Photo credit: Earl Gibson
Music executive legend Clarence “The Black Godfather” Avant received a special recognition, Represent Opportunity during the Urban One Honors held at MGM National Harbor. Clarence Avant launched or helped launched and/or elevated the careers of singer Bill Withers, organist Jimmy Smith, the song-writing duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Janet Jackson and many others overall several decades.
PositivitelyGospel.com caught up with Avant, a man born the segregated South, who never went beyond the ninth grade, yet has carved out a large footprint in the annals of time. A man of few words, the distinguished gentleman who can be seen in the Netflix documentary, The Black Godfather stopped to answer one question.
P.G.: You’re a true mover and shaker. How does it feel to be receiving this recognition and having a documentary on your life and all you have done for others?
Clarence Avant: “Well, you are put on this earth to do something, especially helping your own people and we got a long way to go. What I did, I just helped people to go look at it and go forward more. That’s what I did.”
Watch Clarence Avant and others when Urban One Honors airs Monday, January 20, 2020 @8 PM ET/7 PM CT on the TV One cable television network.
Sarah Hearn is Editor-in-Chief of PositivelyGospel.com, founded in 2011. The site was recently named among Feedspot’s Top Gospel and Christian Music Websites. Sarah is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the Gospel Music Association.
