Clarence Avant, ‘Godfather of Black Music’ and benefactor of athletes and politicians, dies at 92

NEW YORK — The wise manager, businessman, facilitator, and consultant Clarence Avant, who launched or shaped the careers of Quincy Jones, Bill Withers, and many others and became known as “The Godfather of Black Music,” has passed away. He was 92.

A family announcement on Monday morning stated that Avant, who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, passed away on Sunday at his Los Angeles home.

As a name in the credits or a name behind the names, Avant’s accomplishments were visible and unnoticed. He was raised by a mentor who was a music manager named Joe Glaser and was born in a segregated hospital in North Carolina. Joe Glaser gave him two pieces of advice: never reveal how much you know and ask for as much money as possible “without stuttering.”

He made his management debut in the 1950s, working with artists including Little Willie John, Sarah Vaughan, and composer Lalo Schifrin, who created the theme song for “Mission: Impossible.” He was an early supporter of Black-owned radio stations in the 1970s, and after Berry Gordy Jr. sold the business in the 1990s, he became the head of Motown.

Additionally, he founded the labels Sussex (a cross between two Avant-garde passions: success and sex), Tabu, and the S.O.S Band, as well as working with obscure singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriquez, who would later go on to become well-known thanks to the Oscar-winning documentary “Searching for Sugarman.”

Other work was done more quietly. In 1968, Avant, who Stax CEO Al Bell had chosen to serve as a link between the entertainment and business worlds, facilitated the sale of Stax Records to Gulf and Western. He helped Michael Jackson plan his first solo tour, raised money for Bill Clinton and Obama, and advised Babyface, L.A. Reid, Narada Michael Walden, and other younger followers.

If they’re clever, everyone in this profession has visited Clarence’s desk, as Quincy Jones loved to say.

The wise manager, businessman, facilitator, and consultant Clarence Avant has died. He was 92.

“Clarence leaves behind a devoted family and a large network of friends and colleagues who have transformed the world and will do so for a long time. The joy of his legacy lessens the pain of our loss, according to the statement made by Avant’s son Alex, daughter Nicole, and her husband, Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix.

Avant also impacted sports. He produced a primetime television special for Muhammad Ali and assisted running back Jim Brown in moving from football to acting. When Babe Ruth’s record for most home runs in a season was about to be broken by baseball legend Henry Aaron in 1974, Avant ensured that Aaron secured the kind of rich commercial deals frequently out of reach for Black athletes. He started by making a direct request to the Coca-Cola president.

Aaron would later claim to have become everything he was “because of Clarence Avant” in an interview with The Undefeated.

At an Ebony Fashion Fair in the middle of the 1960s, Avant met model Jacqueline Grey, with whom he later married. They had two kids: Nicole Avant, a former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas and, along with Sarandos, a significant Obama fundraiser, and music producer-manager Alexander Devore. In addition to being inducted into the Rock Hall, he was given two honorary Grammy Awards, an NAACP Image Award, and a BET Entrepreneur Award.

Jacqueline Avant was assassinated in their Beverly Hills home in 2021, and among those who mourned her passing were Magic Johnson and Bill Clinton. Nicole Avant would say that her mother, a well-known philanthropist, was responsible for instilling in Clarence Avant and the rest of the family “the love and passion and importance of the arts, culture, and entertainment.”

The wise manager, businessman, facilitator, and consultant Clarence Avant has died. He was 92.

Clarence Avant was born in 1931 and spent his formative years in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was one of eight children raised by a single mother there, and he left high school early to come up north. He managed a lounge in Newark, New Jersey, with the assistance of a buddy from North Carolina, and soon met Glaser, whose patrons included Al Capone, Barbra Streisand, Louis Armstrong, and more. Avant was given access to locations where Black people had previously been rarely allowed, thanks to Glaser.

“Mr. Glaser would have me go with him to these dog shows,” Avant remarked to Variety in 2016. You must also consider that I was the only Black person present at the goddamn dog show. When he took me to a game at Yankee Stadium, he had 16 tickets behind the home dugout. Whenever I tried to go to the back row, he would grab me and shout, “Goddamn it, sit your ass up here with me.”

Avant and Jones were particularly close due to a lost record contract. Jones, one of the few Black executives in the business, was a vice president of Mercury Records in the early 1960s. Jimmy Smith, a jazz artist represented by Avant, had recently been signed by Mercury for $100,000. Avant set a far greater goal for Smith, closer to 500,000.

Do you consume Kool-Aid? Jones would recall telling Avant, who was negotiating with Verve Records at the time.

The wise manager, businessman, facilitator, and consultant Clarence Avant has died. He was 92.

According to Jones, who worked with Avant on the TV show “Heart and Soul” and the motion picture “Stalingrad,” “he went and got the deal,” Billboard reported in 2006. I admired him for doing that.

As he progressed in the entertainment business, Avant became increasingly politically involved. He was the executive producer of “Save the Children,” a 1973 documentary about a musical fundraiser for the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s “Operation PUSH.” He was an early supporter of Tom Bradley, the first Black mayor of Los Angeles. When the civil rights activist Andrew Young was running for Congress in Georgia three years prior, he called him.

“He asked, “You’re running for Congress in Georgia?” Later, Young spoke to CNN. If you’re insane enough to run, then I’m crazy enough to help you, he declared.

Young had never met Avant, who volunteered to organize a charity event with Isaac Hayes and other performers at the Atlanta baseball stadium.

When advertisements for the performance started popping up all over town a month later, Young had forgotten about their talk.

Young estimated that 30,000 people attended despite the torrential downpour. And he never gave us a bill, either.

SOURCE – (AP)