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LaFace Records | |
---|---|
Parent company | Sony Music Entertainment |
Founded | 1989 |
Founder | Antonio "L.A." Reid Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds |
Defunct | 2011 |
Status | Inactive (absorbed into RCA Records) |
Distributor(s) | |
Genre | R&B, pop, hip hop, soul |
Country of origin | United States |
Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
LaFace Records was an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia, that operated as a unit of Sony Music Entertainment from 2008 to 2011 and was historically a part of Bertelsmann Music Group from 1989 to 2004. It was most active and achieved its greatest commercial success during the 1990s, dealing largely in the field of urban music. It was originally distributed by its co-creator Arista Records from 1989 through 2001, after which it was shuttered and absorbed into Arista. In 2004, the label was rebooted, and it began operating through Jive Records until both were absorbed into RCA Records in 2011. Today, the label's back catalog and reissues are managed by Legacy Recordings.
LaFace was formed in 1989 as a joint venture between the producing duo Antonio "L.A." Reid & Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, and Arista Records. The combined nicknames of the duo's successful production company inspired the name of the label. LaFace went on to become a successful label throughout the 1990s, responsible for launching the recording careers of such popular acts as: TLC, Toni Braxton, Outkast, Pink, Usher, Goodie Mob and Donell Jones. Towards the end of the decade, LaFace produced fewer artists, while Babyface began to focus more on his own music career. The label was acquired completely by Arista and BMG in 1999. In 2001, L.A. Reid was appointed Chairman/CEO of Arista. As a result of Reid's promotion, LaFace was dissolved as most of its prominent acts moved up to the main Arista label to continue to work under Reid.
In 1992, LaFace signed Georgia duo Outkast. [1] After receiving a $15,000 advance from LaFace in 1993, Outkast started recording the album, which was executive produced by L.A. Reid and Babyface. [2] Outkast's first album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik , was released April 26, 1994 and entered the top 20 on the Billboard top 200 . The album went on to achieve Platinum status in America.
In 2004, after the corporate restructuring of the BMG labels, LaFace was reactivated as one-quarter of the newly reconstructed Zomba Music Group during the Sony BMG joint venture at the time. Most of its former roster, who had moved on to Arista, returned to the company upon its reactivation. In 2011, LaFace (along with its previous Jive/Zomba distributor) was again shuttered, this time being absorbed into RCA Records.
The following is a list of artists who have recorded for LaFace Records.
Clive Jay Davis is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000.
Arista Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of BMG Entertainment, the North American division of German conglomerate Bertelsmann. Founded in November 1974 by Clive Davis and deactivated in 2011, Arista was re-established in 2018. Along with RCA Records, Columbia Records, and Epic Records, it is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels.
Jive Records was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, and dance acts in the 1980s and 1990s, along with teen pop and boy bands during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Kenneth Brian Edmonds, better known by his stage name Babyface, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has written and produced over 26 number-one R&B hits throughout his career and has won 13 Grammy Awards. He was ranked number 20 on NME's 50 of The Greatest Producers Ever list.
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is the debut studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast, released on April 26, 1994, by Arista Records and LaFace Records. Having befriended each other two years prior, rappers André 3000 and Big Boi pursued recording music as a duo and worked with production team Organized Noize, leading to a record contract with LaFace. With the team producing, Outkast recorded the album at the Dungeon, D.A.R.P. Studios, Purple Dragon, Bosstown, and Doppler Studios, all in Atlanta.
Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer. He has served as the chairman and CEO of Epic Records and The Island Def Jam Music Group, as well as the president and CEO of Arista Records. He co-founded the record label Hitco Entertainment in 2017, which was sold to Concord in 2022.
The Zomba Group of Companies was a music group and division owned by and operated under Sony Music Entertainment. The division was renamed to Jive Label Group in 2009 and was placed under the RCA/Jive Label Group umbrella. In 2011, the RCA/Jive Label Group was split in half. Multiple Jive Label Group artists were moved to Epic Records while others stayed with Jive as it moved under the RCA Music Group. In October 2011 Jive Records was shut down and their artists were moved to RCA Records.
Although the music scene of Atlanta is rich and varied, the city's production of hip-hop music has been especially noteworthy, acclaimed, and commercially successful. In 2009, The New York Times called Atlanta "hip-hop's center of gravity", and the city is home to many famous hip hop, R&B, and neo soul musicians.
BMG Heritage Records was the record label of the BMG Strategic Marketing Group reissue division of Sony BMG Music Entertainment which handled the reissue of recordings first issued on the RCA Victor, Arista, Buddah, Windham Hill and Jive Records, as well as other labels BMG or predecessor companies acquired over the years. It was founded on November 2001 and formally established on January 1, 2002 as the successor company to the Buddha Records reissue label. In 2005, Sony BMG folded BMG Heritage into Legacy Recordings.
Clive Ian Calder is a South African-British billionaire record executive and businessman primarily known for co-founding the Zomba Group with Ralph Simon, and its subsidiary Jive Records. As of October 2021, Calder has an estimated net worth of US$5.5 billion.
RCA/Jive Label Group was a short-lived American record label group, owned by Sony Music Entertainment and representing the merger of the RCA Music Group and JIVE Label Group. The umbrella group was formed in 2007 under the name BMG Label Group, was rebranded as RCA/Jive Label Group in 2009. In July 2011 it was finally dissolved into two separate labels: the RCA Music Group and Epic Records which took Jive subsidiaries until October 2011 when it retired Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. The artists on those three labels were moved to RCA Records.
"Good Life" is a 1990 single by The Braxtons, featuring Toni Braxton and her four sisters: Towanda, Trina, Traci, and Tamar. "Good Life", written by the German songwriting/production team Klarmann/Weber, was Toni Braxton's first professional recording.
Edward Ferrell is an American record producer, DJ, songwriter, and record executive. With business partner Heavy D, he formed the new jack swing group Heavy D and the Boyz in 1985, for which he served as the de facto producer and DJ. The group signed with the New York City-based record label Uptown Records to release seven studio albums to commercial success. He served as Vice President of A&R for LaFace Records from to 1993 to 1995, as well as for Motown from 1995 to 1997, and Executive Consultant for Def Jam Recordings from 2005 to 2007. In 1989, he founded the record label Untouchables Entertainment, through which he discovered and signed R&B singer Donell Jones.
Kawan Kawmi "KP" Prather is an American record executive. He began his career as a DJ for the Atlanta-based hip hop group Parental Advisory (P.A.) in 1991, which were part of the larger collective Dungeon Family. The group was discovered by Pebbles and L.A. Reid and were the first act from the collective to sign earn a major label deal with LaFace Records, through which he launched his own subsidiary imprint Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment by the late 1990s. During this time, he worked in executive or A&R positions on albums for LaFace labelmates including TLC, OutKast, Goodie Mob, Usher, Pink, and Toni Braxton.
Shanti Das is an American music industry executive, marketing consultant, entrepreneur, philanthropist and author. She was most recently Executive Vice President of Urban Marketing and Artist Development at Universal Motown Records, where she managed the marketing campaigns for artists such as Akon, Erykah Badu, and Ashanti.
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The following is a list of recordings which have been worked on by musician, songwriter, and record producer L.A. Reid.
The Dungeon Family were a musical collective based in Atlanta that specialized in Southern hip hop with heavy funk and soul influences. Members of this collective recorded music, and had their career emerge, from Rico Wade's basement recording studio in East Point, Georgia, which was known as the "Dungeon."