*One of the greatest to ever do it, Clarence Avant, has passed away at the age of 92. As of this posting, no cause of death was specified.
Avant, the music executive known to many as the “Black Godfather,” passed away on Sunday, 19 months after his beloved wife was murdered in their LA/Beverly Hills area home.
“It is with a heavy heart that the Avant/Sarandos family announce the passing of Clarence Alexander Avant,” the statement from his children, Nicole and Alexander and son-in-law, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
“Through his revolutionary business leadership, Clarence became affectionately known as ‘the Black Godfather’ in the worlds of music, entertainment, politics, and sports. Clarence leaves behind a loving family and a sea of friends and associates that have changed the world and will continue to change the world for generations to come. The joy of his legacy eases the sorrow of our loss. Clarence passed away gently at home in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 13, 2023.”
Here’s more via Wikipedia: Clarence Alexander Avant was born in Climax, North Carolina on February 25, 1931; he was the oldest of eight children. He attended a one-room school in Greensboro, North Carolina until the eighth grade.[6] He spent his freshman and second years of high school at Dudley High School in Greensboro before moving to New Jersey in 1947 as a teenager. 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.
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, mentored Avant. Glaser founded Consolidated Booking Corporation and Associated Booking Corporation on November 26, 1943.
Avant later managed R&B singer Little Willie John, jazz singers Sarah Vaughan, Kim Weston, Luiz Bonfa, Wynton Kelly, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Pat Thomas, rock and roll pioneer Tom Wilson, whom Avant partnered with in the Wilson Organization, jazz producer Creed Taylor, jazz musician Jimmy Smith and Argentine pianist-composer, Lalo Schifrin.[11][12] Avant incorporated Avant Garde Enterprises, Inc. on November 7, 1962, in New York, the same month that Smith became a client of Associated Booking, and originally had offices at 850 Seventh Avenue. Schifrin and Smith collaborated to make The Cat, released by Verve Records in 1964. Avant opened a West Coast office in September 1964 to accommodate the growing motion picture soundtrack assignments offered to his clients. During his years in New York, Avant served as an adviser, board member, and executive of the National Association of Radio Announcers (NARA), later the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers (NATRA), and also as a consultant to PlayTape, a two-track tape cartridge system developed by Frank Stanton, and first marketed by MGM Records On September 27, 1966, Avant incorporated Sussex Productions, Inc. in New York, an independent record production firm with artists Four Hi’s, Johnny Nash, Terry Bryant, Billy Woods, and the Judge and the Jury.
Read/learn MORE about the life and legacy of Clarence Avant at Wikipedia.
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