NEW YORK -- Clarence Avant, the judicious manager, entrepreneur, facilitator and adviser who helped launch or guide the careers of Quincy Jones, Bill Withers and many others and came to be known as the "Black Godfather" of music and beyond, has died. He was 92.
Avant, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles, according to a family statement released Monday.
Born in a segregated hospital in North Carolina, he broke in as a manager in the 1950s, with such clients as singers Sarah Vaughan and Little Willie John and composer Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the theme to "Mission: Impossible." In the 1970s, he was an early patron of Black-owned radio stations and, in the 1990s, headed Motown after founder Berry Gordy Jr. sold the company.
He also started such labels as Sussex and Tabu, with artists including Withers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the S.O.S Band and the late singer-songwriter, Sixto Rodriquez, who decades later became famous through the Oscar-winning documentary "Searching for Sugarman."
Other work took place more quietly. Avant brokered the sale of Stax Records to Gulf and Western in 1968, after being recruited by Stax executive Al Bell as a bridge between the entertainment and business industries. He raised money for Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, helped Michael Jackson organize his first solo tour and advised Narada Michael Walden, L.A. Reid and Babyface and other younger admirers.
"Everyone in this business has been by Clarence's desk, if they're smart," Quincy Jones liked to say of him.
"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," said the statement, which was released by Avant's son Alex, daughter Nicole and her husband, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
Avant's influence extended to sports. He helped running back Jim Brown transition from football to acting and produced a primetime television special for Muhammad Ali.
Avant met Jacqueline Gray, a model at the time, at an Ebony Fashion Fair in mid-1960s and married her in 1967. They had two children: Music producer-manager Alexander Devore and Nicole Avant, the former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas and, along with Sarandos, a major fundraiser for Obama.
In 2021, Jacqueline Avant was murdered in their Beverly Hills home.
Born in 1931, Clarence Avant spent his early years in Greensboro, N.C., one of eight children raised by a single mother, and he dropped out of high school to move north.
A friend from North Carolina helped him find work managing a lounge in Newark, N.J., and he soon got to know Glaser, whose clients ranged from Louis Armstrong to Barbra Streisand, not to mention Al Capone. Through Glaser, Avant found himself in places where Black people rarely had been permitted.
As he rose in the entertainment industry, Avant became more active politically. He was an early supporter of Tom Bradley, the first Black mayor of Los Angeles, and served as executive producer of "Save the Children," a 1973 documentary about a concert fundraiser for the Rev. Jesse Jackson's "Operation PUSH."
FILE - Jacqueline Avant, left, and Clarence Avant appear at the 11th Annual AAFCA Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 22, 2020. Clarence Avant, the manager, entrepreneur, facilitator and adviser who helped launch or guide the careers of Quincy Jones, Bill Withers and many others and came to be known as "The Godfather of Black Music," has died. He was 92. His death was announced Monday by his family. Jacqueline Avant was murdered in their Beverly Hills home in 2021. (Photo by Mark Von Holden Invision/AP, File)