by Howard Campbell
[SOUTH FLORIDA] – Music industry heavyweight, L.A. Reid, was in South Florida last week for a workshop at Circle House, home to Inner Circle, the Bad Boys of Reggae.
The former head of Arista Records, The Island Def Jam Music Group and Epic Records, spent over one week at the North Miami complex. Reid was focusing on industry issues including songwriting and publishing.
Reid is founder and CEO of Hitco Entertainment which has several high-profile acts on its books including rappers Big Boi of Outkast and Yella Breezy.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Reid was one of the prominent faces of the neo-soul movement of the 1990’s. He along with his production and songwriting partner, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. They developed a number of platinum-selling acts through their LaFace Records company. Acts such as Boyz II Men, Toni Braxton, TLC and Outkast.
At Arista, The Island Def Jam Music Group and Epic Records, Reid helped nurture or revive the careers of Tony Rich, Usher, Avril Lavigne, Mariah Carey, Rihanna and DJ Khaled.
He is the latest high-roller to work at Circle House which has been a go-to recording hub for A-listers. Namely, Diddy, Janet Jackson, Jay Z and Beyonce, Shakira and Justin Beiber.
Inner Circle
Inner Circle, formed in 1968 by brothers Roger and Ian Lewis. They won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 1994 for “Bad Boys”. Bad Boys is also title of their massive hit song. It is the theme song for the enormously-successful movie franchise of the same title starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
