Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid

As the head of Epic Records — which currently has three singles on iTunes top 10 — Antonio “L.A.” Reid knew since he was young that he was bound for greatness. As it turns out, transferring to a new public school where he met a special music teacher struck the chord that began Reid’s epic rise in the music industry. “When I entered (Cincinnati City’s) Hughes High School (now the Hughes STEM High School) in 1969, my music class there became the greatest thing in the world … my high school was like the TV show “Fame,” Reid said. “It wasn’t a performing arts school, but it felt like it.” At Hughes, talented musicians, including Reid’s music teacher, challenged him to become the best drummer and overall musician that he could be. “Terry Brown, a cool young guy who sang in a group of his own called the Mystics, was our music teacher,” Reid said. “He was an inspirational figure to all his students but especially to me. Mr. Brown took a special interest in me, encouraged me greatly and started me down the path.” So great was Reid’s love for music that he walked around school every day with drumsticks in hand. Teachers would often take them away if he made noise in class, but his strong-willed mother, Emma, would always demand the teachers return the drumsticks, he said. A single mother of four who worked two jobs to support the family, Emma never missed a school talent show, and Reid proudly played in it every year. After high school, Reid broke into the music world as the drummer for the R&B band The Deele. Along with bandmate Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, he went on to found LaFace Records, where he broke ground for African-American pop artists and helped establish the now-famous music scene in Atlanta. At LaFace, Reid produced some of industry’s top performers, including Usher, TLC, Outkast, Pink, Toni Braxton and more. His songwriting credits include the soundtracks to “Ghostbusters II,” “The Bodyguard,” “Boomerang” and others.  In 2000, Reid was hired to lead Arista Records, where he discovered Avril Lavigne and worked with such established superstars as Carlos Santana, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. Four years later, Reid moved to The Island Def Jam Music Group and discovered and developed Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Fall Out Boy, Kanye West and others. He joined Epic Records in 2011, and agreed to judge “The X Factor” through 2013. Today, Epic is topping charts with artists such as Meghan Trainor, Fifth Harmony, Future, Zara Larsson and Jidenna. With more than 250,000 fans on Facebook and 1.5 million Twitter followers, Reid also has a popular Twitter signoff, #BeEpic. Reid has won three Grammy Awards, and in 2013 he was presented with The Recording Academy's prestigious President’s Merit Award in recognition of his significant contributions to the music industry and the impact of those efforts. Additionally, his first-ever memoir “Sing to Me: My Story of Making Music, Finding Magic, and Searching for Who’s Next” hit bookstores in February and is a New York Times Best Seller. The book shares the inspiring story of his struggles and success and takes readers inside the at-once glamorous and hard-hitting music industry.