Clarence Avant died this weekend in Los Angeles at the age of 92, his family announced Monday. A magnate of the American music industry, he was nicknamed “the black godfather”. Clarence Avant “passed away peacefully at home” on Sunday, his children Nicole and Alex Avant said in a statement.
His wife Jacqueline Avant was shot and killed in December 2021, at the age of 81, in a nighttime burglary at their home in Beverly Hills. Their daughter Nicole Avant is a former American diplomat, married to the general manager of Netflix Ted Sarandos, signatory of the press release announcing the death of her father-in-law.
“Under his industry-breaking leadership, Clarence was affectionately known as ‘the black godfather’ of music, entertainment, politics and sports,” his family said.
The late businessman “leaves behind a loving family and an ocean of friends and colleagues who have changed the world and will continue to do so for generations to come,” says the Avant clan.
Clarence Avant, born on February 25, 1931 in a small town in North Carolina, was the eldest of eight siblings.
As a teenager, he set sail for New Jersey, the neighboring state of New York, and became the manager of a musical club in Newark, before becoming the disciple of Louis Armstrong’s agent, Joe Glaser.
Very quickly, he rose to the top of the African-American music industry, allowing many artists to escape racism and discrimination.
His talents have been celebrated by superstars like Jay-Z, P. Diddy, Quincy Jones, Snoop Dogg, Jamie Foxx, Pharrell Williams, Whitney Houston and even former US President Barack Obama.
In a statement Monday, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the former President of the United States and the 2016 presidential candidate, pay tribute to a “positive” personality and an “example to follow”.
Clarence Avant had set up the record company Venture Records, a pioneering cooperation between a black music label and the giant MGM.
He also launched Sussex Records and myriad other labels, film productions and sports deals with black athletes such as baseball legend Hank Aaron, who died in 2021.
The famous producer Quincy Jones, 90, had bowed, in an interview in 2006, to “the eternal godfather of our industry”. It is a documentary by Netflix, the giant platform co-directed by his son-in-law Ted Sarandos, who baptized him, in a 2019 documentary, “The Black Godfather”.
