Before long, he is joined by top executives for a meeting on new music products. While on the surface the discussion appears to be informal, it is for real. Music blares in the background while compact discs are spread across the top of Reid's mahogany desk that is partially covered with a leather hide. At times he laughs and jokes with his staff. Then he turns serious, in deep thought as he ponders the decisions before him.
He looks acts and is very much in control. After all, as president/CEO of Def Jam records, which generates a half billion dollars annually, L.A. Reid, at age 53, is the most powerful Black man in the music industry.
While he commands a formidable music empire that includes some of the best-known and best-selling artists in the business, he also stays true to his producer roots by being intricately involved in the process.
"I love being in the middle of it," Reid says. "Exactly. I live for it. Over my entire career I have always identified talent, whether I was an artist at the beginning of my career, as a writer and producer, as label head. For the most part it has been the same thing. I live--and I have always lived--to identify with and associate with artists that I've found incredible."
Among those incredible artists is Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne, whose debut album spawned three No. 1 hits and sold more than 12 million. Heartthrob Usher, whom Reid groomed at LaFace Records before folding that label into Arista, sold 7 million of his latest album, while singer P!nk's second CD sold more than 10 million. Also on a roll is rap duo Outkast, who’s Stankonia CD sold 5 million. Santana, Usher and Outkast all won 2003 Grammy Awards.
"It gets crazy around here at times," he says. "We are literally working on 55 albums right now, one at a time," he adds, looking up from the CDs on his desk.
He acknowledges that 55 projects in development at one time are "a little bit" above average. "I'm committed to being an overachiever," Reid says. "I want to do more, more and more. Better, better and better. I like the idea of working with so many creative people, whether it is my artists or producers or executives. I really enjoy having huge challenges and figuring out ways to accomplish it all without ever sacrificing the quality of what we do."
Behind stylish glasses, Reid's eyes twinkle with excitement as he talks about his artists and music. It is clear that music is his life.
Reid assumed the top post at Island Def Jam Music group in July 2004, shortly after resigning as head of Arista. His short term tenure at Arista was marred in controversy after replacing his mentor Clive Davis. The powers at BMG, the multibillion-dollar German entertainment company that owns Arista, had asked the venerable Clive Davis to step aside as CEO at age 67. He was not ready to retire, and a public relations debacle followed. The company ended up giving Davis another label under the BMG banner.
Though at one time the relationship between Reid and Davis was described as "very tense," it is now "really, really good," Reid says. "We both have the responsibility of leading the creative charge of our labels. We have an incredible relationship."
There were also naysayers who questioned whether Reid, despite his reputation as a hit maker, could compete and grow a major record label that encompassed music and artists beyond his R&B roots. The elite club of major music CEOs consisted mainly of White men.
Reid acknowledges that it disturbed him that he had to prove himself, despite his track record of co-founding LaFace with longtime friend and partner Kenneth (Babyface) Edmonds in 1989 and building the label into a $100 million music powerhouse. Despite his phenomenal successes with Toni Braxton, TLC and Usher, and the fact he produced a number of songs on Whitney Houston's 24 million-selling The Bodyguard soundtrack. Despite demonstrating exceptional ability to spot and develop new talent.
By diligently working in the background while pushing his music and artists to the top of the charts, he has won the respect of nonbelievers by doing what he does best: cranking out the hits.
"I have meetings all day long in my office with creative people and business people, but I make sure I spend the majority of my time with creative people--the artists, the producers, the writers and marketing people. But I can handle the tough stuff too."
And these are tough times for the music industry, with constant threats from Internet piracy, bootlegging and CD burning or copying. "The music business will survive," Reid says of the challenges. "We just have to be very smart and forward-thinking in how we handle it. But at the end of the day, we really have to concentrate on great music and great artists. Because if you make a great record on a great artist, people want to own it."
In addition to industry challenges, Reid has to deal with huge personalities such as his star artists, including Mariah Carey and Jay Z. "We just finished the most incredible video on Mariah Carey," he says excitedly. "It is the first time in many, many years that I felt like we out did ourselves.Just when I thought there wasn’t much left for Mariah to accomplish and or prove to her fans she does it again with her new material.
Music is what Reid has always wanted to do, but now he says he "struggles" to find more personal time to spend with his family: wife Erica, two daughters and two sons, from a toddler through age 24. "If I must do business on the weekend, in any way, I do it with my family involved," he says, "so that I can make sure that is exclusive time for them. Family is very important to me."
Erica is personable, pretty and prefers to stay out of the limelight. She says she met L.A. while working her way through Clark Atlanta University as a restaurant hostess. "Every restaurant I worked at, he came in for breakfast, lunch or dinner meetings," Erica says, sitting in the living room of the couple's spacious apartment on New York's Upper East Side. "He never knew my name. Being the hostess, I always knew his. It was always, 'Good afternoon, Mr. Reid. Good evening, Mr. Reid. Do you want to be seated now, Mr. Reid?'
She says once, while he was waiting for guests, they talked about her recent trip to Paris. (Their home is decorated with French antiques and art.) She graduated and moved to California, not knowing that "Mr. Reid" had returned to the restaurant looking for her. She was back in Atlanta when, by chance, she ran into him again. "Literally, as I was leaving my girlfriend's office, he walks in and we bump heads," she recalls. "I said, 'Hi, Mr. Reid.' Finally, right there, he gave me a kiss on the cheek; the rest is history."
Several years later, in 2000, they were married in an "intimate" ceremony in Capri, Italy, where they had become engaged a year earlier. They honeymooned in Saint-Tropez, Sardinia and Corsica.
After their daughter was born, Reid's life took another dramatic turn. "I said, 'Oh my God, I need to make sure I'm okay, because I want to raise her,'" he recalls. "That's the joy of my life." He started working out and lost 50 pounds. "I now work as hard taking care of myself as I do at my job and taking care of my family," he says. "I never prioritized that in my life until the last couple of years. I'm feeling better. I think I'm looking better."
In good weather, he runs at least 4 miles a day in Central Park a few blocks from his apartment. At other times he runs on the treadmill in the gym at home. He also has gyms in his homes in Florida and Atlanta.
Reid says his wife inspired him to shape up. "When she came into my life, I could have easily just gone off the deep end and become a fat old man," he says. "But for some reason, she really motivated me to take care of myself and to keep my youthful energy alive. She's in great shape and took such good care of herself that it inspired me."
When asked what attracted him to Erica, he says: "The sparkle in her eyes. And she had a great attitude. She's a great supporter. She's funny, so we laugh and like a lot of the same things. She likes art. I love the arts. We like movies. We like jokes. We like to act silly. She's a kid at heart and I really love that about her."
Family and music. Work and play. L.A. Reid has learned how to make it all blend harmoniously, and in the process, he has created a life and work that synchronize sweetly.
Of music he says: "I love it. I live for it.
