L.A. Reid

A Day in the Life of a Music Mogul

There are countless backstage wizards in music-industry Oz, but very few with the track record — and the roster — of 55-year-old Antonio ''L.A.'' Reid. As a producer, songwriter, and executive (first at LaFace, then Arista, and now as chairman and CEO at Island Def Jam), he has nurtured two decades of top-level talent, including Kanye West, Rihanna, Pink, OutKast, Justin Bieber, TLC, Whitney Houston, Usher, Avril Lavigne, the Killers, and Toni Braxton. He's also earned a reputation for engineering the comebacks of established stars: Under his tutelage, a Glitter-tarnished Mariah Carey achieved one of the most spectacular turnarounds in pop history. Follow along as we spends the day with Reid: a 16-hour marathon that takes him from the executive boardroom to TV soundstages, tour-bus powwows, and beyond.

6:30 am Wake up. ''I live on the Upper East Side — squaresville, where nothing's hip.''

7:45 am Take 7-year-old son, Addison, to school.

8:30 am Arrive at Good Morning America set in Times Square, where Rihanna performs two songs from her new album, LOUD. Backstage, she and Reid huddle in private discussion. ''Rihanna has had my full and undivided attention forever, and as far as I'm concerned she will always have it,'' he says. ''I spend a lot of time with Kanye West and I love him, but he is more self-contained. He's such an iconic genius that I'm almost intimidated to have an opinion about [his work], so I let him do his thing and I support him.''

10:00 am Breakfast meeting with staff to discuss upcoming American Music Award performances by Bon Jovi, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, and Ne-Yo. ''There's no difference between what I did when I was in a band ['80s R&B outfit the Deele, with future LaFace cofounder Babyface] and what I do running a record company; it's the same job. It is always about identifying talent, identifying material, and marketing it, managing the personalities.''

11:30 am Meet with staff regarding Jay-Z's The Hits Collection, Volume One, out the following week. ''I basically challenged my team, because I felt the book [Decoded, Jay's new memoir] was being marketed better than the record. It's unacceptable. So we had that conversation. [Pause] That's as much as I should say about that.''

12:30 pm Interview with EW. Reid discusses his philosophy: ''We don't sign an artist to fill a void, ever. I'll never find a Taylor Swift. You can't find a new Madonna, you cannot find a Prince, a Bob Marley, a John Lennon. You won't find another Kanye West. We simply deal with people as they walk in, and we say we either love them or we don't.''

1:30 pm Strategy confab with executives regarding Rihanna's single ''Only Girl (In the World)'' and the plan to temporarily lower its cost on iTunes to help drive it to No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart — a spot that her ''What's My Name?'' currently holds. Reid's stance is firm: ''These customers don't buy songs because they're less money, they buy because they want the song, because they f---ing love it, and that's the only thing that's gonna sell it.''

2:00 pm Photo shoot with EW.

2:30 pm Working lunch and phone call with Morgan Spurlock, the director of Super Size Me, regarding an interview for upcoming documentary on the importance of branding in the music industry.

3:30 pm Meeting regarding Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. ''He and I were going back and forth most of the afternoon on what the next single should be.... I know what I want, and he knows what he wants, and [later tonight] we'll talk privately about it.''

5:00 pm Discuss and approve new TV spots and billboards for the upcoming Justin Bieber docu-film Never Say Never, which Reid is producing. ''Justin's mother, Pattie, has so much footage of him, it's incredible. She must have filmed him every day growing up. She just gets it, man.''

6:30 pm Backstage at New Jersey's Izod Center visiting Burnham, a pop-rock trio featuring three Vermont-bred teen brothers. The band is opening for Justin Bieber. ''I love those kids. All they need is one hit.''

8:30 pm Meet up with Bieber backstage, and join preshow prayer circle. ''I swear, all he wants to do is go out and run around with those girls out there. But he won't. He's in there with his vocal coach, and he'll be in there until showtime.''

9:45 pm Back to Manhattan for Ne-Yo's album-release party and performance. ''He's my boy.''

11:00 pm Dinner at the Breslin with label staff, discussing why music videos still matter: ''Listen, we're still selling stardom. That doesn't go away because MTV decides they can't play videos or they want to program themselves more as a traditional TV station. Vevo and YouTube are like MTV online, and on demand.''

12:30 am Back at the office to listen to new music and approve mixes.

2:00 am Leave the office.

3:00 am Lights out.

Antonio "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is a US record executive, songwriter, and record producer. Best known as the co-founder of LaFace Records, he is responsible for signing and helping bring Avril Lavigne, Death Grips, Mariah Carey, Pink, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Kanye West, Toni Braxton, Kerli, Nicki Minaj, TLC, Usher, Ciara, OutKast, and Dido to multi-platinum album sales.

He has won three Grammy Awards. He is the President and chief executive of Hitco Music Publishing, based in Atlanta and was the chairman and chief executive officer of Island Def Jam Music Group until 2011, when he signed up to appear as a judge on the 2011 U.S. version of The X Factor. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of Epic Records.

 Reid's first appearance on record was with Cincinnati funk rock outfit Pure Essence who released one solitary 45 in the middle 1970s as well as garnering an appearance on local FM rock radio station WEBN's second annual LP compilation, this time as Essence. Reid then became a member of the 1980s R&B band The Deele, best known for their 1988 hit "Two Occasions", a song on the remake by LA Production and Recording Studio Music Intersection. The band had broken up before the success of the single, then reunited to promote "Two Occasions" as it rose up the charts. The song peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1989–2004: LaFace Records and Arista years

After The Deele disbanded, Reid and band mate Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds founded LaFace in 1989 through a joint venture with Arista Records, with funding from Arista Records creator Clive Davis. The label soon became one of the premiere destinations for popular African-American entertainers who created Black Pop music that was easily accessible to both Urban and Top 40 radio formats. Reid signed 14 year old Usher to the label, whose six album releases have sold 65 million units worldwide. Other popular acts on the label during its peak include Toni Braxton, TLC, and Outkast. Initially headquartered in Atlanta, the label played a role in building the current landscape of the Atlanta music industry.

In May 2000, Edmonds and Reid sold their remaining 50% stake in LaFace to parent company BMG. The label became an imprint of Arista Records, with Arista taking on sales, marketing, and promotional duties for its acts. At this time, Reid also succeeded his mentor, Clive Davis, as President of Arista Records. This happened after Davis refused to name a successor at the request of Arista parent company, BMG, due to the fact that Davis, who was 67, was beyond the company's mandatory retirement age. Davis went on to find success creating another BMG imprint named J Records, which signed global superstars such as Alicia Keys, Luther Vandross and Rod Stewart. Reid then took a six week executive course at the Harvard Business School in order to prepare himself to become CEO and President of Arista.

As President of Arista Records, Reid brought the company great success by signing artists such as P!nk, Ciara and Avril Lavigne, whose debut album Let Go sold 6 million copies in the United States. Under Reid's tenure at Arista, Usher (whom Reid originally signed at LaFace) completed production on his multi-platinum hit 2004 album Confessions, which went on to spawn 4 #1 hit singles and sell 10 million copies in the United States alone. Outkast's Speakerboxx/Lovebelow also went on to sell 10 million copies and won a Grammy Award for Album of the year.

2004–2011: Island Def Jam Music Group

Following the merger of Sony and BMG, L.A. Reid was released from his contract at Arista in 2004 and quickly became the Chairman and CEO of The Island Def Jam Music Group in February 2004. Reid is noted for bringing Mariah Carey's career back to prominence with her multi-platinum 2005 album The Emancipation Of Mimi after her career had stalled from 2001-2003 with less than stellar sales and general lack of public interest for her two previous projects Glitter and Charmbracelet.

Reid has also played a role in the recent successes of artists such as Amerie, Kanye West, Rihanna (alongside Jay-Z), Bon Jovi, and most recently teenage pop phenomenon Justin Bieber. In the last few years, L.A. Reid has also been responsible for the recent high profile signings of major Pop music artists such as Janet Jackson (who left the company after her 2008 album, Discipline), Utada (who also left the company in 2010), as well as former Bad Boy rapper Shyne to the record company. However, in 2006, Reid's label dropped Lady Gaga after three months of signing her. This would eventually be the inspiration of Gaga's Marry The Night video. Reid stepped down as CEO and Chairman of Def Jam in March 2011.

2011–present: The X Factor and Epic Records

Reid became a judge on the U.S. version of the British singing competition The X Factor, alongside its creator and former American Idol judge Simon Cowell, 80s pop star Paula Abdul and former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger (who replaced British pop star Cheryl Cole). In July 2011, Reid became the Chairman and CEO of Epic Records which also includes various former Jive Records artists.

Reid was assigned the Boys category throughout the competition, which was announced to him by phone whilst working in New York City, New York. He was aided by friend and singer Rihanna at the Judges' Houses stage of the competition in The Hamptons. His final four acts were Marcus Canty, Chris Rene, Astro and Phillip Lomax. Lomax was eliminated on week one of the Live Shows, with Astro being eliminated on week six. Marcus Canty came fourth in the competition and was eliminated by the public vote in the semi-final (week eight). Chris Rene was Reid's most successful act who came third overall in the competition, bested by Josh Krajcik (who was mentored by Nicole Scherzinger) in second place and Melanie Amaro (mentored by Simon Cowell) who won the show. After the season has ended, Reid is now working with Astro, Marcus Canty and Chris Rene on their music careers.

 In January 2012, it was confirmed by Cowell and Fox that major changes would be made to The X Factor for season 2. It was later confirmed that Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul had been axed from the panel, with Steve Jones being axed as host. Reid is returning for a second season alongside Simon Cowell who is returning to the panel, as well as new judges Britney Spears and Demi Lovato. British X Factor judge Louis Walsh will also join Reid, Spears and Lovato at the season two auditions in Kansas City covering for Simon Cowell.

External links

• L.A. Reid: A Day in the Life of a Music Mogul
• Antonio "L.A." Reid - Making of an Industry Mogul
• L.A. Reid at bmi.com
• L.A. Reid discography at AllMusic.com