented blend of disco, R&B and soul music during the 1970s and 1980s...
's Solar Records (Whispers, Shalamar, Lakeside, The Deele LA & BabyFace). Through Andrews' introduction to Jam & Lewis, they produced their first masters for Avant on the SOS Band. Andrews set-up Jam & Lewis' company, Flyte Tyme Productions, as a d/b/a, and the producers went on to produce several other masters on SOS Band, Cherrelle, Alexander O'Neal, and Change.
During this time, Avant was represented by attorney Ronald Eugene Sweeney of the law firm Sweeney and Irby, a law corporation in Los Angeles formed October 27, 1982.
Avant became involved as a mentor to Jheryl Busby, president and chief executive officer of Motown Record Co. LP, as the company sought to implement a new business plan during the Spring of 1993. In August 1993, as part of Polygram Holdings Inc.'s acquisition of Motown, completed July 1, 1993 and totaling more than $300 million, Avant was named Chairman of the Board of Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
. Four years later, in December 1997, he became the first African-American to serve on the International Management Board for Polygram. In June 1994, Avant and a group of other notable African American investors created a $20 million investment partnership in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
called New Age Beverages. New Age soon teamed with PepsiCo
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
to build a bottling plant in South Africa. Pepsico owned 25% of a joint venture bottling company called New Age Beverages, with the other 75% in the hands of Egoli Beverages, L.P., a U.S.-based partnership that included Avant.
Pepsi invested $5 million and Egoli invested $15 million. This plant was PepsiCo's first venture in the country since 1985, when it left South Africa to protest the policies of apartheid. The plant was to be completely managed by South Africans, with financing being provided to truck drivers at the plant so that they could eventually purchase their own trucks. PepsiCo International ended the South African joint venture with New Age Beverages due to low sales and slow growth. In May 1998, PepsiCo agreed to pay stock to the investors who lost money in its bottling company. In March 1993, Avant became associated with the World African Network equity partnership, a 24-hour pay cable network founded by Eugene D. and Phyllis Tucker Vinson Jackson in 1987. Avant was supposed to be consulting with the network regarding music programing and entertainment, as well as serving as the network's liaison with the music community. The cable network was to have start up costs of around $15 million and was to provide sitcoms, dramas, news, documentaries, variety shows and a host of other programs that appeal to people of African descent. In June 1996, Avant became an investor in the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Hotel in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, the first black-owned hotel in Miami. The 422 room hotel opened in October 2001. After Andre Harrell became president and CEO of Motown Records in October 1995, the company relocated its headquarters to New York in February of the following year. Avant returned to overseeing the label's day-to-day operations however, after Harrell resigned with a reported $30 million package. George Jackson took over as president and chief executive officer in February 1998, and Avant left Motown in February 1999 after Montreal-based Seagram
Seagram
The Seagram Company Ltd. was a large corporation headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that was the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world. Toward the end of its independent existence it also controlled various entertainment and other business ventures...
Co. Ltd. purchased Polygram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
for $10.6 billion in December 1998.
After Motown, Avant became associated with Urban Box Office Network, Inc., serving as its chairman. It was a web based new media company consisting of series of websites aimed at minorities. UBO was conceived of at the Mayflower Hotel in New York on a napkin in February 1999, and incorporated on May 13, 1999. Founded by George Jackson, Hollywood producer and record company executive, Adam Kidron, longtime British music industry producer, and Frank Cooper, former vice president of business affairs at Def Jam Recordings; the trio raised $5.5 million in first round financing, with Avant helping to raise $16 million in second round private equity financing from Flatiron Partners, Chase Capital Partners, the New York City Investment Fund, and an investor group on January 20, 2000. The funders of Urban Box Office Networks included Quetzal, media investment banker Allen & Co., MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Flatiron Partners. Jimmy de Castro, president and CEO of AM/FM Radio and AM/FM Interactive, also was a private investor. Quetzal was a $170-million fund founded by Clear Channel and then-CBS Corp. (now Viacom) and run by Chase Capital Partners (CCP), the private equity unit of Chase Manhattan Corp. Also invested were Belo Corp., Bonneville International, Cox Enterprises, The Walt Disney Co., Cumulus Media, Emmis Broadcasting, Fox Broadcasting, Granite Broadcasting, NBC, Radio One, Susquehanna Radio, and Tribune Broadcasting. Funding continued with $18.1 million in April and $3 million in September. After over $37 million was invested in UBO, it was unable to obtain $35 million in financing from Texas venture capital company Interfase Capital of Austin, forcing the company to file Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York in November 2000, and fire 330 employees. Although its total assets were reportedly $9.9 million, UBO was liable for $7.1 million to six holders of secured debt and owed nearly $6.8 million to 650 holders of unsecured debt.
In November 1999, Avant joined the newly established music advisory board of Mjuice.com, the Web's largest secure digital music retailer. Founded in 1998, the San Francisco-based Mjuice.com provided music fans with a dynamic Web music experience through its digital retail music site, Mjuice.com, and its network of affiliate partners. Mjuice combined one of the Web's largest catalogs of fully licensed major and independent label music with a compelling, secure and easy-to-use MP3-based music download system. Mjuice.com was based in San Francisco's Audio Alley and had 25 employees.
Today Avant is president of his own publishing companies, Avant Garde Enterprises, Inc. (November 7, 1962), Avant Garde Music Publishing, Inc.(November 27, 1968 in New York / September 2001 in California)(ASCAP), Clarama Music, Inc. (November 29, 1968)(BMI), and Interior Music Corp. (June 1983)(BMI). In May 2004, Universal Music Publishing Group
Universal Music Publishing Group
Universal Music Publishing Group is a music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group.UMPG owns or administers more than 1 million copyrights. They are one of the largest music publishing businesses in the world with more than 47 offices in 41 countries...
announced that it would administer Clarence Avant's music publishings catalogs, including representation worldwide for synchronization licensing for Motion Picture, TV, Advertising and other mediums. Clarence Avant has also served as a member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Pepsi-Cola African-American Advisory Board. Avant was recently awarded with an honorary doctorate from Morehouse College
Morehouse College
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Wabash College, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States....
on February 13, 2003 at the Founder's Day Convocation. Avant was featured prominently on the cover of the February 11, 2006 issue of Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine. Around 2006, Avant became a key advisor to Network Foundation Technologies
Network Foundation Technologies (NiFTy)
Network Foundation Technologies, LLC is a U.S. based online broadcasting company foundedby Dr. Mike O’Neal, a computer scientist at Louisiana Tech University, and Marcus Morton, a music, film and multi-media entrepreneur...
, LLC (NFT), a leading developer of Internet streaming technologies.
On February 10, 2008, the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded him the Trustees Award.
Personal life
Avant married Jacqueline "Jackie" Alberta Gray in 1967. The couple has two children, Nicole AvantNicole Avant
Nicole A. Avant is the current U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas. In Addition to Ambassador, Nicole Avant is a music executive, political activist and philanthropist. She is the daughter of Clarence Avant, Following in her father's footsteps, Ambassador Avant has been active in The Democratic Party...
, born March 6, 1968, and Alexander Devore Avant, born August 3, 1971. Mrs. Avant served as president of the Neighbors of Watts, the support group for the South Central Community Child Care Center in 1975, entertainment chairman of the NOW benefit auction and dinner dance, and chairman of NOW membership in 1974. She is also on the board of directors of the International Student Center at UCLA.
External links
- Music Industry Veteran Clarence Avant on Working with Bill Withers
- http://www.oldnewark.com/memories/newark/rothschildnight.htm