Clarence Avant and his spouse, Jacqueline, attending a Grammy Awards occasion in 2020. Avant died Sunday at age 92. Jacqueline Avant was killed in 2021. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Pictures cover caption
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Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Pictures
Clarence Avant and his spouse, Jacqueline, attending a Grammy Awards occasion in 2020. Avant died Sunday at age 92. Jacqueline Avant was killed in 2021.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Pictures
One of many nice connectors within the music and leisure industries has died. The chief and businessman Clarence Avant boosted the careers of generations of musicians, entertainers, sports activities stars and politicians.
A household assertion despatched to NPR mentioned that he had died “gently at house in Los Angeles” on Sunday at age 92. A explanation for dying was not shared.
Avant was an enormous energy dealer in a number of fields, serving to to nurture the careers of main Black artists and shaping the sector for Black-owned firms. Amongst his many accomplishments: He signed singer-songwriter Invoice Withers. He was the promoter for Michael Jackson’s first solo tour. He was the chairman of Motown Information. He nurtured producers, together with Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Diddy — and likewise labored with sports activities heroes together with Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali.
He additionally turned a significant behind-the-scenes drive in politics. He suggested President George H.W. Bush — however was additionally a fundraiser for Presidents Jimmy Carter, Invoice Clinton and Barack Obama.
Avant was born Feb. 25, 1931, in Greensboro, N.C. As a younger man, he began out by managing a spread of musicians, together with blues singer Little Willie John, movie music composer Lalo Schifrin, jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan and jazz organist Jimmy Smith.
Netflix — the place Avant’s son-in-law, Ted Sarandos, is co-CEO — created a documentary about Avant in 2019. The movie’s title carried Avant’s longtime nickname: The Black Godfather. Within the documentary, former President Obama noticed: “Clarence was the bridge from the time the place there was no alternative [for Black talent] to a time the place the place doorways started to open.”
Avant was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 2021.
Avant got here again into the information after a tragedy in December 2021: His spouse, Jacqueline, whom he married in 1967, was shot to dying throughout a violent housebreaking at their house in Beverly Hills. In April 2022, the assassin was sentenced to 190 years in jail.
Avant’s survivors embrace his daughter Nicole, a former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas and movie producer; Nicole’s husband, Ted Sarandos; and son Alex Avant, who’s a expertise consultant.
