Antonio"L.A."
Reid
With a diverse background as a musician, producer, artist developer,
and label executive, and with an astounding track record of charted
hits, Antonio "L.A." Reid is one of the music industry's
most valued players.
As President and CEO of Arista Records, Reid maintains the Arista
legacy in which he has played such a key role during the past
11 years. He continues to inspire and nurture today's top artists,
just as he did at LaFace Records, the groundbreaking Atlanta-based
recording company (owned by BMG Entertainment and distributed
by Arista) that he founded with partner Kenneth "Babyface"
Edmonds in 1989. Reid's work at LaFace profoundly impacted - even
redirected - both the sound of popular music and the way corporate
music companies do business.
The story of LaFace Records provides a model for contemporary
music business success. Already hitmakers as members of seminal
'80s band the Deele, Reid and Edmonds (aka "L.A." and
Babyface) went on to establish themselves further as collaborative
songwriters and producers for a range of chart-topping acts, including
veteran soul crew the Whispers, new jack king Bobby Brown, R&B/pop
chanteuse Karyn White, spunky dance/R&B singer Pebbles, romantic
R&B trio After 7, dance/pop princess Paula Abdul, and reigning
R&B/pop diva Whitney Houston. As a result of their special
relationship with then-MCA chief Irving Azoff, "L.A."
and Babyface produced hits for a number of that label's artists.
Their growing discography of hits earned them three Grammy awards,
numerous Producer Of The Year and Songwriter of the Year Awards,
and 33 number one singles. It was logical that L.A. and Babyface
would decide to establish their own record company.. In 1989,
they entered into a 50/50 joint ventureirt with Clive Davis and
Arista Records 1989, the first of its kind for an R&B/pop
production .
LaFace's business model was soon emulated by other artists and
producers, including , Sean "puffy" Combs, whose co-venture
deal with Arista for Bad Boy Records and Dallas Austin, who established
Rowdy Records.
Mr. Reid is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at
the Harvard Business School.
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